Really, we're spoilt? Many fashion sites do free delivery over £token amount. I've had free delivery and returns on motorcycle gear before too then there's Amazon etc. It's a serious factor in deciding whether to purchase from a site or not. Free returns is super useful too. I just the other week paid £8 special delivery to send <500g of lycra back to Galibier (cheapest option with correct level of insurance).
Road Cycling
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Really, we're spoilt? Many fashion sites do free delivery over £token amount. I've had free delivery and returns on motorcycle gear before too then there's Amazon etc. It's a serious factor in deciding whether to purchase from a site or not. Free returns is super useful too. I just the other week paid £8 special delivery to send <500g of lycra back to Galibier (cheapest option with correct level of insurance).
Calling out Tredz.
They make you select "highlands" for postage up to here and it incurs extra cost... Then they send it via Royal Mail which is same flat rate whether it be to London or Inverness. Meaning people like me get charged for the exact same delivery method that everyone else in the UK is enjoying for "free".
If you try to select "next day" delivery (which in their case is royal mail special) it states it is not available to Highland postcodes when it 100% is.
Scumbags.
These online retailers have all but done away with high street shopping and can apparently have lower prices due to less overheads in shop floor staff/premises/rent etc. So they should all absolutely be offering free postage and returns to customers else we are just as well visiting shops in person (if they weren't all going down the pan).
They make you select "highlands" for postage up to here and it incurs extra cost... Then they send it via Royal Mail which is same flat rate whether it be to London or Inverness. Meaning people like me get charged for the exact same delivery method that everyone else in the UK is enjoying for "free".
If you try to select "next day" delivery (which in their case is royal mail special) it states it is not available to Highland postcodes when it 100% is.
Scumbags.
These online retailers have all but done away with high street shopping and can apparently have lower prices due to less overheads in shop floor staff/premises/rent etc. So they should all absolutely be offering free postage and returns to customers else we are just as well visiting shops in person (if they weren't all going down the pan).
Soldato
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Thought I'd make up for not getting to ride this Sunday and get out today and tonight.
Didn't realise it was quite so windy out there, was happy being over 19mph/260w average until I had to climb towards my grans and after stopping there for a bit I couldn't get warm and folded.
Cold and doing 15mph/180w average the last few miles home to stuff my face in preparation for tonight. You may see an explosion around the Glasgow area later when my legs give up.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1966175003
In regards to online shopping I think most of them are working with really small margins and adding free postage will just be another hit on the small amount of profit. Factoring in returns I don't know how they manage it really. A race to the bottom the way supermarkets will sell something at a loss just to be cheaper than a competitor to get you through the door.
Halfords/Tredz/Wheelies/Cycle republic are one and the same.
Wheelies own Cycle solutions who are a cycle to work scheme which local shops accept. They offer discounts to the customer behind a log in screen which bike brands can't see(they get annoyed at discounting current model year bikes) which the smaller shops can't offer on top of the hit on the scheme itself.
Then you have wiggle/CRC, or big groups that own them, buying up UK cycle distributors what IBDs have to use. I know they aren't then technically one and the same and Wiggle won't have a say in the running of Zyro Fisher but it must have some sort of benefit to them.
Long post is long!
Didn't realise it was quite so windy out there, was happy being over 19mph/260w average until I had to climb towards my grans and after stopping there for a bit I couldn't get warm and folded.
Cold and doing 15mph/180w average the last few miles home to stuff my face in preparation for tonight. You may see an explosion around the Glasgow area later when my legs give up.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1966175003
In regards to online shopping I think most of them are working with really small margins and adding free postage will just be another hit on the small amount of profit. Factoring in returns I don't know how they manage it really. A race to the bottom the way supermarkets will sell something at a loss just to be cheaper than a competitor to get you through the door.
Halfords/Tredz/Wheelies/Cycle republic are one and the same.
Wheelies own Cycle solutions who are a cycle to work scheme which local shops accept. They offer discounts to the customer behind a log in screen which bike brands can't see(they get annoyed at discounting current model year bikes) which the smaller shops can't offer on top of the hit on the scheme itself.
Then you have wiggle/CRC, or big groups that own them, buying up UK cycle distributors what IBDs have to use. I know they aren't then technically one and the same and Wiggle won't have a say in the running of Zyro Fisher but it must have some sort of benefit to them.
Long post is long!
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Soldato
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- Southampton, hopefully not too hot, or too cold
Frustratingly, another day of annual leave goes by and I haven't been outdoors on a bike since returning home Monday evening, looks like a quick caffeine fix before third late afternoon on the bounce doing a turbo session...
Nice bargain order of Funkier and Sealskinz from Merlin (who have a load of good deals at mo with automatic 10% discount when added to basket, before you use any reward points) arrived later than hoped around midday. It was absolutely fatal getting suckered into the live Brexit coverage at the House Of Clowns earlier!
Very easy to spend £20+ at Merlin currently to get free postage option eg. get a pair of GP4000S IIs for ~£53 ready for next summer, or a pair of 4 Seasons for slightly more, using promo and reward points for a £50+ basket.
Nice bargain order of Funkier and Sealskinz from Merlin (who have a load of good deals at mo with automatic 10% discount when added to basket, before you use any reward points) arrived later than hoped around midday. It was absolutely fatal getting suckered into the live Brexit coverage at the House Of Clowns earlier!
Very easy to spend £20+ at Merlin currently to get free postage option eg. get a pair of GP4000S IIs for ~£53 ready for next summer, or a pair of 4 Seasons for slightly more, using promo and reward points for a £50+ basket.
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Spoilt! I wasn't saying free delivery isn't a good thing! Just that we're lucky to have lots of choices that offer it!
Amazon charge £4.99 for delivery. You only get it free over certain value or ordering from specific sellers who offer it. Amazon themselves don't do 'free' (unless you pay a monthly cost - Prime!). Lots of fashion sites do free delivery, but you'll find many of them are changing with most only doing free 'pickup' from their stores. Some of them have even started to charge for that! Fuel costs are always increasing and companies before could cover the cost of postage in their margins, those margins are shrinking even more as time goes on. The poor exchange rate and scepticism over Brexit/single market is why I say we're currently spoilt and will see less companies offering it. Supermarkets charge for it, some of them used to offer it for free. Tescos even completely stopped their direct to customer online retail sales and now only do 'shopping' type deliveries. Argos have always charged (think they even charge for ordering & pickup, you only avoid the charge by ordering in store?). Halfords have always charged. Boots have always charged.
Yup, but that's also the only way they can offer it - they have better margins and buying power so can do it while still killing their competition.
These big companies have their own massive distribution - many of them using contractors who use their own hubs to further lower the cost. The cost of these is always increasing - which will increase even more now Brexit looms as many of them are run by European distribution chains. Our taxes are going to go up as a result of Brexit, as are business rates, fuel duties and other running costs (licencing etc) so I really cannot see how these retailers can 'swallow' the cost of delivery. As a small-ish company (fleet of 10 lorries) it now costs us close to £1000 (minimum) to cover the cost of a lorry going up to Scotland (that's our own running costs of an arctic with one of our own drivers). Only a couple of years ago that was £650. Obviously larger distribution companies have lower costs - just using that as an example.
@Roady - noooooo. This is the one corner of the Internet I can hide in where we do not speak about "brexit". I follow nobody but cycling people on Twitter yet 90% of what I see on it every day right now is moaning about brexit. It's absolutely doing my head in!
Sigma Sports for me have always been that little bit better. I really prefer buying from them compared all of the others. Does a bigger company own them or are they a proper ground up UK company operating as themselves still?
Tredz and Tweeks are both a joke.
And to the subject of postage. I ordered a product on Amazon, with Prime, on Friday morning last week. The item was 100% marked as prime and said it would be delivered by tomorrow.... they didn't even dispatch it until Sunday and it didn't show up until Tuesday. I've had it a few times now and each time I just rage at them on live chat and they apologise and give you 1 months free prime. Even when you are paying for the "privilege" it still sucks nowadays.
Sigma Sports for me have always been that little bit better. I really prefer buying from them compared all of the others. Does a bigger company own them or are they a proper ground up UK company operating as themselves still?
Tredz and Tweeks are both a joke.
And to the subject of postage. I ordered a product on Amazon, with Prime, on Friday morning last week. The item was 100% marked as prime and said it would be delivered by tomorrow.... they didn't even dispatch it until Sunday and it didn't show up until Tuesday. I've had it a few times now and each time I just rage at them on live chat and they apologise and give you 1 months free prime. Even when you are paying for the "privilege" it still sucks nowadays.
Pretty sure Sigma is ground up UK company. Maybe had some investment along the way I guess. They've done well. It's a shame they moved their distribution up north recently. Their shop is only down the road and they'd do same day collection on online orders as their warehouse is only another few miles away. The shop itself mostly contains the top of the range items. Service department were pretty helpful when I went in for bearings on a busy Saturday too.
I wish I had complained a few more times.. I wasn't aware but apparently you can only have Student Prime for 4 years... so now I'll have to pay double if I want to renew
Pretty sure they have an eBay store offering free delivery? Think I've used this a few times for orders not qualifying for free delivery via their own website.
Soldato
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Not sure if their eBay store would allow the free delivery to the remote isolated baron island I apparently live on. I won't be ordering from their eBay store to find out either unfortunately
Hahaha I was having a moment, apologies (and sorry Chris for venting a little), had one of those 'every stupid question' days at work!
Far too many doomsday prophets around and has been since before the whole thing started, the majority of which just want to scaremonger and waste everyones time by flooding all social outlets with their opinions (badly formed or otherwise). You know how I like to give my opinion on things? Well I feel like they're all little annoying versions of me, haha!
And yeah Prime. I'm not the sort of person who buys into a service like that as I shop around far too much. What a joke! (but I will admit it works well if the way you live is 'buy everything from amazon when you need it' kinda lifestyle. I'm more organised, prepared and a deal hunter than that).
Have always had great service from them, not sure why I've not used them more. Tended to stick with Wiggle until the last year or two when I've really shopped around and usually been driven to Ebay due to vouchers/deals/delivery/cashback.
Not sure? I've not come across it and I tend to browse around the Wiggle/Wheelies/Sigma/Tweeks/Rapha/Paligap/Evans & PX ones a couple of times a week...
Not nearly as aggressive as me!
That's another good point - what other LBS regularly price matches / runs similar pricing to Wiggle/CRC? I asked another LBS the other day about a replacement BB. Sigma and Wiggle wanted £13. The other LBS said that's less than they pay for the BB (did make me wonder why they don't just purchase from Wiggle etc?). I don't think they were lying either. I know the guy from a few rides etc and he seemed genuinely surprised Wiggle had it so low.
Though I have heard of Sigma refusing price matches a bit more recently due to the price being below their cost.
Not been on here for yonks, hope everyone's well. Still plugging away, lost about 6kg since May. Probably the best rider I've been at the moment, not that that is saying too much
Loving it though and keep stacking the miles up where I can.
Loving it though and keep stacking the miles up where I can.
Soldato
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- Shepley
Good work. Enjoying it is 100% the main thing whatever level you’re at. It took me too long to realise that!
Soldato
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That's good weight loss and good that you still enjoy it.
I think a lot of people forget what it's all about and get caught up in watts and being vegan.(myself for the watts part a bit)
I'm gutted I can't meet a group of guys tomorrow that are meeting up, riding to a ferry and then cycling to the side of a Loch to a drum up spot.
I think a lot of people forget what it's all about and get caught up in watts and being vegan.(myself for the watts part a bit)
I'm gutted I can't meet a group of guys tomorrow that are meeting up, riding to a ferry and then cycling to the side of a Loch to a drum up spot.
Soldato
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Can't beat some chat on the way up and a fire on a lochside.
Were you expecting a meet up spot for the orange order?
Were you expecting a meet up spot for the orange order?
Fantastic weather this weekend. Couldn’t get out yday but had time today.
I had planned about 75k, decided to throw a few hills in too. Feeling fast and the power was good too (280NP for the first 50 mins, was still 250-260 after nearly 2 hrs). 50k in could tell my legs were gonna go flat soon as not been training and had been pushing it.
55k, going down a little dip with bad light, I hit a bad bit of tarmac or a rock or something and it makes a horrendous noise. Think I’ve broken the wheel, spoke or rear mech. Soft pedalling trying to look at it, going up the other side and then the rear tyre explodes.
10mm hole in the tyre.... three rides old! Nothing would have stopped that, not sure when the damage was caused, I don’t think I got a stone jammed in the frame. Think it was all the impact.
Positive side, Rally tubs are cheap (£15-20) a tube and new Conti would be £40+ if I was on clinchers.
I had a spare so was bossing it, wheel out (pita horizontal dropout), tyre off, new tyre unfolded, put a bit of air in the spare with the mini pump. The new tyre valve is stuck pushed down ain’t it so the airs leaking out... ram an Allen key down the extension but it’s too short. I’m ******* about looking at the fencing/gate for a bit of wire or a stick to jam in there. Some young bloke stops to give me a hand and unwound his key ring which worked a treat, couple of knocks and valve free.
Tyre went back on easy peasy, the Rally tubulars seem easier than CX Evos and don’t need prestretching.
I bought a co2 pump but have never used it, fortunately I had my saddle pack on my aero bars with it in so I used that. I start off with a minipump until I know it’s on properly. The co2 is a lezyne one you can control the air with so you don’t over pressure the tyre or lose all the air before getting it on the valve & it worked great.
By the time I had changed the tyre (20 mins thanks to the messing about) I felt really flat and did a Jonny, ride the 10km home at 180w feeling terrible!
I had planned about 75k, decided to throw a few hills in too. Feeling fast and the power was good too (280NP for the first 50 mins, was still 250-260 after nearly 2 hrs). 50k in could tell my legs were gonna go flat soon as not been training and had been pushing it.
55k, going down a little dip with bad light, I hit a bad bit of tarmac or a rock or something and it makes a horrendous noise. Think I’ve broken the wheel, spoke or rear mech. Soft pedalling trying to look at it, going up the other side and then the rear tyre explodes.
10mm hole in the tyre.... three rides old! Nothing would have stopped that, not sure when the damage was caused, I don’t think I got a stone jammed in the frame. Think it was all the impact.
Positive side, Rally tubs are cheap (£15-20) a tube and new Conti would be £40+ if I was on clinchers.
I had a spare so was bossing it, wheel out (pita horizontal dropout), tyre off, new tyre unfolded, put a bit of air in the spare with the mini pump. The new tyre valve is stuck pushed down ain’t it so the airs leaking out... ram an Allen key down the extension but it’s too short. I’m ******* about looking at the fencing/gate for a bit of wire or a stick to jam in there. Some young bloke stops to give me a hand and unwound his key ring which worked a treat, couple of knocks and valve free.
Tyre went back on easy peasy, the Rally tubulars seem easier than CX Evos and don’t need prestretching.
I bought a co2 pump but have never used it, fortunately I had my saddle pack on my aero bars with it in so I used that. I start off with a minipump until I know it’s on properly. The co2 is a lezyne one you can control the air with so you don’t over pressure the tyre or lose all the air before getting it on the valve & it worked great.
By the time I had changed the tyre (20 mins thanks to the messing about) I felt really flat and did a Jonny, ride the 10km home at 180w feeling terrible!