Buying a new mountain bike

I'm moving to Germany soon for work and since my bike got stolen last year I'm debating whether or not to buy a new mtn bike here in Canada or wait until I get to Germany. Is it better to buy in Germany or in Canada? The company I'm working for handles shipping so that's not a concern. I've been told prices in Germany are way over priced. Currently looking at a Specialized Hardrock Comp with a Shimano component group. Is that a good buy? It's priced at $849 but I'm getting it on sale for a little over $600 Canadian. Would appreciate any help! Thanks, TMAC

I would strongly suspect that it will be much cheaper to buy it in Canada..

North American brands are substantially more expensive here and given that North American makes are also the best in the world I'd suggest you buy it there and bring it over (remember to ask for the box!). You can probably even sell it on eBay at a profit after you've used it a while (something I am considering with my Cannnondale).

I brought my Bike with from Canada- as its really not that expensive to ship, as you have to ship your stuff anyways, or you can fly it over (as I did- they have speical bags at the airport).

Buy the bike in Canada it will be much, much, much cheaper than buying here in Germany. Period.

i bought my bike in canada and then brought it over. Air Canada let me put it on the plane for free for the int. national flight. deffinately saved me a dime to do it that way. havent seen a better deal over this way north american brand or other wise.

same bike as i have, but i bought it in germany 5 years ago for around €625 (DM 1250) and that was when the DM was terribly weak against the US $. i remember the prices of bikes really fluctuated because of the strong Yen and US$.

but if the canadian bike experts here on the board say buy it there, then trust them. well, i would trust canuck in any case. i don't think i've ever seen DW on either a or his bicycle

And GET INSURANCE FOR your bike. Sounds like it will be a pricey one.

Make sure you give it the well used look for when it comes here tho, don't want to get whacked by Germish tax

I never thought about tax - do I get taxed when I'm relocating? Or do you get a one time free entry with all of your stuff? No idea how it works - when I moved to Asia it was with 2 suitcases and an empty bank account. This move to Germany is quite a bit different and I'm bringing just about everything I have.
Thank you to all the good people who responded too! You've been a great help - got my bike and looking to take it for a spin this afternoon!
TMAC

And BRING YOUR RECEIPT WITH YOU! When we came over we shipped 4 bikes: my knock-around bike; Logans: mountain bike, road bike and cross-bike. They were certain we were importing for resale, wouldn't open the container to see that they were all used. We didn't think to bring the receipts (and 2 of the bikes are 14 years old).

We had the bikes shipped in. If you bring it with you, and it looks new-ish, they may hit you for VAT anyhow.

How much or what rate is the VAT??

16% i believe. might go up to 18% next year.

Hi

We are thinking of buying new mountain bikes and shipping them to Germany. All freight and transportation costs will be paid for by my husband's company.

However, we would appreciate some opinion on whether we should purchase them in Germany or where we are currently at (SEA) and ship them over.

Can someone pls advise how much mountain bikes are in Munich? Say mid range ones, sufficient for rough terrains and rides through the forests.

Cheers!

Sarah

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You can get a fairly respectable hardtail for 600-1000 Euros. As with most things, you can spend as much or as little as you want, but I think that price range is a nice spot. For a full suspension bike I think the 1000 - 1500 Euro range should be about right. These are my personal bike-price opinions based on what I need and what prices I see so I hope they help. A ~700 Euro hardtail will certainly be good enough for all but the roughest downhill alpen trails.

If you just want a cheap mountain bike, you can go to OBI(Hardware store) or Walmart and get one for 100-200 Eur, but they won't be any good for real use. If you want to spend thousands on the latest technology and Carbonfibre frames then you can do that too.

As tom says, you can pretty much spend what you like, but my feeling (based on looking in SF's REI this summer) is that you get more bike for your money in the states. I flew with mine in a bike box - check with your airline, but it only cost me 27 E excess baggage to bring it over from the UK.

Best to do a direct comparison. I've bought loads of bike bits over here (albeit mail order and ebay) for prices way lower than us or uk.

I also got a mtb last october which was reduced in price by €1600 which again made it alot cheaper than what i would have paid in the us or uk.

In general I reckon you'd find that Specialized, Trek, Cannondale, Rocky Mountain etc would be cheaper in the states... If it is being sent over by freight though I do imagine you'd be more likely to get stung for import duty and vat in germany..

If you decide to buy a bike in Germany, I can highly recommend a Herkelmann. The German BIKE magazine consistently gives them top ratings. Herkelmann is kind of an insider's tip, because you'll never see them in a store - they're sold mail order only. That's not a problem though, as they come almost fully assembled - it was literally a 5-min assembly!

The great thing about the bike is that it's custom made. You choose the model you want & send them the three measurements they request. You also select the components. They build you a custom bike, yet still give you a money-back guarantee! Unbelievably, the price is actually cheaper than comparable ones in a store!

Three years ago, I bought one. Since then, I've done two TransAlp tours with it. A friend test-rode mine & then bought one too. I really love this bike - it's so light (11 kg), yet strong! I have the Jago light.

Here's the link: http://www.herkelmann-fahrraeder.de/

Enjoy!
MunichMom

MunichMom, you would have to post this today, of all days! Last night, as I was getting my hair done, a guy next to me had the new issues of Bike magazine so I had to flip through it. I was havign a serious case of 'I NEED a new bike'.

Time to start saving!!

Hi KitKat64,

People generally assume that a custom-made bike is expensive, but in this case, the opposite is true! The base price of the bike I bought, a Jago, was around EUR 700. Based on the recommendations of a neighbor who is a serious biker, I upgraded it by choosing the "Light" version (1 kg less) adding heavier-duty pedals, a Richie riser, getting the complete Shimano LX setup, etc. I figured I'd need that for the TransAlp trip. The total then came to around EUR 900. On the trip, I met a woman who'd bought her bike in a shop for EUR 1299 & didn't even have a complete LX setup!

I just checked their website & the Jago (with Shimano LX, Magura, RockShox, etc.) is now EUR 899, but other bikes start at EUR 499. It's really worth taking a look at their website (http://www.herkelmann-fahrraeder.de/). The folks are really helpful & nice. They simply build the bike to your specifications.

I know I'm sounding a bit sentimental about my bike. Maybe it's just the weather & my longing for springtime so that I can pedal away again If you're interested, drop me a note & you can come take a look at my bike.

I'm thinking of giving the Stilfserjoch hillclimb a try this year. Have you heard of it? It's a bike day with an 1800 meter climb: http://naturatrafoi.com/stelviobike/deutsch/index.php

I'm also debatting whether to go on a MTB guided vacation in Romania this year: http://www.cyclesoul.de/eng/start.html

Oh well, I need something to dream about on wet, rainy days like today!