Quoted post said:Originally Posted by Jimbo S
Guru was purchased by the Dorel group, a Canadian conglomerate that also owns Cannondale. The purchase was made to acquire the "Guru Experience" bit fitting system. Dorel has let the former owners continue to operate the bicycle manufacturing part of the business without interference. The carbon tubing is fabricated in house in Montreal. Check it out.
http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/12/11/factory-tour-guru-cycles-part-2-building-a-carbon-bicycle-frame/
Guru still has some older model Photon frame/forks (an Enve fork) for sale at Cdn$1900 a pop. The cheapest of the new Photons is Cdn$4500 for frame and fork. From what I can tell they have changed the shape of the tubing a bit and have internal cable routing. Not enough difference for me to pay the difference!
http://www.gurucycles.com/2013sale
Is the tax VAT or duty? In my part of the world we pay the equivalent of 15% VAT. Sometimes online purchases from out of the country can be shipped using the postal service without attracting the tax. However packages as large as a bike frame or wheelset seldom slip through.
Yeah I checked it the day before and noticed that they build everything in house with quality materials... The Columbus steel and Titanium frames look pretty cool too! But I was mainly checking the Carbon stuff...
Its only that putty part that I kinda have thoughts about but other companies are using pre epoxy'd carbon layers for joints which might be even worst...
Its really nice that they don't leave anything inside like bladders etc...
That would explain why they have a fat guy on a Cannondale advertising the fitting system. [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]
Its Tax VAT. Its around 20% around here. Basically my 2013 Allez was advertized as 770USD in the Specialized US website. I paid 770euro for it to get it from here. Same with Giant bikes. A 600euro Giant bike in Taiwan costs around 800euro here. There are a few local carbon manufacturers and you get a much better deal from them for a complete bike compared to some of the overseas builders.
I remember when I bought a Seiko watch online from Asia some years ago. The watch costed 150euro and it was another 10 to get it shipped here with a courier service. I could also get it with plain post but I didn't want to risk it. I ended up paying another 100 euro [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] for getting it through customs, 30 euro or something for tax and another 70 for the courier service's lawyers fee! [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG] Unless I wanted to travel 600km to go to the customs goods warehouse where they kept the watch hostage to pay just the 30euro... [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]