ok last night I was cheking the unicycle.uk.com compatred to the unicycle.com prices if you put both prices in canadian it comes cheaper to buy from the uk. the only thing I am wondering is about the shipping is it really expensive… (Im thinking of ordering a cfbase) ??? and is unicycle.uk.com cheaper then unicycle.com ? or am I just crazy ?
The US dollar is so weak right now (thanks George) that the Candian dollar may get a better exchange rate with the pound, or you could have just done your math wrong. Shipping from the U.K. is certianly going to be more expensive.
From the US I’ve ordered from UDC.uk . The UDC.uk list prices include a ~15% adder for something called VAT (tax) which at least in the US you don’t have to pay on some (all?) items. I now order from the uk as if they are in the states. The only problem is that when I decide to buy something, I have a hard time waiting for UDC.uk to reply to my email for the shipping prices. I’d like to work something out with Roger there, so that I can just order without waiting for the exact cost of shipping to complete the order. I’ll have to email UDC.uk and ask about this.
VAT (value added tax) is charged at 17.5% currently. VAT is applied to everything except:food, books, children’s clothes, safety gear (includes helmets but not body armour) and other stuff that i can’t remember right now, so pretty much everything on UDC will have it already added, so you can remove just short of 15% from the list prices (ok now i’ve done that calculation i see why Chrashing said ~15%) Something as small and light as a CF base should be ok for shipping from the US, i got a torker giraffe from california to Britain for $30 USD last year, it’s bloody big and heavy so if you can find the right deal a seat base should be much less. Roger is usually very good about replying to emails, i guess it just takes him a few days to actually find out what the price is.
BTW, I just converted to a CF seat base this week. Amy at UDC.us suggested that I get a new cover and not use the old cover. I am really glad I took the advice because I don’t know how I would have attached the old cover the CF, and have since found it necessary to remove the cover. I got the KH fusion cover.
Also I found the broken stiffener had a metal shim underneath at the post mount. I think it was a good idea that I used this shim with the CF base to hold the post bolts making use of the square holes for the head of the bolts. Also I used flat washers and square filed holes at the front handle. Filing the square hole is easy.
You probably know but there are excellent instructions at the GB4 site.
It’s cool that Roger (of UDC) manufactures the CF seat base. It is expensive material, but the result is light and solid. A nice project for a night.
Ken,
Sorry you think that we are slow in replying to emails about shipping. We do try to keep on top of things. Let explain the process. First we have to get the email, remember we are up to 8 hours ahead of you, so often we don’t get emails from US and Canada until our evenings. Then when we get in the office we then need to take the items that you have requested a quotation on, pack them so we have a volume and weight (yes we have to have both!). Then take them to the post room which is not owned by us, get a shipping quotation from them. We then can send you an email, we give the cost of the item as shipped which is removing the 17.5% UK sales tax along with the cost of shipping (non EU countries do not pay our sales taxes but may have to pay their own countries taxes). We do not give an exact cost in anything other than UK Pounds because our shopping cart works on the current exchange rate and this varies. The whole process can easily take a single man hour per order, I have had difficult multi item order that have taken 8 hours of work! this is sometimes time that can not be spared, but we do try. Unfortunately as you can see it is something can not be automated and keep the shipping costs down. So please be patient with us when asking for quotations.
To reply about the cost of the CF bases. We have them manufactured here and personally I think that they are very expensive, so I have what is only a small margin on them. This does mean though that other retailers who don’t have the option of just collecting them from the manufacturer have to also pay shipping on them… it means we are going to be cheaper. Sorry. Also be warned, there has just been a price increase in the manufacturing cost of them so cost has increased.
Roger
yeah the 1st one was a couple years ago ( several more minor increases after that as well)…what was weird is it happened over here in USA right as the KH seats became available, almost the same day.
that leads to conspriracy.
I am sorry Roger that my note was not accurate. You are not slow, I didn’t mean sound like I am complaining about UDC.uk. My post should have read more like, I have a problem waiting, meaning that when I want to order something, I’m like a squirrel on crack, I don’t want to wait for anything. So it’s hard for me to wait through the necessary global time difference.
You have always responded in a timely fashion and have been helpful with my orders. I still am surprised how you got that UDC gel seat at my door the 3rd day after I ordered it.
Just buy the CF from bedfordunicycles … it’s a candain company and there prices are really good !
All in all, it was cheaper for me to order a CF base from uni.UK (the source) than from uni.COM or Bedford and have it shipped to the US.
Roger, you and whoever else make those bases are wonderful. Thanks for those low margins! I bet you dont even make any money off them. Thats really taking one for the team. Its understandable if prices have to go up.