Hi all,
I was just browsing the wiggle Australia store and have noticed that they are no longer selling helmets (online chat told me something about EU regulations being the reason).
I've also noticed the brands that are offered to Australia have also decreased over the last few years (despite the fact that many are still available in the UK store).
I'm guessing Australian retailers and distributors have put pressure on the manufacturers to make these changes but overall it's detrimental to the Australian consumer.
Do you still find wiggle a go to place for cycle gear online?
Less and Less on Offer at Wiggle
![](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/u/26/135026-38.jpg?h=a7070c1f)
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Same thing happened on Urban Outfitters. Used ot be able to buy Nike, Vans, North Face etc then all of a sudden Nike Australia realised they were selling sneakers at sometimes half the price so they obviously had a word with UO and they no longer ship to oz for certain brands.
Pardon my ignorance but can't you just continue to buy from Wiggle UK or CRC?
Look hard locally as more and more I'm finding that many bike parts, once much cheaper from overseas, now arent even competitive.
Examples include some Relevate bike packing bags I ordered from bike24, only to find them cheaper locally from 2 outlets.
This was unheard of when I built my bike a few years ago wholly from online overseas sales.
As for Wiggle, I haven't bothered with them for years as they got less than competitive some years ago and I'm fairly certain they bought CRC.
Bike24 were my go-to for a long time but I've recently had to admit I can often find stuff locally close enough to their prices that I've started buying locally despite vowing never to buy local for years now due to all the gauging and rorting that used to go on.
Ze germans are still decent for hard to find stuff as are SJScycles in the UK but local appears to have made great inroads in their improvements to the point that I now search local, much to my chagrin.Same thing happened with my other great hyper expensive hobby, skiing years ago. You used to be able to get great ski stuff mail order until the local distributors found out and put pressure on the OEM. I literally saw a ski jacket in a local shop for $650. Bought it mail order from the US for $200 AUD and had it delivered to the hotel I was staying at on my upcoming ski trip. When i arrived it was waiting for me at the hotel. I have done the same thing with bike shoes, oakley cycling glasses etc.
Wiggle sometimes have some clearout stuff that is pretty cheap. I managed some good deals on their end of winter clearout last season, bought myself a nice Sportful Jacket for something like 70% off. More to do with the different seasons. Wiggle has bought out CRC and you often see the same inventory on both sites. Ribble (who used to be my go-to for bike parts) sold out 18 months ago to a consortia that immediately put up all the prices and opened an Australian website (killing off any bargains in the process). I literally used to buy whole groupsets off Ribble and they used to be the cheapest place for Assos kit. I havent even looked at their website for 6 months now, not worth it.
I have bought from bike 24 and from their german counterpart bike-discount.de but where they used to be super cheap for things like wheels, they are just run-of-the mill for many items now. Local shop Pushys has been a great online source of bargains for me recently, their semi-annual clearouts can have bargains if you are quick enough. Their 15% off promos, stackable with other discounts have had them cheapest I could find for some great items, bought a powermeter, Di2 derailleur and recently a new Selle SMP saddle. from time-to-time Bikebug are another local with decent prices but I havent seen a decent sale from them since their Colnago frame clearout late last year.
The only thing I can think of is if certain brands have decided to sign distributor agreements with someone in Australia, so any imports for that brand must go through the licensed distributor. It's possible that any such distributor is putting a huge markup and it's no longer worth the effort to stock those products when everyone can get it cheaper online.
This wouldn't be dissimilar to snowboards and equipment.