peckham@cornell.UUCP (Stephen Peckham) (05/09/85)
My wife and I are planning to do some bicycling in France at the end of the month. We had planned on renting bicycles, but someone suggested that we buy bicycles there and bring them back with us. (We don't have decent bikes right now.) Are parts for French bikes the same as parts available in the U.S.? Does anyone have suggestions or warnings about buying bikes in France? Steve Peckham peckham@Cornell.ARPA peckham@CRNLCS decvax!cornell!peckham
kehoe@reed.UUCP (Dave Kehoe) (05/11/85)
My only advice is that French bikes are not as good as Japanese bikes, in terms of engineering and workmanship and quality control. But if the dollar's strong, you should be able to get a good deal on a bicycle over there. If you don't know a lot about bicycles, you'll be best off if you go to a good bike shop and have a knowledgeable salesperson help you find the bicycle that's right for you -- something that may be hard to do in a foreign country. The best French bicycle that I've seen is the Gitane "Gran Tour", which sells here for around $300.
guy@sdcc12.UUCP (Guy A. Lewis) (05/13/85)
In article <1614@cornell.UUCP>, peckham@cornell.UUCP (Stephen Peckham) writes: > My wife and I are planning to do some bicycling in France at the end of > the month. We had planned on renting bicycles, but someone suggested that > we buy bicycles there and bring them back with us. (We don't have decent > bikes right now.) Are parts for French bikes the same as parts available > in the U.S.? Does anyone have suggestions or warnings about buying > bikes in France? > > Steve Peckham Peugeot bicycles are made in France assembled there then wraped in plastic boxed up and shipped over here. In answer to your question yes the parts ( at least some ) will be the same as those available abroad. You might even be interested in looking at the prices here and there and see how much they differ by. Guy.
msw@drux1.UUCP (Mike Walpole) (05/13/85)
>My wife and I are planning to do some bicycling in France at the end of >the month. We had planned on renting bicycles, but someone suggested that >we buy bicycles there and bring them back with us. (We don't have decent >bikes right now.) Are parts for French bikes the same as parts available >in the U.S.? Does anyone have suggestions or warnings about buying >bikes in France? As with buying anything in europe the price depends on the strength of the dollar. Pricewise a good bicycle should be less expensive than here. However, there are things that you need to look for. (look out for?) Most french bikes have different sizes for the bottom bracket, (french thread) seatpost diameter, stem diameter and the dropout widths. Unless you have many high end bike shops in your area, I suggest that you reasearch which French bikes use standard size equiptment. (English or Italian threads and sizes.) Good luck. Mike Walpole
wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin ) (05/13/85)
Wouldn't the Common Market (EEC) trade regulations make Italian and other European bicycles just about as cheap (or expensive :-) to buy in France as in their native countries? Surely French cyclists have as much interest in imported bikes and parts as American cyclists do? So just because the poster might be buying the bikes in France wouldn't mean that they would necessarily be buying French-made bikes (though admittedly that is what the original posting asked!). Maybe it would be better to recommend the best buys in Italian or other European bikes that would subsequently be repairable/maintainable back in the US? Will
kfl@hoxna.UUCP (Kenton Lee) (05/15/85)
xxx Another thing to remember is that bikes in France are not likely to be the same as those sold in the U.S., even the same model by the same manufacturer. Bikes in France will almost always have 700C wheels and many will even have different parts and different frames than their American counterparts. I really doubt that there will be a great savings on bikes from big manufacturers like Peugeot, Motobecane, or Gitane. If one of these is real cheap, it is probably a low-end model that is not imported into the U.S. Your best buys will probably be from small manufacturers that do not import to the U.S. You must, of course, know what to look for in these. -- Kenton Lee Bell Labs - WB ihnp4!wbscc!kfl or ihnp4!hoxna!kfl
konkin@sask.UUCP (Doug Konkin ) (05/15/85)
> > My only advice is that French bikes are not as > good as Japanese bikes, in terms of > engineering and workmanship and quality control. > But if the dollar's strong, you should be able > to get a good deal on a bicycle over there. > If you don't know a lot about bicycles, you'll > be best off if you go to a good bike shop and > have a knowledgeable salesperson help you find > the bicycle that's right for you -- something > that may be hard to do in a foreign country. > > The best French bicycle that I've seen is the > Gitane "Gran Tour", which sells here for around > $300. [] I would call that an uninformed statement. While the Japanese did their homework and took over the bicycle market (the middle range market, anyway), the Europeans have not rolled over and died -- thankfully, they have also started building better, more up-to-date bicycles. If the best French bike that you've seen is a $300 Gitane, I suggest that you look a bit further up the range. Disclaimers: 1. I ride a Motobecane, and it is *marvellous*. 2. The last time I looked, Motobecane models differed between Canada and the US -- perhaps the US importer is aiming for a different market segment. Doug Konkin U of Saskatchewan. {ihnp4,utcsri}!sask!konkin
robg@mmintl.UUCP (Robert Goldman) (06/13/85)
Dear net.bicyclers: A friend of mine asked me if I could get some advice about buying a bicycle in Paris. He is going on bicycle vacation in Europe this summer, then to Oxford for three years, so it doesn't make much sense to buy one here and bring it over. He has heard that Paris is a good place to buy a bike. Is this true? If so, any suggestions about where to go in Paris? I rarely read net.bicycle, so I'd appreciate an answer by mail (I'll forward, and check every now and then for news postings). thanks a lot, Robert Goldman