[Closed] Brexit To Lead To More UK Manufactured Bikes?

I don’t believe the tariffs are high enough to make up for the greater costs (production capacity, labour and supply chain) here. Although if GBP collapsed vs USD then that may change.

Who will make the suspension forks, and shocks? Drivetrain, shifters, derailleurs, tyres, rims...?

I would like to know what comprises 50% of the bike, is that 50% of its value. Would a frame made in the UK be enough. What makes it made in the UK. You could buy in a frame from the Far East, stick a sticker on it and would that make it a UK frame.

These sort of rules are where the details get lost.

You can assemble stuff and then claim its made in the UK at the moment I believe.

You mention Bird. I'm a Bird owner, I love mine. It's a 'British Bike' but it's not really 'UK Made', in fact there's no really about it.

It's a UK designed, Asian manufactured Frame, built up with parts mostly from one of SRAMs sub-brands, Fox or Shimano.

I think even Orange would struggle to reach 50% with a Hope build, and how is the 50% calculated, weight, value, size?

No it wont.

This has all been discussed on the front page

https://singletrackmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/cotic-suspend-eu-deliveries-over-question-around-what-constitutes-a-british-product/

It gets confusing half way down as the page formatting is ballsed up.

I can't afford a bike that was fully manufactured in Britain. Wages for most people correlate to the prices of mass produced products from the other side of the planet. I couldn't go fully British unless I had a mega pay rise to match.

My next bike was going to be a Canyon or Commencal but I'll be scrapping that idea if the prices shoot up.

Same as sharkattack - I'll just be buying fewer or no bikes unless absolutely necessary. Although that was going to be the case given how things are VFM wise these days.

Who will make the suspension forks, and shocks? Drivetrain, shifters, derailleurs, tyres, rims…?

It only has to be 50% European. If near 100% can be reached by the European Bike Project then surely 50% isn't too much of a stretch? Might not be cheap mind!

Perhaps you have a better idea of how much cost the frame constitutes in a complete bike though?

Even if wages were the same, costs will never be... specialism and economies of scale mean that producing just for you own market will always cost more than the difference in tariffs. I'd really like there to be someone producing suspension forks here, but even if they paid their staff literally nothing, the still wouldn't be able to match the costs of the big brands making forks for sale all around the world. From here on... everything costs more for UK buyers, and UK exporters are less competitive and hampered by red tape... we just have to suck it up. Depressing. And all for what...?

kelvin

Depressing. And all for what…?

Blue passports and happy racists, mainly.

how does "adding value" work in terms of wheels? hand built in the uk from non eu parts? but then I guess you could apply the same thing to bird and cotic* and stanton assembling in the uk...

*for most of their frames

I said this in the Brexit 2020 post:

Rules of Origin is a great example of a Non-Tariff Barrier (NTB).

Let’s look at two bikes from one company for example:

Cotic Jeht 1
1st gen model with the frame assembled & painted in Scotland from tubing produced in Birmingham and running Hope wheels, brakes and assorted brackets. The drivetrain and suspension are imported along with other components.

Cotic Jeht 2
1st gen model with the frame assembled & painted in Scotland from tubing produced in Birmingham and running imported wheels, brakes, drivetrain, suspension and other components.

Because Cotic offer a custom build then each bike they export into the EU will have different custom codes, depending on the build. They’ll though need to document each and every part etc and present them at the importation customs These are NTB’s.

Also in my example I’d guess that Jeht 1 would be free of tariffs, but Jeht 2 would have tariffs added. And correspondingly different tariffs added (from zero to ?) depending on what the various costs of various components are and where they came from.

This is why they and other companies have paused their ‘exports’ to end-customers while they work out the actual costs, implications and get the paper work sorted.

This is why the vast majority of business folk dealing in cross-border trade supported the SM & CU. And for those of us old enough to remember it before, or who’ve dealt in non-EU / ‘WTO’ regimes, why we warned continually how it would add costs & complexity (for zero gain).

Bikes now must have 50% EU or UK-sourced parts to qualify for tariff free export to the EU.

55% UK made for non-E bikes. E-bikes are 50%. As a % of ex-works value.
As OP said though, EU parts can count towards the 'UK made' percentage under the reciprocal agreement.

If a part has been imported into the EU, and duty paid on it at component level, does it become an EU / UK part at that point?

happy racists,

Yep, got to keep the racists happy. And make sure you don't mention they are racist as that makes them unhappy.

As for buying a UK made bike, you would need to go back 50 years to do that which is also exactly what the Brexit voters wanted. Buying British made stuff is typically not for the British person of average wealth.

Because of the way it works we'll probably be offering fixed spec duty free bikes alongside full customs which incur duty. The customer can choose which suits them.

Building a 0% tariff compliant bike isn't looking impossible even with frames (mostly) made overseas.

If a part has been imported into the EU, and duty paid on it at component level, does it become an EU / UK part at that point?

No. But for countries where there is a trade partnership agreement with the third country (or its customs union), a set percentage of the final product can be made up of said parts for RoO purposes. It’s all quite straight forward (joke).

http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/

Tells you everything you need to know about UK bike manufacturing.

Building a 0% tariff compliant bike isn’t looking impossible even with frames (mostly) made overseas.

With suspension forks, shock, drivetrain, gears, rims, spokes, tyres…? At what price point? Probably not impossible, but I’d to see an example specced out.

Because Cotic offer a custom build then each bike they export into the EU will have different custom codes, depending on the build.

Perhaps I misunderstand what you mean by customs codes but the tariff codes that define duty are for categorising as either e-bikes, bikes or parts, each would be duty-free to EU if they meet the criteria, duty-payable if not. The tariff code for bikes applies the same duty whatever parts are on it. There can be some further variation based on certain exporter nation's GSP rates but that's not relevant to this point about UK-made, GSP doesn't apply to UK or EU.

So a bike with a UK-made frame, Hope parts and some other EU-made parts might make it to the 'UK made' percentage and get duty-free export to EU as you say, and a Taiwan import frame built up here won't.
Custom builds may need individual parts listing, tbh IDK, but the rates only change if the UK made % is above or below the threshold. Working that out for each build could be a pita.. though you'd probably just classify build specs in groups with prices / rates to match.

I'm not saying it's simple, it's a bit simpler than the example you give though.

I would have thought over time it would mean less as UK bike manufacturers lose sales and profits due to the stupid brexit rules

If a part has been imported into the EU, and duty paid on it at component level, does it become an EU / UK part at that point?

No, not as in 'made in' or from a further duty POV. On the duty side it did but we're out of the single market now, that's the whole problem. Now both EU and UK want the duty if it moves between - if duty is applicable on the way into UK or EU then it's not a product that qualifies for free trade now. To move between the two w/o duty it has to classed as 'made in'.

Building a 0% tariff compliant bike isn’t looking impossible even with frames (mostly) made overseas.

That is promising! I look forward to seeing the spec too.

Just totting up - as a European, over the last ten years or so, I've bought one full Cotic bike, two Cotic frames, a Fearless frame, and three Geometron frames (two secondhand, admittedly) all from the UK. I guess I'm big fan of UK bikes, hope it can continue.

Probably not impossible, but I’d to see an example specced put.

I think a lot of companies would too, it's prob what they're working through now ; )

With suspension forks, shock, drivetrain, gears, rims, spokes, tyres…? At what price point? Probably not impossible, but I’d to see an example specced put.

There's plenty of EU & UK parts you can use that are decent OE pricing. DT Swiss wheels? Polish. SRAM Chains? Portuguese. Headsets, seat clamps, axles, linkages and other CNC frame parts? UK. Bearings even? Sweden. As long as you're not trying for low end there's plenty of EU options that would leave not a huge amount left over price wise, and when you consider that you can import them free for the build, and re-export them free to the customer then your equivalent Taiwan part bike doesn't actually look so great value wise any more. Welding and painting the tubes in Taiwan represents a relatively modest percentage of the total cost on a decent mid-high end bike.

I’m not saying it’s simple, it’s a bit simpler than the example you give though.

Which is why Ben said "Because of the way it works we’ll probably be offering fixed spec duty free bikes alongside full customs which incur duty. The customer can choose which suits them."

I’d still like to see the spec of a full suspension mountain bike with 55%+ eligible parts. I’ve been trying to spec one myself… it’s non-trivial. Especially with a Taiwan welded frame, but even with a UK built one.

@intheborders Yes, I also said "you’d probably just classify build specs in groups with prices / rates to match." - same thing?
Potentially a situation where one build option is duty free, a different spec option item tips it over the threshold and you then pay 14% on the whole bike value. Will make quite a VFM difference so I'd expect some of that will be done by build classes or pick-from lists rather than full individual part options.

I built up a mainly UK made SS MTB a good few years back just for the hell of it. Lots of Hope (as that was UK back then), Middleburn cranks, USE post etc,. Things like rims and tyres were a challenge but the bike was around 85% UK.

Wasn't cheap though.

http://www.bobjacksoncycles.co.uk/ < Tells you nothing [s]everything you need to know[/s] about UK bike manufacturing.

FTFY.

Still plenty of bespoke frame builders out there, at the higher levels this will make very little difference, it's the mid range where stuff gets complicated.

As pointed out though, there are plenty of European parts out there and not necessarily ridiculously priced ones at that. Supply chains can change to simplify things (sourcing those parts listed above) and ensure compliance but it's not going to happen overnight.

Lots of Hope (as that was UK back then)

Are they not now?

mainly UK made SS MTB a good few years back just for the hell of it

No suspension forks, shock or gears. I could manage that easily enough. Now try a mainstream full suspension bike.

Who else makes suspension forks in the EU apart from EXT?

Forks and shock by Intend, gearing by Rohloff, tyres and tubes by Continental. Sorted.

[ checks Intend pricing ]

A great example to test would be my HB130. Would this pass the 50% mark? You think its a uk.bike and the frame is 100% UK but I reckon half the cost is from non uk.

Frame. Made in uk
Wheels. Hubs uk made and assembled in uk. Not 100% where rims are made (fortus)
Tyres maxxis. They have a major uk hub, but I think Taiwan made. 130 retail.
Gears/cranks Sram x0 and not made in uk. Over 1k retail.
Brakes. Shimano brakes but hope discs. So main cost not uk 300 retail.
Fork, dropper and shock. Fox so non uk and at least 2k rrp
Bar and stem. Hope so presume all uk.
Saddle. Non uk made.

Anyone know?

there are 2 main elements effecting this, one is origin status which itself is the governed by the "substantial processing" rules, and the “customs status” of goods being either unionised or non-unionised - i.e. released for free circulation in the EU or not. They are both independent of each other, but at the same time can be used together to determine tariffs, if any..

If you have Union goods, purchased and processed, you then have the option what you do with your origin status, you can play around with this until your hearts content, the rules are too vague.

For UK based companies, if you using unionised material in your production, import to the UK, then sell in the EU then you full under the "re-export" rule.

If you feel there were not enough EU sourced material, then as long as the combined material and value you add accounted or more than 50%, then it counts as a UK origin product, and therefore tariff free. However, what is not covered is “simple assembly of parts of products to constitute a complete product;” – i.e. everything was bought both outside of the EU and UK, but just assembled – this would not constitute a unionised or UK origin product. If however those parts were purchased from a country that has tariff free agreements with the eu or uk, then they can be considered to be zero value.

Some companies are making this too hard for themselves, most have left it way to late to understand international trade, so are now panicking because the government won’t, or rather can’t give them any help.

Would this pass the 50% mark?

55% mark.

most have left it way to late to understand international trade

Strange thing to claim. I imagine most UK based bike brands already sell to nonEU countries, and have done for years. What is happening is customers, couriers, and customs handlers across Europe are adapting, at speed, to a new situation signed off on at xmas in the middle of a pandemic.

as long as the combined material and value you add accounted or more than 50%

55% for bikes.

Which is why Ben said “Because of the way it works we’ll probably be offering fixed spec duty free bikes alongside full customs which incur duty. The customer can choose which suits them.”

there is no need to do this - buy the materails (components) from the EU that have already been released under the UCC rules, then ship back under "re-export"..

Sui

there is no need to do this – buy the materails (components) from the EU that have already been released under the UCC rules, then ship back under “re-export”..

And what margin will those suppliers in Europe charge? And are those materials/components exempt from duty?

Some companies are making this too hard for themselves, most have left it way to late to understand international trade, so are now panicking because the government won’t, or rather can’t give them any help.

I think there's some truth to that. I've been working on this in some way for most of 2020. We've been working on more UK made parts, and in the far east moving to more own brand stuff (i.e. bird branded) as that cuts cost on the overseas stuff without needing to cut quality - which reduces the %age of non EU/UK costs you have to overcome. We've been developing and strengthening relationships with EU manufacturers that allow us to get over the line. To be honest I thought it was just going to help me reduce the overall duty burden not expecting to be able to hit a target for a UK bike, but now its looking quite positive that we can do 0% bikes 🙂 Alot of what we're doing has benefits outside of the EU situation, but its not going to be just a happy accident if we can get that over the line too now.

there is no need to do this – buy the materials (components) from the EU that have already been released under the UCC rules, then ship back under “re-export”..

The tariffs are not high enough to warrant the additional cost of getting far east stuff through EU sources, and EU originating parts will be tariff free.

What's the story if I head over to Europe on my summer holiday, pick up say a new Commencal and bring it back- am I, in theory, liable for UK import vat and duty, even if theres no mechanism for reclaiming vat on removing the bike from France ie it's now the same as buying a bike in the US, and bringing it back.

That is indeed true, unless you can get a commencal for under £390 I think it is. Maybe a hoodie and a hat 🙂

And what margin will those suppliers in Europe charge? And are those materials/components exempt from duty?

a lot of stuff comes in via EU importers already, if it does then there would be no change. Even if goods did come in under a tariff, if the manufacture changed the status to a customs warehouse, he wouldn't bare that cost until it went bak into the coutry of desstination at whatever that charge would already have been.

also,

kelvin
Full Member
Would this pass the 50% mark?

55% mark.

The default value to use is MaxNOM 50% (Maximum 50% non-originating material), Heading 8712 (MaxNOM45%) is complete bike fulling under the definition of;

“frames and forks must be present, plus any 2 of the following major components – a set of wheels, a steering unit (including handlebar and handlebar stems), brake system and crank-gear (normally consists of a bracket-bearing axle, gearings and a crank or pedal arm).”

Parts of bicycles are classified under subheading 8714 (as are complete bicycles with motors), but excepting items such as tyres (chapter 40), luggage (chapter 42) or lighting (8512100000). So go back to 50%..

Yes. 55% for bikes. (MaxNOM 45%)

vinnyeh
Free Member
What’s the story if I head over to Europe on my summer holiday, pick up say a new Commencal and bring it back- am I, in theory, liable for UK import vat and duty, even if theres no mechanism for reclaiming vat on removing the bike from France ie it’s now the same as buying a bike in the US, and bringing it back.

you are right there is no VAT reclaim mechanism, that was hard when we were in the EU anyway. You would never be picked up for bringing a bike back - there are also provisions in place for non commercial transactions like this anyway, but is value dependant.

Was curious, thought it would be so, but it seems so backward now.

Sticking with my Bird anyway.

but it seems so backward now

It is. Brexit is retrograde.

Yes. 55% for bikes. (MaxNOM 45%)

No-one listened to us did they : )

P467 of the FTA if anyone's interested in CTH and % MaxNOM. NOM NOM NOM.

50% UK or CTH for E-bikes, 55% UK for pedal bikes.

a lot of stuff comes in via EU importers already,

Not OE. You collect pretty much everything from the factory door.

Only Shimano comes indirect for us, and then its straight from the factory to the UK. Ive not checked but I assume that the better shimano kit will be tariff free into the UK since we have a Jpn>UK deal.

Also I assume the same applies in reverse i.e. if you buy an Canyon I can’t imagine much of that is made in the EU.

Should be no problem for Canyon exporting to us as I've heard a rumour that we are outside the EU. If there is an increased tax go have a word with Boris.

There again he did promise this:
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/britain-to-remove-tariffs-on-non-eu-bicycles-following-no-deal-brexit.html

I used to work at a sub-contractor, building Muddy Fox bikes. They were 'made in the UK' but actually just assembled. This is the only way you can do mid-market stuff. Maybe Saracen will come back from the dead if we can't buy EU bikes!

From reading the thread it sounds like many non business owners are panicking / fearing the worst but Bird Bikes are basically... We’ve prepped, our company is well run and can hit the required figures to export without issue.

BTw the Æther 9C looks epic at the price in comparison to the usual suspects. If I was in the market right now this would be my choice over anything US or EU. They’ve also double sided the internal routing on the frame for export to US / EU.

If uk manufacturing could extend the interest free credit on a uk made frame then i would be happy to pay.

In my head I’ve always justified a payment in the region of £50pm over for a frame over 18mnths, extend that an I can’t see a problem.

Should be no problem for Canyon exporting to us as I’ve heard a rumour that we are outside the EU. If there is an increased tax go have a word with Boris.

I see Canyon have currently paused shipments to the UK, also prices are now significantly more than the same bike shipped to Ireland, i.e. same number of £s to UK as €s to Ireland

@binners Wow that black Grifter takes me back. I got one and then BMX’s appeared 5 minutes later. Forks were very bendy

“ If uk manufacturing could extend the interest free credit on a uk made frame then i would be happy to pay.”

The problem with interest free credit for a manufacturer, is that it’s only free for the customer. Someone has to pay, so the finance company takes a cut, and it’s a pretty big chunk of the margin unless your mark-up is really huge.

I’m still trying to get my head around how to deal with Northern Irish customers. For the normal EU I’ve changed prices to ex-VAT, like all non-EU European countries, but I think I have to charge VAT to NI but the shipping and admin will be more expensive than GB.

I do hope some Brexiteers are being driven mad by this shit too, but I have a horrible feeling that those of us whose jobs are so negatively impacted all voted remain!

Who else makes suspension forks in the EU apart from EXT?

DT are swiss and Lauf are icelandic? you would need to check the small print to see if there are any work arounds for those two. You also have Ohlins who are i believe swedish, As for where stuff is made and how that fits the RoO???

Back to the OP's question (or my interpretation), will it see more bikes made from 'scratch' in the UK?

Long term I don't think anyone can say for sure. Short to mid term you'll see less options sold in the UK and higher prices on average. That might leave a gap in the market for us and others to expand our business. Maybe we'll get to the size where it becomes economical to do what we do fully in the UK (excepting the obvious need for foreign parts). Thats a way off though. Whats more likely is you'll see more investment and business into EU based manufacturers like Triangles in PT. The UK market is tiny compared to the EU one, so its more likely you'd set up shop on the continent and sell into the UK than the other way round, and, as that happens, the advantages that maybe I have right now for UK customers go away.

At the moment the only advantage to leaving the EU is the negative effects on my Euro competition are (right now) worse than for me - i.e. Canyon, YT etc. Long term unless something changes no amount of deregulation etc. is likely to affect my business in a positive way. We (and Im guessing Stanton/Cotic etc. too) just aren't the minimum wage paying, corner cutting, polluting kind of business. We had less bureaucracy and red tape a month ago than we do today, so thats heading in the wrong direction totally.

The only long term upside will be if this does allow us to get a proper trade deal with the USA which for us is the only market big enough to make a real difference.

All of the above said, leaving the EU will have minimal long term impact on us (and by association the rest of the bike industry I am guessing). We'll survive, we'll adapt and we'll move on. Or rather its not a defining issue. Our business decisions on what to make and how we sell it will be far more important than a few not-insurmountable trade barriers raised every now and again.

ben - are your bikes going to be more expensive in the UK as a result of the changes and duties etc?

@Tj no they remain exactly the same cost to us in the UK give or take some inbound shipping cost differences, but they're a small %age of the cost of parts.

Except maybe DT Swiss spokes and nipples, Ive not looked into whether as they come from Switzerland and thats an outlier, will I have import duty on those? Don't know and TBH probably don't care as its only going to add 5% to a very small part of the cost of a wheel if it does happen.

EDIT: The reason for that BTW is as a rule we're sourcing direct from country of origin. So anything we get from the EU was made in the EU, and therefore is tariff free. UK Tariff rates today are exactly what they were on the 31st Dec. so nothing changed in that regard.

Actually, one key factor is the USD GBP exchange rate, and that has improved a bunch since it looked like a deal was coming and is holding strong in the mid 130s. I never thought 10 years ago I would say it but thats not a bad rate compared to the last couple of years, so relatively speaking it will allow us to hold fast against the tide of rising prices in the industry (5-10% is being widely publicised by our suppliers) so we'll look better value probably, even though the prices will sneak up a little in 2021.

I noticed Nukeproof put a statement out about increased prices as the free trade deal does not cover their UK - EU shipments due to the bikes originally coming from Asia.

It kind of baffles me though as once the bikes land in the EU surely all vat and duty is paid so why cant they then be sent to the UK under the trade deal, its not like there is some loophole to lower taxes.

Surely this will affect all manufacturers who have warehouses and distributors throughout the EU.

BTW out of curiosity what is the actual import rate for a MTB or e-MTB if it was sent from an EU shop to UK?

Good insight @benpinnick thanks.

The only long term upside will be if this does allow us to get a proper trade deal with the USA which for us is the only market big enough to make a real difference.

Do you think the US market would be good for you? I mean their homegrown industry is big, and they presumably design bikes for US tastes and you for UK taste, and I think they vary somewhat, no?

14% + VAT for a regular bike, Ebikes is less but I can't remember what. 6% or something.

The only long term upside will be if this does allow us to get a proper trade deal with the USA which for us is the only market big enough to make a real difference.

What barriers exist currently that you believe will be removed, and surely these will again favour the larger 'partner'?

Do you think the US market would be good for you? I mean their homegrown industry is big, and they presumably design bikes for US tastes and you for UK taste, and I think they vary somewhat, no?

We do an OK trade into the US considering the costs of shipping and duty. Take away the duty and it could only get better. It's not the be all and end all though. If it got significantly bigger we'd open a factory there. The EU was quite practical for direct to consumer shipping (Even better when we had the heady days of the customs union), the US has never been nor will it be so the volume needed to flip production there for US/Canadian customers would be much smaller.

That all depends on the deal though. For example I can no longer send bikes duty free to Canada since we left the EU as there's no way to hit the origin targets from UK only product. The same would probably apply in the US so a US trade deal might not help us at all for a complete bike.

Great info Ben, thank you.

To be honest I thought that e-bikes would of been higher than normal bikes, in fact I am shocked there is any fees on them the way the government is pushing a healthier lifestyle you would think products promoting that would be tariff free rather than pushing prices up!

Ha yeah. To be fair though eBikes compared to normal bikes are somewhat-polluting, less long lived in terms of the parts and harder to dispose of at the end of their life. Would be odd to have duty on regular bikes which are very eco friendly and then nothing on their slightly less green counterparts.

> double post removed <

All the rules are beneficial for ebikes compared to bikes without motors... but you need to remember that in many European countries, ebikes are replacing bikes with tiny (dirty) combustion engines. From "the other side of the fence" not having the more strict RoO and higher tariffs of normal bikes on them makes sense from that point of view. They set the terms of the deal, based on our political red lines.

Interesting that both Ben and Kelvin are very clued up about EBike rules.

Wonder what's in the pipeline 🙂

I wouldn't hold my breath on a USA trade deal. It will be low on Biden's priorities. Boris spent years with his nose up Trump's crack. Prior to the election he'd never bothered to meet Biden or indeed have any contact at all. So now he'll be at the back of the queue. Biden is pro EU and thought it unwise to leave.

Email from Cotic.
"Well, it took a few days of digging to get there, but we finally have our new working practices in place for our EU customers. We contacted all our customers with orders already placed with deposits individually last week, as we wanted to make sure they understood their situation specifically rather than seeing a general mailshot like this.

EU Export - New Rules
Before I get into this in detail, please remember that this is Cotic specific. We have a particular implementation because of our UK made frames and also because we sell predominantly mountain bikes. This means our bikes generally have very high value suspension bolted to them (the same, if not more than the frame cost sometimes) which is what stops us qualifying for tariff free trade on bicycles in all cases regardless of the origin of the base frame. Some other companies will have different tariff applications, because of their supply and bike spec situation. So, without further ado, this is what you can now expect from Cotic:

UK Made Frames:
UK made frame only orders (so that is currently RocketMAX and Rocket) attract Zero duty when shipped to the EU. This is regardless of the damper specified, and can also stretch to include headset and BB and certain other items usually associated with "frame only" orders, mainly because in the vast majority of cases it involves UK made Hope parts.

Taiwan Made Frames:
All Taiwan made frame only orders will attract 4.7% import duty, and the associated handling fees for customs. As an example, we have calculated that a customer in the EU with a BFeMAX frame ordered will pay EUR40-50 more now.

Complete Bikes:
All Cotic bicycles attract 14% import duty. This means that with handling fees our bikes have become EUR350-600 more expensive depending on specification.

The flip side of this in our home market is that this also works the other way, and our European based competitors bikes have increased in price by 20% or more, which means we are now more price competitive in our home market. Silver linings and all that.....

All purchases made by EU customers are now charged without 20% UK VAT. This means the price you pay Cotic will be much lower initially, but you will have VAT and the import duty and fees applied in transit, which will be payable by the customer to the courier when the frame or bike arrives.

Shipping
If you live in the EU and already have an order on with us for a frame or bike, then shipping is still included in the price and we will honour that regardless of what happens in the next few weeks.

We aim to continue with that with new orders, but we are keeping an eye on pricing. At the moment the prices remain similar to pre-Brexit, but some services such as DPD Road is currently suspended whilst they figure out their new border operating procedures, and the other services available are currently giving out 11-14 day transit times. Again, I suspect this is due to needing new and more involved operating procedures at borders. It will improve over time as the new rules settle in, but we reserve the right to increase shipping fees if we see major increases on our usual services.

So that's it. Thanks for your patience, and as always, we're on the end of an email or the phone if you're unsure about anything. We're happy to talk things through.

Cy
Founder and Director

And YT showing £185 shipping & import fees plus Customs Duty of £570 on a £4,900 bike.

This is Cy's "silver lining"...

Just got that Cotic email, clarifies things quite nicely for their position.

The YT thing doesn't hold well for my planned purchase though if the other German brands are going to be a similar price increase. Won't make me buy elsewhere as the type of bike I'm after they're still going to be cheaper than the alternatives so it'll just mean getting the model below instead.

The flip side of this in our home market is that this also works the other way, and our European based competitors bikes have increased in price by 20% or more

Anyone seen this in action? Just checked a few websites and I got the feeling I was looking at existing stock.