La Rosa – bought a seat from them that was in their clearance section. I knew when I bought it that there was no returns. Not a big deal but they sent me a seat that does not fit my bike although it was advertised as direct bolt on. Sent them an email to their customer service and got a response that there is nothing they can do as it was final sale. Numerous emails after that went unanswered.
Verdict: Product quality decent for the price but customer service sucks
JP Cycles – bought a lot of stuff from them over the last year. They probably have the best website and selection of products. All the parts that I have bought were always in stock and shipped fairly quickly. They also will ship USPS which helps even though the shipping charge is a little on the high side
Verdict – will continue to buy from them, no complaints
FortNine (Canadian Motorcycle) – their selection is OK but not like JP Cycles. Website is useable but not the easiest at times to find products. I bought my Progressive Shocks and LA Chopper risers from them. The parts were $$660 USD on JP Cycles but the parts from FortNine delivered to my door for $770 CDN.
Verdict: Use JP Cycles to find the parts but check FortNine for price and availability
Carlini Bars: Probably swapped 15 -20 emails with them about bar dimensions as they advertise their bars are larger than advertised. Finally after going back and forth with bar/riser combinations I wanted to order a set of 16” Flying Apes in Black and there springer risers. The response from the sales guy was “I looked at the production run for the first half of 2017 and we have no plans to make that bar and size in black”. Also they do not stock the risers in black but for $40 more they will get a chrome set powder coated. The part that pisses me off is that over a couple of months of emails they knew from the beginning that I was looking for Flying Apes in Black but could not decide on 14” or 16”.
Verdict: Their website shows what they have in stock including size and finish. Don’t waste your time trying to get something else.
Chopper Garage USA – Ordered some brass parts from their website almost a month ago. When I got the tracking info I found out l that their parts ship from Poland. After about three weeks I sent a couple of emails to their customer service and got no response. Tracking info on Can Post has not changed in 3 weeks and I am not sure whether I am going to get my parts.
Verdit: Buy somewhere else.
Garage Leathers – Ordered a swing arm bag from them from their website. Called them with a few questions about the bag and they are answered all my questions. They also shipped it by USPS at my request.
Verdict: A little more money but the quality is well worth the it. Good customer service
Torch Industries – After dealing with Carlini I was a little tired of deal with bar manufactures but I saw a thread here that had pics of their bars on a Softail Slim. When I found out who made the bars I called them up and had a great conversation with their sales guy. The result was I got a set of bars built to my exact specifications for $35 more than the Carlini.
Verdict: Awesome customer service and products but they are a mostly a custom order shop so you ideally need a good idea of the bar dimensions you want. Also the build time is 4-6 weeks, which is not a problem this time of year
Last edited by Crossbone Canuck; 03-19-2017 at 09:04 AM.
Crossbone thanks for the post. I do a lot of shopping South of the border as well. Here are my two cents worth:
J.P. Cycles, much the same as your experience. Great selection and pricing and they accept CDN CC.
Motorcycle-Superstore, they accept CDN CC, have a great selection, free shipping to anywhere in the lower 48 states. I usually have my stuff shipped to my Kinek address, receive free shipping and drive 40 minutes South of my place to pick them up. Usually don't have to pay anything at the border.
Venom Imaging. Great custom paint and design shop. They have hundreds of designs for Derby, and Timing Covers as well as for Horn Covers. If you want to customize your bike for very little cost and have something truly unique I highly recommend you check them out. They accept CDN CC and will ship via USPS across the border. Great shopping experience there.
Boardtracker-HD Online - great selection and pricing for all HD products. About 25-30% cheaper than CDN HD parts anywhere, and that's after the conversion rates we have right now. Problem is that they don't accept CDN CC. I have a few buddies in the States that will order stuff for me and I just pay them directly. I have stuff shipped to my Kinek account. Boardtracker shipping is expensive unless you purchase over $250 USD of parts and accessories, but they only charge $5.00 USD shipping for any orders over $250 USD, no matter the quantity or weight. I just ordered Defiance Grips, Defiance Footboards, Defiance Brake Pedal Pad, the 2017 Touring Manual and Edge Cut Levers for $699.00 USD. That works out to approximately $910.00 CAD. My HD Service guys gave me a quote for $1252.00 after tax for the same parts. I love shopping there but you need someone in the states to place the order for you. Overall best HD parts selection, pricing and stock on hand. Will continue to do the majority of my HD genuine parts shopping here but I have lots of connections in the US and also frequent the US for work so I have the added advantage that I can bring back up to $800.00 in duty free each time I'm down there.
Revzilla - love this shop, great selection, great review videos on everything you can imagine, excellent customer service, military discounts and very competitive pricing. They accept CDN CC, however some items cannot be shipped across the border due to customs regulations. I get around this by shipping to my Kinek address, then driving down and picking them up. Great shopping and experience, will definitely continue to shop here.
Fullsac Performance - wicked exhaust and performance parts place. Give discounts for HD Forum members. They accept CDN CC, cheap shipping in the US and have really good customer service. Again, I ship to my Kinek address and drive down and pick them up. Will continue to shop here when I want to upgrade my exhaust if I get a new bike.
FortNine - similar shopping experience that you have. For a CDN company they offer the best prices and at time can even compete with US stores after shipping and exchange rate are factored in. There site can be a bit difficult to navigate at times, but generally I have found what I was looking for. I always compare prices with exchange rates from US stores before buying. I found tires and exhaust to be very cost competitive with the US. Will continue to compare prices when shopping for parts or accessories.
Hope this helps and encourage other CDN riders to provide their insights as well.
I have less experience than the previous posters on ordering online. here are my findings.
Dream Cycles Canada are excellent with free shipping in Canada I believe over a $100. Their only issue is not a huge selection.
DK Customs give excellent service take CC credit cards. They do ship to Canada but the shipping to Canada is very expensive so I've had them ship to a company in the US called Border Services which sounds like your Kinek which greatly improved the shipping.
Fortnine has been ok also but like previous stated their web page kinda sucks. What I've been doing to find parts at Fortnine is go to Jp Cycles find the part and number then just type it into Fortnine's search function and they usually have the part.
Hope my limited experience helps someone a little.
Funny I'm having some grief with US websites and came across this post
Derby Cycles. Ordering a helmet, follow their instructions on the website to check out for International. Won't let me proceed as it still wants a US state listed. I emailed them 4 days ago explaining the problem. NO REPLY. They got my reply today.....see yah!
PFI Western Store. Ordered some boots. You can't get a price on shipping until you give them your Credit Card #. Then they are suppose to email you the next day with a shipping quote. I emailed them asking for a shipping quote prior to filling out my credit card. Never heard back.
I've done lots of internet shopping for US websites. Usually no problems, but two bad occurrences over the wknd. Maybe Donald's BUY AMERICAN also implies DO NOT SELL TO FOREIGNERS
Update on Chopper Garage USA. Finally got my parts from them after 32 days from the day I ordered. Parts are better than expected but I am not sure the funky wooden box is necessary
Speed Dealers - Ordered a couple of brass caps from them. I submitted my order online in the evening about 8:00 PM and I got an email the next morning at 7:08 AM my time saying the parts had been shipped and the tracking number was XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
For $23 shipping by USPS the parts came from Joplin MO to my door in 7 days. Also did not pay any fees or GST when I got the package.
Verdict: Decent website that had no problem with International orders, super fast handling and shipping. Quality of the parts are outstanding but you do pay for it. Would not hesitate to order from them again
I am waiting on another package from JP Cycles that is taking a long time to get here. With this shipment I learned something about JP Cycles when the item shows as "In stock".
After waiting about 2 weeks of watching my order online saying "pending vendor delivery" I called their customer service. The person I talked to took the time to explain what was happening with my order. Apparently what "in stock" means is that the part is in their system but its exact location could be anywhere in the country. With a domestic order the parts would just ship from wherever they are to the customer in multiple shipments.
With international orders they gather all the parts together at one warehouse and ship in a single package. This means that if the "in stock" parts are all over the place then they need to first be shipped to a central location for repackaging
My order date was: Date Ordered: 2017-02-16 and the shipping date was: Date Shipped: 2017-03-08
Tracking says it will be delivered on Saturday what really will turn out to be Monday. 33 days from the day I ordered!
The morale of the story is that "In stock" means something different for our orders.
Last edited by Crossbone Canuck; 03-16-2017 at 06:12 PM.
Haven't done as much shopping on US sites lately, but have had similar experiences to other posters on this thread.
Generally very good experience dealing with Revzilla and J&P Cycles.
Also just ordered several Custom Dynamics LED components from Dreamcycles. Pricing was much better than anything I could find in the US and their Customer Service and response to all my questions was excellent. Small operation, but great pricing and service!
I have an account at CBI warehouse in Niagara Falls NY and often have US shipments sent there. It is a 45 minute drive that takes me past a number of wineries. By the time I get back with a nice selection of wines and my parts, I probably haven't saved anything, but it is always a fun trip, lol.
02-20-2017, 11:37 AM
My experience ordering numerous cross border vendors
