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Tires - online or local dealer?

3K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  stallhorn 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I went to a local bike shop to see if I can get some PR3 tires at a decent price (and support my local bike shop) and I was surprised to hear they were significantly more at the shop. The owner went on to explain why the online tires are so much less - he said they are either the tires that were returned from tire dealers (because they sat on the shelf too long or have some imperfection).
He said he had someone who went out bought tires online and had to come back for another set in 6 months.

Is this theory true?

I buy my car tires from Tire Rack and never thought about it twice.
 
#2 ·
Haha, B.S.. Find a different local dealer to do business with. The local dealer I buy tires from (he usually has to order them) can get them in and mounted within $10 of what it costs to order them and have them mounted and balanced locally. I can't help but think any tire you order is gonna be "fresher" than a tire a local dealer ordered (however long ago) in anticipation of your need.
 
#8 ·
I'd check at a few more bike shops. My local Kawasaki shop (Scott Powersports, Coopersburg, PA) orders PR 3 tires, available in two or three days. Their prices are about $30 more than Revzilla for the two tires (they charges sales tax, Revzilla does not), but he will mount them for about $30 less (total) if you buy the tires from him. So, it's a wash, if you have them mount the tires. If you can mount them yourself, then you save the mounting charge and save another $30 ordering off the internet.
 
#12 ·
The large online dealers buy in a large volume so get cheaper wholesale prices. They can also buy directly from the manufacturer where as the local dealers usually have to buy from a distributor which adds to their cost.

In Canada though the cost of shipping will effect the price and it is still usually cheaper to buy from a dealer than a cheap US based on line retailer (at least for tires) because of the enormous extra cost of shipping a tire.

I find most local dealers will install and balance a tire for $20-$25 if you bring in the wheel and buy from them. They may charge more if you supply the tire.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Local mechanic told me the same story about how I was probably going to get 3 year old tires online and he wouldn't mount them cause it's a liability :blah: :blah:

So I mounted them myself and went back to show him my fresh tires from mc superstore. "Well you got lucky"

That set of PP's is going on 3K miles on my supermoto with quite a bit of life left.
 
#14 ·
Agree, that's a line of bull from the dealer. They get them from the same warehouse.

My dealer (Grapevine Kawasaki, Grapevine, TX) has very competitive prices on tires, and they tend to keep a set of PR3s in Versys size in stock, I think maybe for when I wear mine out. Either way it's super convenient, I get online pricing but pick-up-today convenience.
 
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