Scott CR1 / CUBE Agree: Buy in France?

[alp1950]

Lucky enough to have a wee place in France and plan to do some cycling around the Alps this summer. Not sure whether to take a bike out with me, or buy a new one out here & leave it.

Thought I'd get a feel for French prices. No cheaper as far as I can make out- the bikes I saw in Sports 2000 in Bourg St Maurice:

Scott CR1 Comp: E1600 (~£1477)
Scott CR1 Team CD: E2000 (~£1800)
Cube Agree GTC Pro: E1499 (~£1350).

Unless I've missed something, these prices look no better than UK prices & probably worse.

Any thoughts on the bikes?

 

[Crankarm]

Where do you spend the most time? I would buy your bike where ever this is as a bike bought in either country will not be covered under the warranty in the other country. Your UK statutory rights do not extend to France and vice versa I would have thought. Is your conversational and written French sufficiently good to deal with a problem that might occur with the bike if you bought it in France? A small saving you might make on purchase in France might make you wish you had forgone it and bought in UK if you have a serious problem with the bike. Also you are in Glasgow so are some way from France despite owning a property there so if you had to keep going back and forth or arranging carriage it could become expensive. I would buy in the UK as you indicate that there is little difference in the prices.

 

[rich p]

I got my CR1 Team for £1400 last year in the UK but things may have changed.

 

[PpPete]

Just a guess - but Bourg St Maurice is unlikely to be the cheapest place.
I've been thru a few times and, as I'm sure you will agree, it's one of those places that lives off the tourist trade. Try Lyon or Grenoble. Or if you want the support LBS can provide, get a price in Lyon and ask the place in Bourg St Maurice to match it.
I'm sort of assuming if you have a place there your French is up to this...if your command of language isn't good enough to haggle on the price (something all French people expect) then it's unlikely to be good enough to get decent LBS service if you need it and you might as well buy in UK.

 

[karen.488walker]

Would have thought that it is better to buy in the UK because of the Xchange rate.