Shoutout to Longstone Tyres

[NorthernThrux]

A week ago Friday, my dad sent me a birthday card enclosed with a cheque in advance of my 50th. After I got over the shock (I have never received a dime from my dad), I immediately went shopping for "ridiculously priced things I would never buy for myself but I felt I could squander his money on" kinds of stuff. Michelin XWX 185/70VR15 tires certainly fall in that category.

I compared Coker and Longstone. Coker was slightly cheaper ($15 per tire I think), but wanted almost 800 bucks to Fed Ex to Canada. Longstone had free shipping. Which usually means seamail and a 3-4 month wait. But to save 800 bucks it seemed worth the wait. I ordered the tires on Feb 22nd (a Saturday, late in the afternoon).

Imagine my surprise when my 5 tires arrived on my doorstep yesterday, courtesy of Canada Post and the Royal Mail ! Two packages of 2 tires strapped together and 1 free one, with postage, customs and other documents all neatly taped to the tires. Just a couple of days past my birthday. In this day and age of mediocre service and complaints about the post office, I think this warrants special mention.

cheers
Ravi

[rsr1975]

I have had outstanding service from Longstone as well. It is hard to believe that they can do it faster and cheaper all in from the UK than the folks at Coker. I'd love to support Coker, but it was a substantial difference in the all in cost and their delivery times are remarkable.

[lkadams]

Great tip Ravi! I was surprised on the tires - however I order all my cycling stuff from the UK because I cannot get over how American companies cannot come up with some reasonable and economic way to ship stuff to Canada. I have ordered tires from Tire Rack without too much hassle, but of course they don't have the vintage tires we really need. I have my eye on a set of Avons but need some sort of windfall like yours to buy them!

[boxster03]

$800 for shipping ? that is insane

[72Group4]

$800 isn't insane.

I made the mistake of using Fedex once to get some 7R rims sent to Harvey for refinishing...and received a huge bill for brokerage fees and a request from Fedex to post a USD $10,000 bond (not joking)....a few months later I finally had the rims returned and sent Canada Post to Harvey without an issue and at half the cost. Lesson learned.

Nice tires Ravi...

[StephenAcworth]

Cross-border shipping (Canada:US and vice versa) is ridiculous... In both cost and time. I often buy stuff in the UK and find the shipping costs lower than from the US and the service quicker. Not just the UK though, often things from Europe in general are quicker...

[70tangerine]

xwx porn….sweet……besides 911's…..I recall seeing most prancing horse rides on that rubber…..

Longstone does a great job as usual……good shop.

[72Group4]

Cross-border shipping (Canada:US and vice versa) is ridiculous... In both cost and time. I often buy stuff in the UK and find the shipping costs lower than from the US and the service quicker. Not just the UK though, often things from Europe in general are quicker...

Stephen - have you tried shipping the parts you get in the US to the UPS store in Ogdensburg and bringing it across? Its not too long of a drive and its usually a quiet border station.

[NorthernThrux]

Many of my friends have stuff shipped to Port Huron PO boxes or parcel holding agents. Then you get to take advantage of many free shipping deals in the US. Amazon book orders for me go to our PO box there. Its a 1 hr drive outside of rush hours on the bridge.

Nonetheless, I simply do not understand how Americans, whose biggest trading partner is still Canada (20% ahead of China for chrissakes), cannot find a way to ship cheaper here. The post office is cheapest compared to the ridiculous premiums Fed Ex and UPS charge, but its still not cheap like Japan Post or the Royal Mail. So much for NAFTA.

I think I'll go inhale the smell of the XWXs before calling it a night.

[PMNorris]

I bought a single Avon from Longstone recently, which was shipped to Poland. Great service. The Michelin would of been my preference, but this was for a spare and slightly narrower than the Michelin, so keeps the carpet under the hood/bonnet/trunk? flat.