About Our Pricing
The short version: The price you see on our site is the manufacturer's current MSRP. We don't set it, and we can't lock it. If the manufacturer raises the price between the day you order and the day your bike ships, we may need to pass some or all of that increase along — and if we do, you'll hear from us before we charge anything. If the new price doesn't work for you, you can cancel that order and get back every dollar you've paid us, with no cancellation fee of any kind.
That's the whole policy in one paragraph. The rest of this page explains why, and what actually happens when it comes up.
Who sets the price
R&A Cycles is an authorized retailer for roughly 80 brands, including Pinarello, Colnago, Bianchi, Cervélo, ENVE, Shimano, SRAM, Campagnolo, Assos, and many more. Every one of those brands sets its own MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price), and every authorized dealer in the country — us, the shop down the street from you, the online-only guys — is working from that same price sheet.
We are not the price-setter. We're the shop that stocks it, builds it, tunes it, ships it, and stands behind it after the sale. Our job is to be honest about what the manufacturer is charging on the day you buy.
Why prices change
Bicycle prices are not static. In any given year, a bike or component you're watching can move in price for reasons that have nothing to do with us:
- MSRP revisions. Manufacturers raise or lower MSRP mid-year, sometimes with a week's notice, sometimes with none.
- Model-year changeovers. When a brand rolls a new model year, last year's pricing is replaced by this year's — often with an increase.
- Currency fluctuations. Most premium bicycle brands are European or Asian. When the dollar weakens against the euro, yen, or Taiwan dollar, U.S. prices go up.
- Tariffs and import duties. U.S. tariffs on bicycles, components, and materials change with trade policy. When they change, MSRP follows.
- Freight and supply chain costs. Ocean freight, air freight, and warehousing costs are baked into MSRP. When they spike, so does the price.
- Spec changes. Occasionally a brand will change the spec of a model mid-year (a different derailleur, wheel, or finish) and update the price to match.
None of these are decisions R&A Cycles makes. All of them can move the price of a bike between the day you order it and the day it lands in our warehouse.
What this means for pre-orders and backorders
Most of the bikes we sell are in stock, ship within a few days, and the price you paid is the price you paid — end of story.
But some of what we sell is either pre-ordered (a new model or size not yet released) or backordered (temporarily out of stock at the manufacturer). For those orders, there's a gap — sometimes weeks, sometimes months — between when you place the order and when the bike actually ships. The manufacturer's MSRP on the day your bike ships may not be the same as the MSRP on the day you ordered.
When that happens, here's how we handle it:
- Small increases, we absorb. If the manufacturer nudges the price up by a small amount between your order and shipment, we eat it. You paid what you paid. We don't come back to you over $50 or $100.
- Large increases, we call you. If the manufacturer raises the price significantly — the kind of jump we can't absorb on the margin of a single bike — we contact you before doing anything. We tell you exactly what changed and by how much. You have three options:
- Pay the difference and keep the order at the new price.
- Cancel the order and get back everything you've paid us. When a price increase is the reason you're walking away, we waive the fees in our returns and exchanges policy — including on custom and special orders that policy would otherwise treat as non-cancellable. No hassle, no hard feelings.
- Talk to us. Sometimes there's a middle ground — a different size, a different model year, a comparable bike from another brand. We'd rather find you the right bike than lose you as a customer over something outside our control.
We will never charge a price increase to your card without contacting you first and getting your explicit go-ahead.
What we commit to
- A price increase never costs you anything. Any time we come to you with a manufacturer price change on a pre-order or backorder, you can cancel and get a full refund of what you've paid — no restocking fee, no processing fee. Cancellations for other reasons follow our returns and exchanges policy.
- We tell you the truth about lead times. If we know a bike is four months out, we say four months, not "coming soon."
- We tell you the truth about price risk. If we know a brand is likely to raise prices before your order ships, we'll tell you when you place the order, not after.
- A human answers. If you have a question about pricing on a specific bike or order, you can call any of our three stores (Brooklyn, Walnut Creek, Coral Gables) and talk to a person who knows what they're doing.
How this fits with our returns policy
This page covers one specific situation: the manufacturer raises the price after you've placed your order. That change comes from our side of the transaction, not yours, so walking away costs you nothing — a full refund of what you've paid, no restocking fee, no processing fee, and we'll release custom and special orders that our normal policy treats as non-cancellable once placed.
Everything else — a change of mind, a return after delivery, an exchange, a cancellation we didn't prompt — is governed by our Returns and Exchanges page, which spells out the restocking and processing fees that apply and which special orders can't be cancelled once they're placed. If you're not sure which situation your order falls under, call us and we'll tell you straight.
Why we're being this direct
R&A Cycles has been selling bicycles since 1976 and online since 1998. We are almost 50 years into this business, and we got here by being straight with people about what things cost and why.
We don't hide behind fine print, and we don't want anyone to feel blindsided at the finish line of a pre-order that took months to arrive. That's the whole reason this page exists — so that if a manufacturer price increase does affect your order, you already knew going in that it was a possibility, and you already knew we'd handle it fairly.
Questions?
Call us, email us, or come see us at any of our three stores. We'd rather have the conversation now than have it be a surprise later.
- Brooklyn, NY — Contact Brooklyn
- Walnut Creek, CA — Contact Walnut Creek
- Coral Gables, FL — Contact Coral Gables
- Email: info@racycles.com
