west africa parts

hey dude where are are you, and which direction are you riding? I'm near Guelmim, Morocco, riding South to Dakar...

Never used them, but people recommend St John Street Cycles in Bridgewater England - the Thorn bike people (google 'em).
I have used Spa cycles in Yorkshire for mail order in UK.

Sure both can do foriegn.

Im in Naukchott Mauritania, will be in Senegal in 4 days inshallah. Prepare for the trip from the border to here- pretty cruel brother

I used Chainreactioncycles to get some stuff posted out to Zambia. I emailed SJS Cycles at the same time, but CRC got back to me the following day with a quote for postage/ETA whereas SJS Cycles took near on a week.

I think that most retailers will use a courier such as DHL so when you fill out the order just put in as the delivery address that of the couriers office in Dakar.

If you're unlucky then your parcel will get held up in customs. If you can get to the customs office yourself to "discuss" the import duty you should be paying then probably you'll get a decent rate. I got it down from 30% to 10%, but it took a lot of patience. If you get DHL (or other courier) to do it for you then you'll get the standard rate (30% or thereabouts on top of the cost of the stuff AND postage costs) plus DHL (or other courier) will likely charge you quite a bit on top for their services.

Can be very expensive.

If you want to be sure to avoid import duty then the best thing to do is order the stuff and get it delivered to a friend who can then repackage it and remove anything giving away its true value and send it to you as a gift. But if you do that then either you'd end up paying vast amounts to send it by courier (a lot more than the postage costs through online retailers such as CRC) or waiting 2 weeks or more for it to arrive through normal postage service.

With the stuff I ordered it was in Zambia within a week after ordering.

floyd... from the border to Naukchott... cruel in what particular way?

hi

have you been able to find chains on your route so far, and if so do the bike dealers have chainbreakers? quite a specific question i know, but if so all i'd need to take would be perhaps a sram link.

regards, and enjoy

Hi

The last place we found shimano parts in West Africa was Marrakesh....after that I'd say Lagos in Nigeria! Suggest you either DHL the parts as #4 suggests or else rely on poste restante to the PTT in Dakar...aargh, yeah maybe that's not the most reliable option.

Sorry to be of little help!
Anna & Luke

thanks to you all, anna and luke was there deffinately parts in Lagos???treeofthorns- I carry " chains and rotate them every few thousand kilometers, tailwind is what I didnt have from Naudabou, 3 days to do 200km, then 1 day to do 200 km- you will have to stop overlanders for water if you have my luck- also lots of sand dstorms. hotel sahara in Nauch is great, avoid rosso, take a right at the border to Djema, dirt track but lots of wildlife and quite cruisy 130 km to st louis

thanks dude. every bit of info helps!