Retailer Name: Bike Nashbar
Website: www.Nashbar.com

Continue reading for my thoughts and opinions on Nashbar, a cycling-specific online retailer for road and mountain bikers…

Product Selection and Availability

First of all, Nashbar has a good selection of most road and mountain bike parts and accessories, from low- to high-end. Taking road cranks as an example, I see they have Shimano Nexave hybrid cranks for $30, as well as the newest Dura Ace crankset for $700 (plus Ultegra, 105, and of course, SRAM, Campy, and FSA.)

You probably won’t find every single thing you want in the exact size and color you need, but the selection is pretty good.

What I really like about Nashbar is all the odd stuff you don’t see very often. Sometimes you’ll find an old-fashioned or odd part that you have never seen before, and there are a lot of odds and ends that home bicycle mechanics will like to have on hand.

Another thing they’re big on is NOS (new old stock) products, which is sweet, because a lot of that stuff is better quality than the first-run of the new product lines. Stuff like older 8- and 9-speed cranksets and chains, so you don’t have to upgrade your 1995 bikes to the new stuff!

Pricing

What’s better than having those great NOS parts? Having all that cool gear on closeout! Everything is usually a great deal, like 60% off the original retail price!

Never components and regular name-brand gear is going to be on par with other retailers, but older parts and house brand merchandise is cheap!

Overall, I think Nashbar is one of the cheapest online stores (sometimes on par with PricePoint, which is basically a bargain outlet.) And sometimes their Nashbar branded items are very high-quality, so it’s a win-win deal.

Discounts & Coupon Codes

To make the prices even sweeter, Nashbar almost always has some sort of discount. They have a sale for every holiday, and sometimes they just issue a 10% off coupon for fun. Sometimes they even offer 20% off coupons on larger orders!

At the very least, there will be some sort of free shipping deal. Just make sure you’re signed-up for their email updates and you’ll always know what’s going on.

The one problem I’ve had that annoyed me was their policy with combining discounts. I can understand not being allowed to apply multiple coupon codes to an order, but apparently they consider gift cards to be one of these discounts, rather than a payment method.

See, I’d put together an order and applied a 20% off coupon code. Then I would enter a $20 gift card number, along with my credit card number, expecting my final order price to drop down by $20. Well, the order price would actually increase! Entering the gift card actually wiped out the initial 20% off discount!

So don’t buy Nashbar gift cards, it’s like shooting yourself in the foot!

Ease of Use (Website and Shopping Cart)

Nashbar starts out with the latest deals on the home page, with a navigation menu running down the left side. I like the two dropdown menus at the top, for quick browsing by category or brand. This is listed alphabetically, which is usually easier to navigate than their categorized lists, wondering if handlebar tape is a “bike part” or an “accessory” and whether it’s listed as “grips/bar tape” or as “handlebar tape.”

Or if you want a hub, it’s not under “hubs.” It’s either under “Front hubs” or “Freehubs/Rear hubs.”

Aside from those bits of confusion, Nashbar’s menu is pretty good. The main categories listed down the side (Bicycles, Fashion, Bike Parts, Accessories, Repair, and Training,) are pretty clear.

Clicking through or searching, you are presented with clean lists of items, photos, and descriptions. The listing usually starts with the highest prices, but you can easily sort by brand, percent off, or price (low to high) with another click or two. Also, the photos enlarge for a better preview when you scroll over them.

The product detail page is pretty nice and clear, and has a nice pop-up function to see the full-size pictures. Sometimes the descriptions are confusing, though. Yesterday I was looking at one of their bikes, and the weight was listed twice. Once as 26.5 lb and the other at 29.87 lb. So which is it?!

I do love the shopping cart. It is easy to understand, and it’s simple to remove items and update quantities.

Overall I do really like the website and shopping cart from an ease of use standpoint. The little discrepancies are annoying, but not bad enough that I’ll totally quit ordering from Nashbar.

Shipping & Handling

Nashbar is great for me because they ship out of Ohio – with standard shipping, my order arrives in 1-3 days here in central Pennsylvania.

Here’s one example where Nashbar really made me happy: Recently I placed a small order with Nashbar – it was 12/22/08, at night. I then purchased standard shipping, expecting to get the order the next Monday due to the Christmas holiday delay in there.

Well, the order arrived on 12/24/08 in the morning! I couldn’t believe it! It took literally 39 hours between ordering and receiving the box!

The rates are reasonable, too. Ground shipping ranges from $5.75 to $12.50 depending on order price, which is not bad at all. [Figures from 12/28/08.]

Just make sure you read their policies before you start ordering. Some people complain about bad shipping, but if you just read the details, you’ll know what to expect in advance. For example, backordered items are shipped via ground shipping. That’s just the policy, and it’s clear as day, so expect that if you have to backorder something.

Customer Service

I can only speak for myself, but I haven’t run into any nasty issues with Nashbar. Any time I’ve had a problem, they’ve always made it right. Not always super fast, but they mean well – everyone I’ve talked to seemed to put forth some effort and actually do their job.

I certainly wouldn’t say they go the extra mile to treat you like a king, but customer service seems “good enough” in most regards.

My final verdict is…

Nashbar is a great place to find cheap stuff. I’ve been shopping at Nashbar since the 90s when I had to mail in the order form with a check, and I probably order from them 6-12 times per year.

The best strategy for Nashbar success is to find what you want and wait for a 20% off coupon, and then buy a bunch of stuff at once. (Unless it’s a name brand item in a popular size, in which case you would want to order ASAP.)

So go ahead and order from Nashbar. Use common sense and you should be pretty well off.

Official website: www.Nashbar.com

The ear band is one of the best accessories for cool weather outdoor activities, whether it’s running, hiking, or cycling. They keep your ears toasty warm without causing your head to overheat.

I got a thin, cycling-specific ear band when I first started riding, and I bought the “S/M” which was the same as my helmet size. Should have gone for the Large size, though, because the one I got cut into the sides of my head.

Not only was it too small, the fabric did not stretch at all! That’s why the seams cut into my head.

But I used it for a few years until I found a “one size fits all” Nashbar Polypro Ear Band on sale for $7 this past summer. I figured it was worth a shot…

It was! The polypro material is warm and soft, and there are no seams to cut into my head. The fabric is also very flexible so it stretches around my head nicely.

Sometimes you can run into problems where one size definitely does not fit all, but in this case I was very pleased with the fit and comfort. (It’s more comfortable than the skull cap.)

It’s still a pain to get used to when transitioning from Summer to Fall riding, but after wearing it a few times, I got used to it.

Remember – frozen ears are more painful than any extra fabric wrapped around your head!

So overall I can’t complain. It’s thin enough to fit under my helmet, thick enough to keep my ears warm, tall enough to completely cover my ears, and there are no seams to cut into my head.

My final verdict is…

I highly recommend this ear band. I have a collection of Nashbar polypro arm warmers, leg warmers, ear band, and skull cap, and each item is great. This ear band is probably my favorite item of my collection, and it’s definitely the best ear band I’ve ever worn.

Even if you are used to wearing expensive designer gear, I still think this ear band would be a good choice.

Official website: www.Nashbar.com

The skull cap has always been a part of my summer wardrobe, but for winter riding, I typically stuck with balaclavas. But balaclavas are best for bitter cold and can be overkill at say, 35-45 degrees F.

So I’d wear my fleece ear band on these cool days, but that left my scalp exposed! I could couple the fleece ear band with a mesh skull cap, but that was not very comfortable, nor very warm.

So I purchased a Nashbar polypro skull cap designed for these cold days. It was on sale for $9 over the summer, so that’s a pretty sweet deal, especially when you consider my Coolmax skull caps were $12-15 each.

The cap is very thin, so it fits easily under my helmet. It seems nearly as thin as my SweatVac cap, and it’s probably ten times thinner than a regular fleece winter cap. I think it’s even thinner than the Nashbar polypro ear band I have!

But despite that, it’s warm. It covers my head and pulls down to cover my ears completely, which is the best part. No wind on my scalp and no frozen ears!

It’s not the best when it comes to comfort, but it’s comfy enough. This has a thin fleece-like layer next to your skin, and then a waterproof-like layer on the outside. Obviously this is not as comfy as a thick, soft fleece beanie, but it’s a trade off – those are thick and wouldn’t fit under a helmet.

My biggest complaint is that the ends kind of dig into the bottoms of my ears and the sides of my face. That’s annoying, but you forget about it after a few minutes.

It might take a ride or two to get used to wearing a tight cap, but you’ll get used to it. And I have to pull it tight to get it to stay down over my ears, but once my helmet is on, it holds the cap in place.

That about wraps it up, but one last thing I want to point out is a possible danger of this type of cap. Even when properly tightened, the slippery outer fabric allows my helmet to slide around my head when bumped ever so slightly. This doesn’t deter me from wearing it, since the same thing happens with most other winter head coverings, but it’s something I thought I should point out.

My final verdict is…

Skull caps are great for winter riding, and this one is pretty good (best when on sale for $9.) I’ve been wearing it during the Fall/Winter season of 2008 and plan to keep wearing it through the Spring of 2009.

I think this one is great because it’s cheap, and I only need it for a few months out of the year. If I needed it more often, I might buy something more expensive, but this one is good enough for me!

Official website: www.Nashbar.com