Bent distribution in Canada

I see all kinds of groovy recumbents on U.S. sites and am looking to
buy a SWB. I'm reluctant to buy direct due to the duty charged at the
Canadian border. My local bike shop can order for me brands which are
distributed here. The distributor furthermore would have to be
willing to ship just one bike. (They're reluctant to get in more as
they're experience is they can't sell ones over $600 of which there
used to be just one, a model from Evox which is a spinoff brand of the
Canadian bike company Norco).

Anyway, anyone had experience in ordering US brand bikes through
Canadian stores?

Answering my own question, Gerry's Bikes in Napanee Ontario (http://
geocities.com/gerrybikes/) still carries an Evox starter model for
$550 Cdn.

I test rode one once myself, and can recommend it to anyone looking
for a good, inexpensive first bent (maybe only available in Canada).
Would have bought it myself but looking for a SWB.

I wouldn't worry too much about the duty. Exchange rates are very
good right now.
Last fall I helped my Mom get hooked up with a Sun Tadpole trike.
I'm in Vancouver. We found prices for this trike to be a few hundred
dollars cheaper south of the border and there were plenty of stores
selling recumbents in the Seattle area. There is no duty on bikes made
in the USA. There is a 13% duty on bikes made in Taiwan. When we got
to the border, they didn't even ask where the trike was made and all
we had to pay was the tax. Even having to pay the duty, it would have
been cheaper by almost $200 Can.
Sun bikes are great entry-level bikes and I think they have a new
SWB in their line-up, though SunBicycles dot com doesn't show it yet.
Might still be outside your budget though.
In this area, there are quite a few 'bents on Craigslist so you
could check there. Right now there's a Vision SWB within an hour's
drive of here for $550. I got my near-new Sun EZ Sport for $600 in
there last year. At the time we were looking, we could have got a
WizWheels trike for my Mom out of Winnipeg for about half the retail
price.
I would urge you to test ride as many bikes as possible before
buying, if you haven't already done so. There seems to be a great
difference between ride-preference from one person to another and a
bike that one person doesn't particularly like may be perfect for you.
I mentioned to the local 'bent store owner that I found the handling
on his LWB (Recumboni) to be much more stable than my own. He sort of
smiled and said thanks, but that (in his experience) the next guy in
the door could very well have the opposite opinion.


Keith