The Hoff and my helmet!

My new helmet arrived today! I have to say, I’m a big fan of Australia, I mean, I regularly listen to The Seekers version of “We Are Australian”, and can recite the original version of “Hey True Blue” before Vegemite got sold, but when it came to buying my new bike helmet, I had to go OS, and it’s a shame.

But to cut a long story short, I inquired about getting my new helmet from various bike shops in Oz, only to be told that it would be about a 1 week wait, and cost about $450. I ended up buying it off Alfred. E. Bike (I thought they were associated with Alfred. E. Neuman, but alas, they’re not!) for less than $200 AUD, and that included shipping, and it only took 5 working days to arrive.

Now, I’m not saying you should start buying everything from your bread to next car online from OS, but it makes me wander, why a sub-$200 helmet purchased OS costs $450 here, and takes the same amount of time to arrive? Hmm, as one of my old customers used to say to me (they were tighter than the Hoffs pants), someone needs to sharpen their pencil!