Bike Supply Shortage Update
What the bike supply situation is right now.
I knew this was a post I’d have to write at some time this year, but I wouldn’t have guessed it would be in February. The global bike supply shortage has hit us hard in the early season, and your appetite for bikes has only grown! We (and the entire industry) are experiencing major shortages of bikes and parts this season, and as a result buying a new bike will be quite a bit different this year than in past years. Fear not, we’ll still have bikes, and this post will give a quick overview of how to best go about getting the bike you want this spring!
First, let’s address why we’re in a supply shortage.
- Covid-19 created an enormous global demand for bikes. More people picked up cycling for recreation, and transportation last year than in any other year. This is amazing! BUT…
- This demand has now overrun manufacturing capacity at several major parts producers. Bikes are a beautiful melange of highly engineered components, and a shortage of any one of those components brings the whole system to a halt. AND…
- Demand is STILL incredibly high. We’ve had our busiest winter season ever, and we haven’t actually been “open” yet because of Covid restrictions. Let that sink in a minute.
- Getting a bike in 2021 will be different than any other year. The high demand doesn’t mean we won’t have any bikes, it just means we won’t have many bikes in store. Test ride, deposit, wait patiently. That’s the name of the game this year.
- Many bikes won’t ever be “in stock” on the web store this year, and will only be available as a pre-order. However, if you see a bike on our web store, we do have it in hand, or confirmed as en-route to us from the warehouse.
Here’s how we’re operating to make sure we can get you a bike you love:
- We have demo models of all the bikes we’ll sell this year. These bikes are nearly all available right now to test and try.
- If you’re thinking about a new bike, book a sales consultation as early as possible. The sooner we order your bike, the sooner we’ll get it. Some bikes are backordered from 30-90 days from order to delivery. The sooner we have your order, the sooner you’ll get your bike!
- You may want to pick a slightly different model with an earlier arrival date, or something that we have in-store already. We’ll be as up-front as possible about these, and provide honest ETA’s on bikes not in stock.
- Once you’ve decided on a bike that we have confirmed for delivery to us, we ask for a 15% deposit to assign that bike to you. We’ve lowered our deposit to 15% from our usual 25% due to the longer than usual wait times.
- Once your new bike arrives, we’ll call you and arrange a time to come in for pickup and fitting. Please be patient, and know that we’re doing everything we can to get things moving once the bikes are delivered to us.
- You can pre-order accessories like bags and locks, too. These will also be in short supply throughout the year. We’re receiving new stock almost daily right now, and expect much (but not all) of it to be listed on the web store by the end of March.
Our fifth year in business is certain to be unlike any we’ve experienced before, but be assured that we’re working our hardest to get you on a great bike this year. As spring is just around the corner, we’re expecting a flood of new people to join us on bikes, as we explore our city and region to its fullest. Life’s better on a bike, and we’re excited to welcome these new riders to the fold.
#ToTheGroceryStoreAndBeyond
-Ben
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