Parts shortage
 

I was wondering if there is a parts shortage everywhere.
I was shopping for a new pair of brake rotors and had to go to 5 online stores to find them. They had the model listed but none in stock
Is this happening everywhere?

I haven't had any problems getting parts yet, but I have noticed the shelves in the stores that carry bike parts around here are looking a little sparse. Bikes themselves are looking really sparse online. Everything I'm interested in is on back order or not available until next year.
Just noticed you're in Italy, I'm on the west US coast.

Shortages and long lead times are the norm across the board. As I work with mostly used bikes this time of year, it has become challenging even to find bulk buying of parts (cables, tubes, tires, etc.) vendors.

Same here in Brazil. Prices are higher too.

I should have enough bike parts stocked up to survive the next apocalypse!!! Not many brake rotors though.

I was talking to my housemate earlier today, and he was mentioning that he was having troubles getting certain car parts that were of Chinese origin.

The last time I was at Harbor Freight, I noticed there were quite a few empty spots on the shelves (beyond gloves and masks which have been hard to source).

I bought some TIG tips recently. Half my order was out of stock and cancelled.

I am a bit surprised about supply chain problems. As I had understood it, most of the Chinese economy reopened back in March. I see trucks moving on the roads. Of course, a 2 month shutdown could have enduring ramifications, but they should get better soon.

I have encountered the occasional shipping delay. Out of California?

I wonder where the bottleneck is. Is there some basic raw material that is hard to source? Plastic precursors? Or, perhaps being diverted away from some industries to COVID industries?

Shipping and warehousing delays?

It is interesting if Europe and the USA are experiencing the same product shortages and delays.

I believe that Harbor Freight donated their entire inventory of gloves and possibly masks to local healthcare facilities early in the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent email I received indicates they are stocking them again but my local store was pretty sparse last time I visited.

I put in a shift at the non-profit yesterday and I noticed we're low on chains. We're conserving across the board, reusing what we can.

And we can't keep up with demand for cheap used bikes. We usually have at least a dozen bikes ready to go, now we're down to two. I'm going back in this morning.

Covid business shut downs have definitely created parts shortages in some industries. For example, I was told yesterday that our local automobile manufacturing plant has less then 3 weeks supply of auto parts in stock and will have to shut done again soon because of that. Many parts suppliers were shut down and have not been making the usual numbers of parts.

Shortages at distributor warehouses are common once the heavy seasonal demand is over. It's at least as bad or worse with the current situation because of long shipping times for re stock.
I deal with a distributor that has my order on my doorstep the next day in normal circumstances. My last several orders have taken a week or more.
And anything I have to source outside the country is way worse. Shipments from my US suppliers usually show up in one or two weeks. Still waiting on an order of rims that was shipped May 8. Tracking shows it sat in customs from June 4th to the 13th. 6 days later, it's still in the Canada Post system somewhere.
I'm sure other shops are dealing with the same issues.