Bicycle shortage
 

After looking around the forums, I'm shocked that nobody is talking about this, which makes me even more curious: Is anyone else seeing a shortage of bicycles in stores now? I went to Scheels in the Spring when bicycles are usually stocked by the hundreds. They only had a couple dozen, and they weren't the good ones they usually have. As for component groups, only Tourney and Altus. No Acera, Alivio, or Deore.
In the Summer, and now Fall, it's no different.
By when I come to bikeforums, I am shocked to see absolutely no mention of it whatsoever, which is making me wonder if this shortage is something exclusive to my part of the country, which is the upper midwest.

What's it like where you live? Can you actually go to a local shop and buy a decent bike?

You didn’t look hard enough. It’s been talked about to death. Started a long time ago.

You're about 17 months too late.

Use advanced search and you'll find multiple threads.

I'm in the Upper Midwest as well and I see a smaller amount of bikes on display at shops. Some bike brands also mention shortages/delays on their websites. But bikes aren't the only outdoor sports equipment in a shortage. My local Scheels usually has a decent kayak display and they had next to nothing this summer.

I don't worry about bicycle shortages because i don't plan on buying any... I have 3 bikes right now and that's all I need.

Lets not even talk about parts...

which part though? Part of me thinks it's good to let it out rather than let it be part of a stressful keeping.

:roflmao2:

IKR

Read any thread where someone is looking to buy a new or used bike. Current shortages will be mentioned frequently

I suppose I'm late to the game. I haven't logged into this site for quite a while. I just noticed the shortage in the Spring and haven't been on the site until now, and didn't do any searches on the subject other than scan through the thread titles. People seemed to be just talking bikes as if they were still available.
As for me, I have 2, plus a junk one, so I'm all set. One problem though is that if bicycles are in short supply and prices are up, I'll bet bicycle theft will increase.

No worries. The shortage has been ongoing since Covid hit, and has affected various aspects of the bike industry differently. Since most bikes are built overseas, any breakdown in the process -- materials, labor, shipping, storage, distribution, etc. -- affects the supply. Example: Tubes and tires were scarce for awhile, and if a bike maker can't get tubes and tires, they can't ship bikes.

But patience pays off: I recently bought a bike that was back-ordered for months that suddenly hit my local shop in six sizes. Similarly, in January I bought a hard-to-get BMX bike from a less well-known online retailer after everyone else had sold out.

You gotta do your homework, watch the marketplace, and be ready to jump.

If you're a detail nerd, this 20 minute video covers the shortage issue in depth.

Supply chain disruptions had a cascading effect throughout the global economy and manufacturing and shipping sectors. Quarantines, lockdowns/slowdowns, illnesses and recurring illnesses when the Delta variant smacked us back for our hubris. The just-in-time model met its match. Shipping containers are scarce, in the sense that they aren't getting back to where they're needed most. And climate change has caused catastrophic weather related losses to an aging and neglected merchant marine fleet.

I've pounced on as much good but affordable used stuff as I could find online and locally.

I know a kayak manufacturer rep here in WI and earlier this summer she said their entire years production was sold out.

we all have bikes

The owners of my LBS also own a shop that sells Kayaks. It has been bad for both.

You aren't reading the same threads I've been reading if you haven't seen mentions of low inventory for all things bicycle. Almost as soon as COVID hit we were already talking about it.

You can still find a decent bike here, but your choices are severely limited. And you might not get your ideal size. But that was probably true before. Many never get their ideal size, but it's even more so now that if you want a bike today, then you have to take what is available since wait times are longer.

I view not buying things because of the shortages as banking equity with my wife for my future purchases :)

Pretty much every hobby has had equipment shortages for the last year and a half, from astronomy to biking to knitting. It's been crazy.

(I keep saying "oh that stuff will be hitting Craigslist cheap any day now as people start going out again" but it's... not. Why isn't it? Surely people have hung most of it up by now, now that they're traveling again and doing their previous activities and going back to the office so don't have as much time?)


Or getting in for repairs...

Wow such a fresh thread with such great insight. We are all so lucky to have had this come into our lives...NOT!

Can we just talk about something different for once, maybe a thread on chain lube or something!

Things may let up next year...maybe not. Some people have less cash but others have more cash.
Same problem with canoes.

padding my post count...sry.
Used lower end bikes used seem to be easy enough to get. Decent bikes, forget it.

With the way new bike prices have just shot up due to the shortages and our wonderful inflation I don't see myself buying a new bike at full price ever again. Just saw some lower/mid level aluminum Tiagra bike (forgot which one, a Trek I think) that costs around $2000 after taxes.

Wait...there's a bicycle shortage?

I kid. Fortunately, my wife and I are quite set for bikes, for life in all likelihood. In fact, we still have too many. I'm selling off three right now to get to a more manageable number.

By the time that we retire to Texas and settle in, I plan to be down to one MTB, one fixed gear, one heavy-duty commuter/tourer, and one carbon road bike. My wife will have two road bikes and one MTB. Those should fit our lifestyle.

You beat me to it. I was going to say, "Bike shortage? Not in my garage!"

Some local shops are closing as they have nothing to sell, others are being bought out by Trek.


The search function on BF is pretty much useless. I actually use google to search BF threads.