Originally Posted by
Koyote
I think it depends on what you were looking for during the pandemic. Shimano rotors were, for a time, extremely difficult to find, and expensive when available -- well over msrp. Chains were available, but often at prices much higher than pre-pandemic levels. And hopefully you weren't looking for a complete bike in 2020, because the few shops I frequent were pretty much tapped out from about April onward.
Over the winter, I went to my LBS and chatted with em. They were like, "oh, everything is awesome as long as you don't need any 11-speed parts before Nov."
I was actually in need of chains and found one local shop that was showing some in stock. I drove over and they insisted that they'd been out of Shimano chains for a couple months. "That's weird - you're showing more than ten online." That confused them and prompted them to really dig through their stock room. Lo and behold - they found a forgotten box! I was tempted to buy a bunch, but I'm not that big of an ******* so I only bought the two that I needed for the year.