prime winner

I'm looking to buy a new hybrid and was wondering what to expect when I start looking around the area bike shops. Are new bikes still slim pickings at the LBS? I know I can find out easily by calling them after the holiday, and I will, just would like to know what's going on in other areas before I commit to any kind of time frame. I read in another thread that someone ordered a bike and the scheduled delivery was something like April 2021.

If it matters, I'm hoping to get a Trek FX 3.

Mojo31

Still hard to find across the board. If you find one online at your local store, buy it. Then decide whether you want it when you go pick it up. Inventory still moves fast. Good idea to have some make/model flexibility if you don’t want to wait.

Sstone512

Ive been looking for a new hybrid or Endurance road bike style myself, Called every bike dealer around me in Daytona, FL area and of course none in stock. Ordering is 6 month or longer wait with Roubaix Sport maybe March 2021, Trek Domane SL5 April 2021 and Giant Synapse February 2021. I’ve got an older Specialized Sirius hybrid with thousands of miles on it and definitely could use an update.

davei1980

Things are definitely weird right now. I planned to upgrade my bike to hydraulic disc brakes, I picked out some entry level Shimano brakes and waited. And waited. My LBS called me and said they can't get them. Not backordered, they just can't get them. Long story short, they split the difference with me on a more expensive SRAM set which are fine so far but I am definitely postponing any further other-than-necessary purchases for a while.

2020 will forever be memorialized as the year in which we had to sacrifice our upgrades and make do!!

Reflector Guy

If their website is to be believed, the shop closest to me has several different models in stock.... A really small one of one model, a REALLY BIG one of another, etc. Just one; no duplicates and no additional sizes.

At a different store, I am on "the list" for a 2021 Bianchi. Unfortunately they haven't told me if it's coming next month, or next year.

willibrord

If you have to wait until next spring anyway, why pre-order? There will be lots of lightly used bikes on the market in 2021.

RandomDesign

The LBS I go to just got a bunch of bikes in a week ago. I went in to check out the 2021 BMC Alpenchallenge One and they had quite a few other brands out for sale again.

Koyote

The other day, as we pulled into the garage, I was telling my wife about the bike shortage. I waved at the five bikes hanging from the wall and said, "See, I'm pretty smart! Bought 'em ahead of time!"

Mulberry20

Just wait. The Gravel Bike Bubble will pop soon and they will be all over the place.

grayEZrider

So there is a silver lining to having N+1 disease! But I'm also lucky, having jumped the gun early for my upcoming 70th birthday by months and got my new Canyon Endurace just before this mess.

unterhausen

My LBS is getting in 2021 models. I was going to go in today to put some of them together, but no labor on labor day. Not sure about hybrids, so far I have only seen mtb's. Typically, each shipment is one of each size, not multiples. So if they have a waiting list, it's good to be on it. They don't like to take money from someone who hasn't ridden a bike though

Heater_Guy

I just had my old 1996 Trek 930 Singletrack in for service at my local fitness/ bike shop which features Trek as their house brand. While I was there I asked about how long it would take to order in a new DS 3 or DS 4. The owner looked up their expected ship dates on their computer and said both models as well as the Verve 3 (his recommendation for me) wouldn't be in until the end of April or early May 2021.
Saturday I stopped in to a Trek bike store a few miles from us and asked the same question. Their answer was 2 weeks to 2 months at the most for any model. They even had a few DS 2 and a bunch of Verve 2 and 3's in stock. I had them order a DS 4 for me. We'll see if their timeline is accurate. I'm assuming a Trek branded store gets priority over a store that sells Trek.

Milton Keynes

My bike needed new wheels but the LBS could only find a couple to fit my bike, most wheels were completely out of stock. And the ones which he could get he wouldn't have been able to get for a month or so. I ended up buying a used bike from someone on the internet at a decent price.

indyfabz

I had a 1992 930. Abused the hell out of it and it rarely complained. Hell of a bike. I finally put it out in the alley with other stuff when I was cleaning out my mom’s house for sale. It was gone within 2 hours.

fietsbob

Maybe October..

I-Like-To-Bike

Did she buy it?

Koyote

She just shakes her head when I say things like that...

cyclist2000

My wife thinks that my 10 or 12 bikes is pretty funny and harmless.

jay4usc

I would wait too for the used market. Once the gyms open up again the used market should start to get busy

mstateglfr 

Why not just buy online? I get the idea that you want to support local business, but when the local business literally cant fulfull your order, it seems quite reasonable to buy elsewhere. Shimano hydraulic brakes in road and mtb are available across the internet.

mstateglfr 

There is a gravel bike bubble? Really? Perhaps the segment will adjust and popularity will lower compared to what it has been in the last couple years(like cycling trends often experience), but you think itll pop like a bubble?

unterhausen

more effective driver of the used market is how bad motorists treat cyclists. But I think people will keep their new bikes because they will use them "some day." Which is how most bike sales end up anyway.

taco2ewsday

I know several folks who put deposits on bikes sight unseen with delivery dates 6+ weeks out, with the end of model year and COVID-19 rush on bikes, it's still crazy in Tennessee.

TakingMyTime

My Local Trek Dealer has 15 Road bikes for sale. Normally there would be 3 times that many. They do seem to have 35 E-bikes for sale though.

IGH_Only

So what is the aftermath of all of this in a year or two? I imagine some will sell their bikes that they bought on whim or in a bored state during the pandemic. What will it look like from an industry standpoint? Lots of discounting due to a drop off in demand? This assumes that the current is just a blip and not a secular change in desire for wanting to cycle.