Bike sales boom.

[AuroraSaab]

Me and OH have 6 between us, between projects and bikes we use. We could definitely get rid of the kids old bikes though. It's just getting organised enough to do it, and facing up to the hassle of 'Will you take £3.50 and some magic beans?'

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I got the new Trek Wahoo 26 ordered for my daughter from Pedal Revolution in Norfolk, I didn't fancy the 4 to 5 hour round trip so I've paid for it to be couriered. There's now just the one purple one left in UK stock on Trek's website, at a shop in Birmingham. None available in warehouse stock for delivery.
It's odd because there does *appear* to be plenty about if you casually browse Google, but every link is a dead end when you attempt to actually secure one, like a "preorder now for July (estimated) dispatch" sort of deal.

Now it's off to eBay to see if the used market is as buoyant, or whether I too will be offered three pounds fifty and some magic beans for her Wahoo 24. (Like I was for her Carrera!)
Might list it here for a few days first.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

Yes, I'll point that out.

Anyways I'm fairly confident there will be a BMC among the bikes they'll suggest as they seem to be BMC stockist. Which I wouldn't even be mad of; I like BMC bikes and you never know, maybe they can get me a bike more quickly

So, that was an interesting experience.

Among the suggested bikes there was indeed a BMC, which was largely expected. To my surprise, despite them being a stockist, I was advised they won't be able to get their hands on a BMC bike for 6 months with chances of even having to wait until 2022, so that was a bit of a let down.

Having said that, it turned out to be a true blessing in disguise, as I found and bought another one of the bikes they suggested in my size in stock at a local bike shop. Similarly specced (maybe even a tiny bit better), in a colour/finish I like more, it comes 500 quid cheaper, with longer warranty. And, most importantly, it's available NOW

Very difficult market though. I think I got lucky.

 

[Paul_Smith SRCC]

The Pandemic has seen a huge increase in demand.

Many are working from home with a restricted life style and often this means in comparison to normal times they are 'cash' and 'time rich'. A bicycle ticks a few boxes, a desire for some exercise when the gyms are closed, a desire to get out of their home and perhaps a desire for some retail therapy; a new bike can help with all of those! Bike shops may well have been seen as essential business and allowed to remain open but manufacture wasn't; so this increase in demand coincided with a decrease in supply; which has resulted in some very long lead times for both bikes and parts.

I expect 2021 to be very different to pre-pandemic years, challenging and definitely somewhat worrying especially with supply even worse than 2020; but it's not all doom a gloom. When the weather breaks I think cycling will still be very popular, workshops will again be very busy, if current predictions are accurate we will probably still have somewhat restricted lifestyles again this coming summer and all the same factors that made cycling popular last summer will still be relevant.

How a LBS supplies bikes and how customers shop has to some degree naturally changed, in normal times a store may show case a model range and order in from that, the customer choosing the model, colour and size of their choice, the latter often after a sizing 'bike fit'. The current situation is it's far more a case of we can supply something that would be a relevant choice, it may not be your first, second or third choice, but it is a viable consideration. The other thing that has changed is a more traditional LBS is having customers travel from further a field should they happen to have the very bike the customer wants; a bike that their own LBS has just quoted a very long ETA for. This is because most brands have been presold into dealers pretty much for their entire summer 2021 production run, so unless your LBS has what you want on pre-order then yes expect an extremely long ETA. Note pre-orders still normally have very long lead time as well; just not as long!

At the moment it's not unusual to still see a shop full of bikes and often a few in boxes that have been delivered; but these were probably ordered months ago. In reality stores are trading on these pre-orders that are arriving in dribs and drabs, as and when they arrive they go onto the shop floor and a customer chooses from that stock; in effect they've got what they've got at that moment and the customer often needs to make a decision quicker than they may have normally. As you'd expect the supply and demand of this very limited stock means it doesn't remain on the shop floor for long.

Those stores that did not commit to pre orders last year will find this year challenging to an extent they some have seen this moment as an opportunity to call it a day and retire; GB Cycles and Corridori to name just two local to me.

 

[Drago]

So, that was an interesting experience.

Among the suggested bikes there was indeed a BMC, which was largely expected. To my surprise, despite them being a stockist, I was advised they won't be able to get their hands on a BMC bike for 6 months with chances of even having to wait until 2022, so that was a bit of a let down.

Having said that, it turned out to be a true blessing in disguise, as I found and bought another one of the bikes they suggested in my size in stock at a local bike shop. Similarly specced (maybe even a tiny bit better), in a colour/finish I like more, it comes 500 quid cheaper, with longer warranty. And, most importantly, it's available NOW

Very difficult market though. I think I got lucky.

Whenever BMC is mentioned I instantly think of the Morris Minor.

 

[Saluki]

I think that I might find a spare saddle and sell my Carbon CX then. I haven’t ridden him since getting the Genesis.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I wond how many of us bike hoarders, including people like myself with 10 bikes, and another 2 in pieces, are perhaps not helping the supply situation?

I don't think we are really having much effect, since most of us have probably had some of them for years, and have not suddenly bought a whole fleet of them since the virus kicked off. I refuse to pay coronacycling prices anyway, so I have only bought one used machine in the last 12 months - that being a 531 framed Raleigh I acquired as a parts donor. The lack of new stock in retailers is not due to me!
True, someone else could have bought the Raleigh to commute or ride in the park on, but I was the only bidder and at less than £20 it wasn't exactly overpriced.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Had to take my ebike to the LBS a couple of weeks ago

When I picked it up he said he has had to start keeping any decent looking fixed bike in the back, even though they are a bit in the way. If he doesn't someone will try to buy them from him.
The only ebikes he seems to have are the top end ones - he can't get hold of the lower end Raleighs that he used to sell a lot of!