INDUSTRY EXPERTS SAY PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY CHAIN CAN’T KEEP UP WITH THE RECENT BOOM. HERE’S WHY!

HILTON HEAD PLANTATION!!!!!!!!!!
December 11, 2020
3/01/2021 ***Kiddi Kart availability *** You will have to call us at 843 681-7531 to find out if we have Kiddi Karts available ***
March 1, 2021
HILTON HEAD PLANTATION!!!!!!!!!!
December 11, 2020
3/01/2021 ***Kiddi Kart availability *** You will have to call us at 843 681-7531 to find out if we have Kiddi Karts available ***
March 1, 2021

Very interesting article borrowed from bicycling.com
Bike Shortages Will Likely Last Until Next Year, and Possibly into 2022
BY ROBERT ANNIS
Nov 6, 2020

At a makeshift counter outside The Bike Line, an independent bike shop in Indianapolis, employees regularly help a steady stream of customers looking to buy a new bike or replace the rusty chain on the old ten-speed that’s been gathering dust in a garage for years.
In a normal year, these requests would be quickly handled. But, as we all know, 2020 is not a normal year. Inside The Bike Line, showroom floors once packed with shiny, new bicycles are now nearly bare. The repair area is packed with bikes, waiting for back-ordered parts to arrive.
It’s a commonplace scene at bike shops throughout the U.S. Early on in the COVID-19 crisis, bike sales were up more than 120 percent over the previous year, per the Washington Post. People were—and still are—looking for alternate ways for transportation, as well as find new ways to get outside and get exercise, with gyms either still closed down or opened at partial capacity across the country. And the interest has yet to abate.
The Bike Line has been feeling the pressure to keep up with demand. With sales more than doubling, they are still mostly unable to keep the store stocked with new bikes. Although primarily a Trek dealer, The Bike Line’s inventory was so low this summer, they needed to find alternative means of getting bikes. They eventually bought the entire inventory of Linus cruiser bikes—a brand that they typically don’t carry—from a dealer that went out of business just before the pandemic. Those bikes were gone in fewer than six weeks.
“If a customer were to order a new bike today, the earliest we would likely receive it is December and maybe even as late as May,” Jimmy Revard, co-owner of The Bike Line, told Bicycling in mid-September. “We just got a shipment of 60 Treks this week. Most are already spoken for, and the rest will probably be gone before the weekend is over.”
Both retailers and manufacturers say they haven’t seen such demand for bikes in several decades. Revard said that despite manufacturers significantly ramping up production, his industry contacts estimate the pandemic-fueled bike and the part shortage will continue into 2021 and—based on what brands are quietly telling their retailers—may even last until 2022.

Marin Bikes, a manufacturer that specializes in mountain bikes, has been experiencing steady sales growth over the last few years, but the massive sudden spike “caught us all off guard,” company spokesman Chris Holmes told Bicycling. Marin’s Indonesian factory added a third shift early in the pandemic and has essentially been running 24 hours a day since. Many other manufacturers have increased their production to similar levels. Problem solved, right? Not quite.
Even with nearly every bike manufacturer kicking production into overdrive, the supply isn’t meeting demand. The current demand is so huge, Holmes says, that multi-store chains (Holmes didn’t want to name specific companies) have come to Marin wanting to place large orders and essentially “cut in line.”
“We had to tell them no,” Holmes said. “We’d love the business, but we need to take care of the retailers that have taken care of us over the years.”
Over the years, many dealers have pared down their inventory, using the manufacturer as their de facto warehouse. When President Donald Trump instituted tariffs on many goods out of China two years ago, bike manufacturers fled en masse to Taiwan, Vietnam, and elsewhere. But the pandemic destroyed that model, at least for the time being.
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According to The New York Times, Giant Bicycles is among the companies returning some of their production back to China in order to meet the massive demand, willing to pay the higher duties (which will likely be passed on to the customers in the form of higher prices). Marin’s factory, which also builds frames for other brands, has had other companies (Holmes didn’t want to name specific companies) make overtures during the last several months, but Marin has been forced to turn them down.
The supply chain also has struggled to keep up. With manufacturers focusing heavily on parts for current model-year bikes, older components, like seven-speed chains or derailleurs, are nearly impossible to get. A whiteboard hanging on The Bike Line’s open shop door has a list of back-ordered derailleurs, chains, and other components—most not arriving for several weeks. Holmes says the wait for components from some of Marin’s suppliers is up to seven months.
According to bike component manufacturer SRAM spokesman Michael Zellmann, the company has seen some material shortages—carbon, in particular—but they’ve still been able to increase production at their Asian and U.S. factories and meet customer demands. The biggest problem they’re experiencing is on the logistical side, as shipping companies experience a labor shortage and countries impose COVID-related restrictions on transport ships and their crews.
Smaller component brands are experiencing their own opportunities and issues. Several bike companies asked PNW Components to provide dropper posts for their 2021 models when their usual suppliers couldn’t meet demand. PNW owner Aaron Kerson said yes to a small handful, even though the profit margins aren’t high enough for them to continue the relationship beyond next season.
Replenishing their inventory over the next several months maybe a little more complicated, Kerson said, as larger brands are placing massive orders at the factories they share, trying to get ahead of the curve. PNW’s typical 60-day lead times have more than tripled, forcing the company to get a little creative, including finding new vendors who don’t typically work within the bike industry and moving some product assembly to their American fulfillment center.
“These big companies can leverage their size [when it comes to purchasing materials and buying factory time,” Kerson said. “So next spring, all the large brands will have a larger market share while the small-to-mid-sized brands are playing catch up.”
Is building or contracting more factories an option for bike and component brands? No, because establishing a new factory is a massive up-front expense that also can take up to a year or more.
“We don’t have a crystal ball, so we don’t know how long this increased demand will last,” Holmes said.
Additionally, once a factory is up and running, initial quality control can be an issue, according to Holmes. While frames are generally safe, it takes time for new workers to get smaller details just right—a bottom bracket may not be properly tightened or the paint job slightly off.
Holmes hopes winter will allow manufacturers to catch up when cold weather hits the northern U.S. and fewer customers are riding or thinking about bicycles. He is guardedly optimistic that Marin’s inventory will be back to typical levels by spring 2021. But with COVID-19 not going away any time soon, that respite might be short-lived.
Moving forward, retailers will likely be heavily encouraged to pre-order more bikes to ensure they have them available in a timely manner for customers next spring and summer. But some worry that even after the unprecedented business boom, this pre-order push will cause them financial strain. Some brands are threatening to charge shops a penalty for every canceled pre-order going forward. If bike demands stop as quickly as it started, retailers will be on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory.
But Zellmann is taking a rosier outlook.
“There are so many things bikes can offer people, fun, adventure, health, a way to explore your community with your family,” Zellmann said. “The cycling industry has a real opportunity here, and it’s up to us to continue this surge of popularity going forward beyond [the pandemic].”
So how can you get a new bike in the midst of this shortage? The most highly sought after bikes are lower-end models, so you may have more luck if you’re willing to spend a few extra bucks, Revard said. Let the employees at your bike shop know what you’re looking for; if another customer backs out of a purchase or the shop lucks into some unexpected inventory, you may be the first to know. The used market may also be a good route, assuming you are mechanically inclined and can identify if the bike is in sound, working condition.

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