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Are we really accepting this bollox?
This is what happens when cycling stops being about riding and becomes about micro-commoditisation of bikes and componentry. I would hit the manufacturers where it hurts by not buying the components that they cannot supply. That'll learn 'em.
Ranty stuff
on second thoughts, please don’t pay a visit to any of my local bike shops. I don’t think you fit in very well.
Pretty chuffed that my Privateer 161 in still due in November...for now!
Quick question – did you vote Leave in 2016 and/or Tory in 2019? If so you literally voted to make life harder for yourself, this is just the 1st World stuff – wait for next year for more ‘pressing’ shortages.
It has nothing to do with Brexit, there has been a Worldwide pandemic, did you miss that one?
Being less choosy = Instead of the Trek that might take 18 months to arrive, look at other brands which might be in stock now or sooner.
It's not something that's really appropriate to get all angry about. They're not doing it to you on purpose.
You can get brake pads and cassettes and things from AliExpress. Show up in about a week.
I needed a new 11 speed xt mech. Merlin selling it over RRP. I emailed them to ask if it was correct, as they are normally very competitive and I use them a lot. Yep, priced correctly at £100! Thankfully I found it much cheaper elsewhere. But the first case of selling over RRP I've seen.
RRP is £95, so not exactly wild? Odd for those price shaggers right enough.
What's a price shagger?
Perhaps £100 will be the new RRP and others selling them cheaper have older stock.
It has nothing to do with Brexit, there has been a Worldwide pandemic, did you miss that one?
It has everything to do with Brexit. 20 peeps have applied to make use of the HGV visas. Felixstowe processes a third of U.K. containers, has two berths for the largest container ships and has just stopped Maersk and Evergreen (who own the largest ships) from stacking empties at Felixstowe because there’s no more space which means empties are diverted to other ports requiring additional HGV hours. Maersk have stopped routing ships via Felixstowe and are offloading in other European ports before transhipping in smaller vessels. Delivery times have gone from 50 to 70 plus days.
And the reason for all of this? There are simply not enough lorry drivers. And why are there not enough lorry drivers - Brexit and the Tories ability to make a hash of everything they touch.
I don’t have solutions - hence original post on this thread asking questions.
Still no links to L03A in the UK……
I’ve absolutely no objection to RRP, none at all - if it’s for the product I want.
Sounds to me that some people are happy to live in a USSR type position - each to their own I guess.
None of this is about entitlement- riding for me is a hobby not a right and I accept that completely. My point is why are we still in such a shit state of affairs where next to bugger all is available. Maybe we should go back to the original Henry Ford concept of you can have exactly the model and colour you’d like as long as it’s this one and in black.
.
It has everything to do with Brexit......
And the reason for all of this? There are simply not enough lorry drivers. And why are there not enough lorry drivers – Brexit and the Tories ability to make a hash of everything they touch.
So, lorry deliveries in the UK are stopping vital bike deliveries from Taiwan?
Get real, it is worldwide. See a post above, Taiwanese factories are shutting down as they can't buy the raw materials. The lorry driver shortage is pretty universal, Germany, Spain, the Nordic Countries and the USA are having the same problems at the moment with lack of drivers, the LA port has had to go to 24 hour opening this week, as there are nearly 100 ships waiting to be unloaded (why wasnt it 24hs anyway?). Felixstowe (according to R4 this morning) has one ship waiting to be unloaded.
That's all down to Brexit then?
Add in the container and pallet shortage worldwide, and you can see why people are struggling to get things delivered. 65000 containers are, apparently, waiting to go back to China from the UK. That's because there was a pause in shipping due to Covid, nothing to do with Brexit.
Brexit is a notable compounding factor though, making imports more expensive and time-consuming for both businesses and individuals (e.g. can't buy from German retailers with good stock & low prices so easily now).
Get real, it is worldwide.
Everyone here in Australia used to order from wiggle/crc/merlin. But now there’s no stock and its more expensive than the locals.The local webstores have loads of stock and better prices.
Delivery times have gone from 50 to 70 plus days
I agree with your sentiment, Brexit is stupid and shit, but 20 days added on to delivery is irrelevant when lead times for many individual components from Taiwan, etc have slipped to >18 months.
Still not good, but not the cause here. Try telling Americans with much the same supply issues that it’s because of Brexit?
Felixstowe (according to R4 this morning) has one ship waiting to be unloaded.
That’s all down to Brexit then?
Anything on this side of La Manche is mostly aggravated by Brexit. See also lack of care assistants, butchers, abbatoir staff and veg pickers. In the Far East COVID is still being treated seriously and plants are being shut to prevent the spread of the disease.
So, lorry deliveries in the UK are stopping vital bike deliveries from Taiwan?
Get real, it is worldwide. See a post above, Taiwanese factories are shutting down as they can’t buy the raw materials. The lorry driver shortage is pretty universal, Germany, Spain, the Nordic Countries and the USA are having the same problems at the moment with lack of drivers, the LA port has had to go to 24 hour opening this week, as there are nearly 100 ships waiting to be unloaded (why wasnt it 24hs anyway?). Felixstowe (according to R4 this morning) has one ship waiting to be unloaded.
That’s all down to Brexit then?
Add in the container and pallet shortage worldwide, and you can see why people are struggling to get things delivered. 65000 containers are, apparently, waiting to go back to China from the UK. That’s because there was a pause in shipping due to Covid, nothing to do with Brexit.
And what happens when bikes/parts/any bulk consumer gets off the boat? It waits it's turn for a HGV and driver, which there are less of. Because of BREXIT.
Oh and guess what? Those stores in Germany and France that you used to use for quick and easy access to parts and bikes, no so quick and easy is it now, because of BREXIT.
Brexit has it's slimy tentacles in pretty much every supply chain in the UK in some way or another.
Sounds to me that some people are happy to live in a USSR type position – each to their own I guess.
Perhaps unintentionally you appear to be blaming the manufacturers and retailers. But pandemics or no pandemic the underlying structural issues we are faced with are predominantly a matter of Tory government policy and poor management (to put it mildly) by the current government.
‘Need to be less choosy?’ Erm if I’m paying £3.5k plus on a group set, then I want the crank lengths to be the ones I actually want – I personally don’t think that’s unreasonable?
Totally acceptable position. Just don't expect to buy one soon if what you want is what everyone else wants.
We've stopped pre-orders on almost every line as the supply side is too unreliable right now. If your supplier gives you a date or a shop tells you your bike will be available in any lead time significantly greater than the transport time from factory to shop then don't trust it. It's probably bollocks. That doesn't mean don't order it, just don't lose your **** when it doesn't show as expected. It probably won't, you have been warned!
benpinnick
We’ve stopped pre-orders on almost every line as the supply side is too unreliable right now. If your supplier gives you a date or a shop tells you your bike will be available in any lead time significantly greater than the transport time from factory to shop then don’t trust it. It’s probably bollocks. That doesn’t mean don’t order it, just don’t lose your **** when it doesn’t show as expected. It probably won’t, you have been warned!
I am just over three weeks away from my new frame being shipped and I did not hear what you just said
I am just over three weeks away from my new frame being shipped and I did not hear what you just said
Ah, but which 3 weeks, the ones the manufacturer is referring to, the ones the importer is referring to, the ones the supplier is referring to or the ones you're referring to?
So, lorry deliveries in the UK are stopping vital bike deliveries from Taiwan?
Get real, it is worldwide.
Brexit is a serious compounding factor for the OP though. As other posters have mentioned Brexit has compounded the HGV shortage but it has also made life really difficult for non-British brands like Trek. Before Brexit Trek could ship its stock-holding all aver Europe (including UK) without worrying about import duty after it's been paid entering the EU. Now Trek can't move stock from the E.U to U.K without double paying the 'country of origin' import duty. Therefore Trek have to forecast (or in other words gamble) where the majority of the demand/profit will be with regards to E.U and U.K when allocating stock to warehouses.
So with limited supply if you were Trek where would you be allocating stock?
Get real, it is worldwide
Yes, I don't think anyone thinks that it isn't, but most countries haven't, on purpose, put up barriers to that recovery in the same way that we have. Places like Taiwan are used to shipping to the EU, now they have to ship to both the EU and the UK, and the rules about shipping to the UK aren't clear, especially in terms of how much extra it'll cost...The upside of which is; they'll ship first to the places they know the rules.
Brexit, at most, is making the issue slightly worse in the UK then the EU, it's not the root of all these issues though. In my industry we buy fibre from China, one of the producers we work with has delayed an order indefinitly, they have no power to run the factory:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58733193
This could get much worse before it gets better....
Still no links to L03A in the UK……
Seriously? I wasn't even trying...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/5032301213
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353671666831?hash=item5258795c8f:g:aikAAOSwmJFhPu5y
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165128586033?hash=item26726e4331:g:NpwAAOSwG8BhaEoR
Cheers!
I.
Brexit is pointlessly making things worse but it’s mostly a pandemic issue.
We have loudspeaker drivers custom made in the USA, lead time normally about 6-8 weeks. When I last ordered some (way before we normally would) in May I was told a 12 week lead time. That production batch still hasn’t been made because essential parts are on a ship somewhere in the Pacific. We’re hoping them to be done mid-November and because of the problems with shipping I’m expecting them to take weeks longer than usual to get to this side of the Atlantic.
And bear in the mind the pro audio industry had the opposite of the cycling industry - a massive fall in demand because who needs PA systems etc when all gigs are cancelled?
@benpinnick thank you mate I appreciate your time.
You're very welcome, its carnage out there in bike land at the moment! It will fix itself, maybe by 2025.
Well thanks for the links chaps for pads - just bought a set of LO3A £40!
Perhaps I am naïve but I thought things were starting to improve slightly? More bikes are popping up to buy, for example Wiggle had Vitus bikes back in stock a week or so ago and I have seen a few others.
Some Shimano 12 speed and brake spares are starting to pop up at Merlin, Tredz and a few other places, the german retailers are managing to get parcels here within a week and the second hand bike market looks to be less bonkers than 3 months ago.
Obviously there is still a long way to go and those are just my findings but I was a little bit hopeful...
Be a good idea to use Google in future as searching for "LO3A" brought up quite a few places to buy them...
🤦♂️
Neil. SuperstarComponents
£23.99 and in stock according to their website
I’m sorry if this offends some people, but personally I feel we are giving it the Emperor’s New Clothes and accepting shyte service as an acceptable norm.
So if you ran a bike shop or bike manafacturer what would you differently?
Maybe we should go back to the original Henry Ford concept of you can have exactly the model and colour you’d like as long as it’s this one and in black
There wouldn’t be a sufficient supply of black paint.
Erm I don’t run a bike shop and I’m not a manufacturer.
Just a bloke who would like to be able to buy bikes and components with a lot less hassle than what’s currently involved and has been for a while now.
My question about brake pads has pretty much shown the inconsistencies out there right now, two weeks ago I had to buy Gorilla as no Shimano available, now people are posting the availability on this thread at significant price differences……
@four does being obnoxious and entitled come naturally to you or did you have to take a course?
Just because you’re not being forced to wear a mask anymore doesn’t mean the whole world is back to normal. 🙄
this is just the best thing i’ve seen since the shoplifting thread. and i don’t mean “seen on STW,” i mean in the whole world!
keep it coming
Erm I don’t run a bike shop and I’m not a manufacturer.
Just a bloke who would like to be able to buy bikes and components with a lot less hassle than what’s currently involved and has been for a while now.
Which is basically my thoughts. Its not really obvious that any organisation could make it better. Which is why it seems pointless throwing out moans and criticisms
If anyone wants Shimano/SRAM/bikes then go to Nevis Cycles - rammed with stock.
And served by a very cheery staff team.
Just a bloke who would like to be able to buy bikes and components with a lot less hassle than what’s currently involved and has been for a while now.
Since, say, March 2020?
Suck it up. Everything is harder to get now, for a variety of reasons that you’d have to be living under a rock to not know about. Throwing your toys out and screaming ‘JuSt Do It BeTtEr!1!’ Helps no one.
The stuff you want doesn’t exist. When it does exist, it will be shipped somewhere else first. When it is shipped here, there’s no one to deliver it.
I’m sorry if this offends some people, but personally I feel we are giving it the Emperor’s New Clothes and accepting shyte service as an acceptable norm.
vote with your feet
Edinburgh has loads of bike shops all with their USP and the competition drives up standards of service. If your LBS has poor service go elsewhere