‘We’ve seen a lot of new cyclists. I love to see new people getting on bikes’
While many businesses saw trade dry up during the pandemic, bike shops were selling out and continue to face supply challenges, as Laura Clements reports
THERE was a point in the last 18 months when one Welsh bike shop had cleared out so much of their stock, staff had to use their own bikes to create the window display.
The Bike Shed, at the top of Cardiff’s Cathedral Road in Pontcanna, had cleared its backroom stock in part because of a surge in demand and a shortage from suppliers.
Things are looking better now after what has been a “crazy” year and a half for the industry, said manager Richard Lansdown. But even so, there are still some bikes that won’t be in the shop until spring 2023 and some kids will have to be content with whatever bike is available come Christmas, he said.
“It’s been quite interesting to see how the pandemic has affected what we can get hold of and what we can’t,” Richard said.
“Last summer, there was very little here. We used our own bikes to make the shop look good. Luckily we’ve got a good bike collection between the three of us here.”
The Bike Shed stocks mainly Merida, Trek and Bianchi bikes and suppliers have been sporadic at best, he said.
“You don’t know when you’re going to see them come in,” he said.
There’s no doubt bicycles have enjoyed a boomtime following the pandemic as more people than ever have taken up cycling. Richard has seen that shift from his shop floor, with E-bikes especially gaining popularity.
“We’ve seen a lot of new cyclists and family groups getting into cycling,” he said. “Which is really great. I love to see new people getting on bikes.
“They cleaned us out last summer, especially the hybrids and the midrange mountain bikes.”
While he’s managed to claw back stock levels for some bikes, it’s the high-end road bikes, E-bikes and specialist components that remain stubbornly hard to get hold of.
“We’re still trying to juggle stuff around,” he said. “I spend much of my day looking for stuff for people.
“Waiting a couple of months seems like a really quick turnaround now.
“I had one customer who waited a whole year almost to the day for a particular bike in a particular colour that she wanted. She was holding out for that one bike.”
Richard says that in some cases, getting hold of frames and forks isn’t so much a problem as getting the individual parts to build the bikes.
The pandemic has actually been great for the bike trade, but it has served to show just how global the supply chain is. So much of the industry is reliant on one group, Japan’s Shimano, which controls an estimated 65% of the market for high-end gears and brakes.
Delays to deliveries of parts in the
I’m not sure if it’s down to the pandemic or Brexit. At one point I was blaming Trump... DAVE HANN
past year or so have been described by several manufacturers as the longest in decades. Last summer, lead times from order to delivery hit 400 days for a range of high-end components made by Shimano for European and US producers. Some suppliers reported even longer lead times for certain parts such as hydraulic brakes or wheels.
Osaka-based Shimano, owned by the 72-year-old fishing-obsessed Yozo Shimano, produces fishing components and rowing equipment as well as bicycle parts. It has struggled to keep up with demand as the pandemic pushed millions around the world to take up cycling. The supply chain squeeze has also hit other leading bicycle makers such as Taiwan’s Giant and Merida.
“Shimano has seen a massive demand for the high end stuff,” Richard said. “So they’re trying to catch up on that valuable product, trying to fulfil their orders on that high end market.”
It means they’ve slowed down on the lower end components, which could cause problems further down the line.
He is well-stocked for the midrange bikes, typically priced between £600 and £1,000, going into the annual Christmas rush. But if you want an E-bike or top of the range model for Christmas, you might be pushing your luck, he said. If he doesn’t have what you want in stock, he’ll unlikely get one in before the New Year.
And while most kids’ models are in the shop ready for Christmas, they might not be able to get hold of their favourite colour, Richard warned.
Typically, it’s that mid-range market that dominates the run up to Christmas. It’s more volume than value, Richard said. It’s Easter when they probably see the most money going through their tills as people tend to buy more expensive highend bikes.
“They’re looking ahead for the next season,” Richard explained. “We’re good for Christmas, but after Christmas is when I’m expecting we might struggle.”
“For example, some bikes from the Merida range aren’t even scheduled for production, let alone delivery,” he added.
Mid-range mountain bikes from Trek won’t come in until July 2022, he said, and if you want one in extra small, you’re looking at March 2023.
Bianchi, the specialist Italian make, is also struggling to keep up.
The Bianchi rep hadn’t stopped by the shop for some time, Richard said, because he just didn’t have anything to offer him.
The coronavirus pandemic drove people from public transport to bikes in a way never seen before. Initial hopes that the bike would replace journeys on crowded public transport, create ideal socially distanced fitness regimes and propel a green reimagining of urban layouts prompted Cardiff council to create new pop-up bike lanes.
The shift to cycling has been good news for Dave Hann, who set up Motorlegs Cycle Workshop in the Welsh capital in February 2018, initially as a one-man band. But the pandemic and the bike boom has been “really good”, Dave says. He now employs five staff and has built up a really strong customer base from his Tudor Lane workshop. In the space of one hour on a Friday afternoon alone, five customers booked their bike in for a full service.
But it’s been hard to get hold of parts, he said, especially Shimano.
He said: “It’s because I’m small. It’s hard to get an account with the top tier providers.”
He’s managed to cobble together supplies from the likes of Chain Reaction or Wiggle, and, on occasion, Amazon.
“I’m not sure if it’s down to the pandemic or Brexit,” he said. “At one point I was blaming Trump.”
It might seem extreme to blame American politics, but Dave could be partly right.
The global bike shortage in mid2020 was as much a result of the extremely low inventories with which retailers entered the Covid pandemic. In Europe, stocks of the now hotly-desired mid-range models were low because of a structural shift to higher-priced bikes. While in America, retailers were hoping for a US-China trade deal and a reduction in tariffs on bikes.
When it comes to the bike industry, the more affordable parts are mostly concentrated in China. It means Giant has faced problems because of US-China trade friction, which in turn puts pressure on production in Taiwan and south-east Asia as factories there try to make up for displaced output from China.
For Dave, a small outfit in the global world of bike repairs, he is way down the list of priorities. Madison, the main importer of Shimano parts into the UK, just could not get parts at one point, Dave said. And when it comes to getting parts for gravel bikes, which have shot up in popularity over the past year or so, he’s had to shop around for specifics.
“Prices have gone ridiculous,” he added. “For example, a standard 11-speed groupset used to be £35 but now they cost £65. It’s nuts.”
One specific groupset, a GRX Shimano set up, will be priced at £130. The trouble is, you just can’t get one anywhere, Dave said, and when he did find one recently, it cost him £1,000.
Customers are just having to bear the brunt of the cost, he added.