Why is it so hard to get mountain bikes?

Bike shops as far apart as the US and Australia are having a similar problem: They can’t get enough new bikes to fill the rush in demand they’re seeing. While customers may occasionally get lucky and find stock in their local store, they’re frequently having to trade up to more expensive models, or join waiting lists, knowing it could be months before they get the bike they want.

The reason is a combination of supply-chain delays and a surge in interest around biking and other outdoor activities due to the pandemic. “We’re seeing a very large increase in ridership and our supply has dwindled so much,” said Heather Mason, president of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, a US trade group. Retailers such as Cosmic Bikes in Chicago and West Hill Shop in Putney, Vermont have said they don’t have bikes to satisfy all the customers lining up for them. Bike-industry trade outlets in the UK and Australia are reporting similar issues.

The problems started more than a year ago in China and other parts of Asia, where most bikes are manufactured. The US, for example, imports the vast majority of its bikes, and about 90% of those came from China in 2019. Toward the end of January 2020, factories paused for Lunar New Year. Just as they were due to resume work, the pandemic started. Many closed through February under lockdown orders, causing the supply chain to come to a stop.

When Covid-19 spread through Europe and the US, companies such as Trek, a large US bike manufacturer, didn’t anticipate demand would soar as shoppers trying to stay active during lockdowns took up outdoor activities in record numbers. As they ramped up production, it took time for the supply chain to hit full speed.

The bike industry’s supply-and-demand challenge

Bikes are built from numerous parts that can be made at different factories before they’re brought together in one location and assembled. Under normal circumstances, it takes about four months from the time a bike maker places its order with a factory in Asia for the finished products to arrive in the US, according to Mason. By last May, bike shops were already starting to sell out, and the timeline for getting new bikes had already grown longer. Factories were straining to supply the orders. Lead times grew to six months, then eight, Mason said. Additional problems such as a shortage of shipping containers and the Suez Canal blockage have compounded the problems. “Now it’s almost 12 months out,” she said. “Place your order and get in line.”

Companies have increased production, but there’s not enough capacity to fill all the orders, especially for bikes costing less than $1,000. “Trek has nearly doubled its manufacturing capacity in the last nine months,” the company wrote in a March blog post. “The challenge? Demand has almost tripled. In short, while there are lots and lots of bikes flowing into bike shops every day, they are selling even faster.”

The shortages are also affecting bike parts, which—with no new stock available—customers are buying up to repair their old bikes.

The issues look set to last into 2022. Mason said she doesn’t expect demand to ease before 2023. Some shops were lucky and placed large orders months ago that are now arriving. Many shops, however, are running out of inventory.

With COVID and its ensuing variants forcing people outdoors to recreate, many bike shops have juggled this greater demand with increasingly unreliable inventories. And the bike and component shortage that began in 2020 continues to cause havoc.

Derek Fetko, co-owner of On Your Left Cycles in Louisville, Kentucky, said the average wait time for his customers for a new bike is anywhere between six and 18 months.

“Chains, cassettes, brake pads, tires, and drivetrain kits are also a big wait,” Fetko said. “I’d say it’s actually gotten worse [as the pandemic has progressed].”

Charlie Revard, co-owner of The Bike Line in Indianapolis, also said he feels the pain. At the height of the initial pandemic bike-buying frenzy, The Bike Line 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.

Everywhere, the demand for hybrids and lower-end bicycles was huge. Now it’s seemingly the opposite: Brands have produced more hybrids and entry-level bikes, but can’t keep up with demand for higher-end bikes because of a lack of components. The Bike Line added two additional brands to its everyday lineup in an effort to keep up with demand, but still, the current wait for a popular mid-range full-suspension mountain bike is June... of 2023.

So what’s causing the continued delays? There are several factors.

Supply-chain problems

A logjam happening at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest inbound ports in the United States and where the majority of overseas exports arrive, has added weeks to shipping times. Chris Holmes, company spokesman for Marin Bikes, told Bicycling the company has thousands of bikes “just sitting on the ocean” right now.

“We’re producing more product than ever before, but shipping containers are scarce everywhere,” said SRAM spokesman Michael Zellmann. “Shipping delays aren’t just a cycling problem, it’s happening everywhere, across all industries.”

Those challenges, along with overwhelmed logistical support and labor shortages, have hamstrung efforts to get products on shelves. Import fees have also been raised, which, along with increased demand, helps explain why you’re paying more for parts and bikes.

On the manufacturing side, increased demand continues to overwhelm many companies. Component manufacturers just can’t keep up with bike brands’ and retailers’ needs without building costly additional infrastructure. Not only are raw materials often costlier and harder to come by, but processing them has also become more challenging.

Zellmann says SRAM invested millions in additional equipment, hired more than 500 new employees across all levels, and its factories continue to work at “beyond 100-percent capacity.” Despite this and similar efforts from other manufacturers, he believes industry-wide shortages will likely continue for at least six to 12 months.

Smaller shops and brands are faring the worst

Larger brands aren’t immune to the component shortages needed to build their bikes, but because of the sheer size of their orders, they can weather the storm a bit easier than mid-sized and smaller companies.

“These big companies can leverage their size [when it comes to purchasing materials and buying factory time],” said PNW Components owner Aaron Kerson at the beginning of the pandemic. “So [by] spring, all the large brands will have the larger market share while the small- to mid-sized brands are playing catch up.”

Holmes said Marin is lucky to have its own dedicated frame factory, so it’s not competing with other, larger bike brands for assembly-line time. But once those frames are created, they still need to be built up. In the early days of COVID, the wait for components from some of Marin’s suppliers was seven months; now certain crucial parts have a 900-day lead time. For the last 18 months, Marin has been forced to occasionally use comparable components to the ones originally spec’ed for their bikes.

Before the pandemic, most local bike shops had pared down their inventory, using the manufacturer as their de facto warehouse. But in order to meet customer demand, many have reverted back to the old way of pre-buying more products. But if bike demand stops as quickly as it started, those retailers could be on the hook for potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory.

“Bike brands are protecting themselves, but not necessarily the retailers they work with,” Revard said. “The general attitude is ‘figure it out [for yourself].’”

Rick Vosper, a writer for Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, wrote that some leading industry insiders are predicting a sudden inventory correction, where after months of shortages, shops will be inundated with new product and forced to slash prices to offload them. That thought is likely in the back of every bike-shop manager’s head when they place yet another supplier order.

In the meantime, the shortages still remain. Even if shops are able to buy certain parts, others can be harder to come by, meaning a repair bike could be hanging in storage for weeks or months while waiting for that one crucial product.

‘We’ve definitely invested more [in inventory] so we’ll actually have parts to fix bikes,” Fetko said. “We’re sitting on more product than ever, but at the same time we also have instances where we can’t fix bikes due to lack of product. This, paired with missing sales left and right for complete bikes, makes paying the bills challenging. It’s more important than ever that people try and support their local bike shop, or eventually they will disappear.”

While some shops struggle to find parts, other retailers bought massive quantities and are now selling those components on Amazon or Facebook Marketplace at inflated prices.

Bike shortage tips

So how should you deal with these continued supply problems? Nearly everyone Bicycling spoke to suggests preventative maintenance may be the best way to keep your current bike rolling.

“Folks who recoil at things like tiny cuts in a road tire should accept that they happen and simply keep up with checking on the cuts, booting behind them if necessary,” said Washington D.C.-based bike advocate Rudi Riet. “To get maximum use out of the expendable component, I’ve switched to cheaper, heavier chains with longer wear life and rotate or replace them more often so I can extend the life of the more expensive cassettes and chainrings.”

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 get a call.

The used bike market may also be a good route, assuming you are mechanically inclined and can identify if the bike or part is in sound, working condition.

After spending nearly a decade as a reporter for The Indianapolis Star, Robert Annis finally broke free of the shackles of gainful employment and now freelances full time, specializing in cycling and outdoor-travel journalism. Over the years, Robert's byline has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Outside, National Geographic Traveler, Afar, Bicycling, Men's Journal, Popular Mechanics, Lonely Planet, the Chicago Tribune, and Adventure.com.

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