Out of stock??

The lockdown has had a huge impact on bike sales. I was chatting to my LBS owner on Monday and he estimates a 70% increase in sales against this time last year. If you couple that with the temporary closure of cycle manufacturing plants around the world it's no wonder there is very little stock available.
As countries come out of lockdown and manufacturing starts up again I reckon we'll see new stock start to appear in a month or so.

johnwards said:

Is it just me or have all the decent mid range bikes gone out of stock? If you look at any of the <£500 bikes from MBR's guides not one is found.

Is this normal for this time of year.</p>

No it's not. Neither is the pandemic.

There's been huge demand across the board for bikes, but more so in entry level/mid budget bikes. According to one distributor in BikeBiz at the end of last month all their 2020 stock allocation sold in just over a month.

Obviously some manufactureres ship later than others, especially higher end models as they take current orders and meet demand during the same season, but that results in 3 month lead times and the pandemic will only move delivery times back even further.

I doubt volume manufacturers will be able to make many more bikes this year, if at all, as they'll be concentrating on building up stocks for the 2021 season by now.

its not just bikes out off stock .... helmets too ...

anyone in the know about when or if new stock will arrive in the uk ?

i need a road helmet , new BB for my rocky ridge , was in the market for a new hardtail this year as well , but no chance now .

BBC article about the very subject https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53023552

steve_sordy said:

Now is the time to sell off all your old kit.

It's got me thinking.... I've got a Giant Defy 3 road bike that doesn't get used. I've offered it to my son (for free) if he wants it. He is a mtber and isn't sure if he wants it or has the space. It might be too small for him, it's what Giant describe as M/L, I guess he needs to check and make a decision... otherwise I might try selling.

junglist_matty said:

johnwards said:

Is it just me or have all the decent mid range bikes gone out of stock? If you look at any of the <£500 bikes from MBR's guides not one is found</p>

Mid Range for under 500!? Most bikes (entry level) under 1k are out of stock.... Every tom censored and Harry are buying bikes, all with good intentions - they won't last!

johnwards said:

Fingers crossed there will be some deals coming up later in the year.

If you don't mind second hand I'm sure there will be

They all have to meet the relevant British or European standard.

Every day is a learning day! I had no idea that the launch of mountain bikes was keyed to the Tour de France. It may just be a coincidence of course, or it may be a hangover from the days before mtb when the only bikes made were road bikes. I'm guessing that the existing bike manufacturers got into making these new-fangled MTBs and stuck to the same marketing cycle when it came to promoting them.

I don't have a long-term biking history, so I had thought it was tied to when the kids went back to school and the summer holidays were officially over. All the hire bikes were sold off and the new season's bikes made an appearance the month after. But that was an observation, it doesn't make it real.

As for all the 2020 bikes being sold out, I thought that was due to folk having a paid holiday courtesy of Covid-19 and deciding to go biking for fun and to avid public transport. It is even difficult to buy a second hand bike these days. Even the bikes shops are busy restoring clunkers from the back of the shed. Deals will be rare on new 2021 bikes.