This year has been an oddity unto itself. Several factors have come together to cause bicycle shortages. They include, 1) Chinese government closing plants while the Olympics are “in town”, 2) floods and earthquakes 3) high fuel prices.

These factors have resulted in bicycle shortages and cost that have spiraled out of control. Manufactures have been put in a position of “jacking” the prices up (even if you prepaid for the order) once bicycles arrive in port because the plants and carriers are “jacking” the prices up on the manufactures/distributors. Manufactures who didn’t adopt these cut throat methods went out of business.

One of our leading supplies has had an empty warehouse all year because they are literally shipping bikes out of the containers arriving in port. In our own situation we have sold more bicycles this year but made less money (because of the retroactive raising of prices by manufactures) then any other time in 20 years. Sometimes I feel like I’m working the floor of the stock market than running a bicycle shop.

We aren’t happy about this years scramble for bicycles but know that if we stop scrambling we will go out of business like so many of our competitors.

Hopefully, this will all stop soon but thus far I have been unable to see an end in sight. Certainly, Christmas is gearing up to be disappointing for those that don’t order early and endure long waits. In prior years we could ship just a couple of days before Christmas from a large selection of bicycles. This year I’m really not expecting to have any bicycles beyond the second week of December.

Sorry to “unload” but this crazy year has left us all frustrated at how our customers have been “roughed up”.

Jake

The early shortages of 2008 seem to be returning as concerns the upcoming Christmas season. You must remember that many of the manufactures were unable to get bicycles early in the year due to Chinese floods and earthquakes. Plants in China seemed to have been closed both due to these natural disasters and due to the Olympics. Full inventories were not stocked until August which is traditionally the wind down of the bicycle season. This left some of the largest manufactures with a glut of bicycles that they were unable to sell in time to reinvest profits into the Christmas Inventory.

CLICK HERE FOR CHRISTMAS BIKES

As a result kids/childrens bicycles for Christmas will be in short supply. BMX, banana seat bicycles, trick bikes, 20 inch bicycles, 16 inch bicycles and 12 inch bicycles will all be in short supply. If you are planning on surprizing your child with a Christmas bicycle you better plan on ordering in September or October and in some cases expect a surcharge, upon delivery, if fuel prices continue to rise (manufactures have stopped the practice of providing flat quote/cost ahead of delivery with the ever rising inflation prices) driving prices upward.

Don’t you miss out get your childs bicycle order in early so when containers come in you have a bicycle “reserved”. Otherwise, expect to take the left overs and pay uptown prices for bargain basement bicycles.

CLICK HERE FOR CHRISTMAS BIKES