Posts
4881
Joined
6/26/2009
Location
Boise, ID
US
Fantasy
66th
Edited Date/Time
10/11/2021 12:28am
Talking to a handful of riders and reading about what you've said on our site about trials and tribulations in obtaining bike parts, I started wondering if riders will start riding more cautiously so they don't smoke a wheel or wreck a tire or rip off a derailleur or bend a bolt or break a frame. Is that on your radar while you ride? The notion seems a bit far-fetched right now, but I'd like to hear what you think.
Poll
I just pieced together a frankenbike with zero issues. Maybe I can't get exactly what I want, but it doesn't appear all wheels, derailleurs, suspension etc is out of stock.
What am I missing?
I think the big difference is whether you're building/maintaining a bike because you like riding bikes or you're building/upgrading a bike because you want all matching gold AXS or top-to-bottom orange anodized Hope bits for the Instagram. I just ride my bikes, so I've been fine.
Tire's I ride maxx grip and avoid any pavement and avoid locking up the brakes at all. I imagine I will run my tires down a little more than usual as well. This is where the extra wheel set will help out, save the better tires for race weekends and the worn ones for other rides.
One (maybe positive?) thing is it has nudged me to experiment with parts that I've been able to more easily source. I decided to try the Tannus inserts because the shop had them in stock vs having them order me CushCore. And who knows, maybe I'll get really wild and try different tires this summer
Forks - some not available
Chains - good luck with that one especially if you are on 12s sram
Tyres - some not available
Specific brakes- such as Saint
Having friends with a bikeshop in Europe and its a disaster. Talked to shops in Bay Area and they are running out of usual stuff such as chains. It will be worst as the current production will go mostly on builds.
I live in between deep fjords of norway and far away from any LBS, so i have to be my own LBS. haha.
and I'm wondering.... any body else think that the constantly increasing amount of "standards", which has been an issue for some for a while now. Is the bigger problem that has been majorly high lighted by the current shortage situation?
I recently bought a DT swiss m1700 rear wheel, I wanted an e1700 but it needed to be:
rear
27.5
boost
XD driver
30mm
6 bolt (it wasn't, but CL converters are cool)
ratchet based hub
So once I had figured out whether I wanted an M, E, H (add various X's or R's depending on the year) and understanding the tradeoffs of the 1700 vs 1900 series (which are minor or considerable depending on the year due to recent hub changes), it came down to price and availability: the m1700 was available and cheaper, hope it survives a couple of seasons!
It definitely seems like things are getting crazy again with standards.
1) Fox just reported earnings last night - unsurprisingly was a blow out quarter. If someone has time listen to the conference call (its recorded). Guessing they dive into supply chain issues as it was mentioned in the PR.
2) What you listed may be true on the wholesale/supply end, but a quick google search and I could find everything you listed without digging around. Not sure what tires you can't find, but all the usual suspects were readily available. I'm not trying to say there isn't a problem, but as it stands now, if I were to break any part on my bike I could easily find a replacement.
Robot nailed it. I'm not that picky. While I am a total gear nerd, one huge takeaway over the last few years is the variance in "bottom end" to "top end" is tighter than it ever has been. Plus, unlike other sports, there is so much cross compatibility and overall options, its crazy. The only parts that would really have you hanging it up right now is a broken frame from a manufacturer who is flat out of everything.
https://www.bicycleretailer.com/earnings-financial-reports
I am looking at online shops in Europe, it seems there are barely any front mixed condition tyres available: Magic marys or shortys specifically. I'm kind of blown away, there are plenty of 27.5 variants, and a sliver of weird narrow, light, hard compound 29 ones, but almost no "normal" front tyre options. Hopefully I'm just late building up a stock of winter tyres and I get some on the next restock. Don't think i've ever seen this before, will be a tough winter if stocks don't reappear.
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