The Real Impact of Supply Chain Backups on Small Bike Business

The world has been dealing with the repercussions of Covid 19 for nearly two years now. Everything from how people go about their daily lives to people’s mental health has been affected by it. A lesser spoken of, but vitally important aspect of our lives that came under threat from Covid is the world’s supply chain.

International commerce is one of the largest industries today. The entire world is interconnected through the supply chain and every single country relies on it in some form or another. The beginning of the pandemic required that this entire infrastructure had to come to a screeching halt as factories, ports and other essential services had to cease production. One industry that was affected by this worse than others has been the biking industry.

The biking industry in the aftermath of the initial covid shutdowns has struggled to regain stable supply on many items and parts that are needed all across the world. This is due to a variety of reasons regarding the supply chain but also because during quarantine biking popularity exploded as people looked for an escape to the outdoors. This has caused major supply shortages for everyone from the largest biking brands to small biking shops.

Fort Collins bike shops have certainly not been spared from these shortages. It presents a new and difficult challenge that local bike shops have been forced to cope with. I sat down with Connor Gravelding, an employee at Road 34 bike shop for over 3 years now. We talked about the supply chain and the challenges that it has forced Road 34 to endure.

When did the first bike supply issues begin?

A little after the covid shut down began. It was the same time factories and the global supply chain shut down that we realized we might be in trouble.

Where are most bike parts and products you sell manufactured?

Most parts are produced across Asia, China and Taiwan are the biggest manufacturers. The distance of travel and differing covid restrictions in those countries has only added to the delays and made them significantly longer.

How did Road34 handle the initial shock?

There was not a lot we could do because most distributors were out of stock quickly. We never had too large of a stockpile to begin, we normally buy on-demand this clearly is no longer an option. Now we must buy ahead of time and just hope to get the parts we need.

What price increases have you seen?

There have been some price increases, but it was not super noticeable in most parts of the bike world. Distributor prices did not change too much but it made sense that there would be increases due to hiked costs of shipping and production.

Which parts are highest in demand?

That’s a good question, all of them! High-end components were out of stock because people had more disposable income. But also, more people were getting into biking so lower-end parts were getting bought up too.

How have the bike supply chain issues affected work at the shop?

Luckily for us in the bike shop, we were busy with service because we are considered essential workers in transportation, so we never had to close. There was still plenty of work, but we lacked parts to finish some new bike builds. We ended up throwing together a lot of spare parts just to get people their bikes.

Do most customers understand why there might not be parts in stock or why the process is taking longer?

Generally, yes people did, it was affecting so many industries it just made sense to them that we would be struggling too. Frustrating or not, people knew we were not trying to screw them over.

How long do you see these supply chain issues lasting?

It’s still hard to get things and probably will be for some time. Although it has gotten better, in general the supply is still way down from pre covid levels.

Taking Connors's insights into the small business bike scene in Fort Collins one can be assured that although times have not been easy on the biking industry, it is clear now that they are through the worst of their supply chain problems. As shipping and production of bike parts return to their normal, the burden on business and consumers will slowly fade away. The future is bright for everyone from riders to small businesses and big brands in the biking scene around the world.