Covid 19 has changed everyone’s life. From the way we socialize to the way we shop, nothing is the way it used to be and new norms are created daily.
Businesses have also been feeling the pinch of declined sales and supply chain issues and it has now trickled down to the bicycle and recumbent bicycle manufacturers. Every recumbent manufacturer is experiencing some sort of supply issues relating to the pandemic, even though bicycle and recumbent sales and demand is up.
It says a lot about how we are coping with the pandemic by wanting to get outside and ride more. In fact, bicycle thefts have skyrocketed in the past 6 months with the lack of available inventory in stores.
“The industry wasn’t running with lots of spare capacity to start with,” said Chris Rogers, the supply chain analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“What the industry doesn’t want to do is double its capacity to meet the increased demand,” Rogers said, “and then we turn round in the winter or next year when everyone’s got a bike and suddenly you’re left with a factory that’s too big and machinery or staff that aren’t being used anymore.” This is even more true for the Recumbent industry.
Rogers said the bike industry’s troubles are emblematic of a lot of industries right now, trying to tame wild fluctuations in supply and demand.
The good news is that while the Recumbent manufacturers slowly regain their supplies to start back production, many local recumbent shops like Laid Back Cycles have plenty of stock on hand to appease most customers who are ready to purchase.
Give s a call to learn what we have in stock and available for test rides.
