So I am about to be in the market for a new gravel bike, but have not been in the local bike shops to kick tires in over a year. How is the availability these days? I have quiet a lot if brands to pick from locally (Trek, Spec, Giant, Salsa, Cannondale, among others) and I am on the fence about frame material. My last gravel rig was a Trek Checkpoint SL5 that I liked well enough, but I am willing to consider aluminum this time as well.
Has supply started to catch demand? Thanks!
Supply has started to come back but still not great. I’ve been into my two local shops in the last couple weeks that carry Spec, Trek, Kona, Cervelo, and Pivot. They had lots of boxes and the shop was mostly full of bikes but I’d say 75% of them were the under $1500 kind and the rest were just a random smattering of bikes, trims, and sizes. Someone in the industry might have a better idea but depending on what you are looking for it might be possible to find. Definitely looked better than 6-12 months ago but definitely not perfect.
Also, I’m sure it’s pretty shop and region dependent so I would stop by your shop and see what the situation is.
Friends with LBS owner, he was showing me the trek order timelines when I was in the other day.
Bikes rolling in now are sub 1500ish like mentioned above and most of it he ordered in 2020, but he had 20+ bikes in stock for the first time in 2 years. Enough of that stuff was coming available he was cancel a few orders. Random middle end stuff was all over the place on the order guide, he showed me something where the xxl was availble in june 2022 and the xl was going to be may 2023, of course the order he had for a customer was the xl.
Trek might be pulling some BS with their factory owned stores getting priority though. Said a long time customer called about a project one domane? (forget which model). His order guide said late 23 or early 24, forget exactly The guy called one of the trek stores and they said they could get him one in the normal lead time.
Good to know. There is trek store right down the street if I decide to go that route.
Went through the same thing recently trying to get a '22 Diverge Expert Carbon. LBS had one but I didn’t like the color. Delivery times weren’t listed on anything else but they were told/guessing it’d be end of summer before they trickled in. They did have some Crux’s coming in May and a very nice (and pricey) Pro that I thought about but couldn’t justify the cost.
Thought I was stuck waiting either until Summer or May if I went with a Crux expert, when a buddy in NH (7 hours away) saw the exact one I wanted at his LBS. Paid over the phone, buddy picked it up, and I went out there to grab it from him.
Just to note it wasn’t on Specialized’s site showing as inventory. It might make sense to ask around once you have it narrowed down to a specific choice.
Recommendation from my LBS…
If you find the bike you want at the price you want… BUY IT NOW…
If/when they come in prices will probably be higher. They aren’t even bothering taking deposits as they can’t guarantee the prices.
It seems like supply is starting to catch up, but if you want a specific model be prepared to wait.
Supply is catching up, but working in purchasing in the raw materials space I can say affirmatively prices will continue to rise. The advice to buy a bike now is 100% right if you find one you like
Absolutely…leaving everything else to the side, freight costs are NOT coming down…and are actually still rising. A container is now ~$25k from Asia, while just over a year ago, it was ~$5k. When you are shipping big stuff like boxed bikes, the increase is disproportionally higher since you can get fewer goods in a container.
Now add in increases for raw materials, labor increases, inflation, etc…prices are not coming down. If you find something you like / want, grab it.