If Winnipeggers are in need of a new bicycle or a tune-up, it may be better to act sooner rather than later.
That’s the message from Woodcock Cycle Works, which tells Global News it’s working to stay ahead of potential supply chain shortages which could be felt next year.
“Wait times on parts are hundreds of days out depending on the item, mainly due to closures with factories, hard good material shortages like aluminum, things like that, so it’s definitely affecting the industry a lot,” says sales manager Jon Carson.
“We are fortunate we’ve been proactive and have ordered a lot of product and currently have a lot of stock and are getting a lot in over the next several months.”
Carson says they’ve had to shift their workflow a bit recently to work around the backlog.
“So we’ll assign a bike to a customer, and it will be allocated off to them based on when it arrives and based on when they placed their order, which has worked really well,” Carson says.
“I’m not that worried.”
But, he adds this means for consumers it’s harder these days to simply walk in off the street and ride away on a new bicycle.
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Issues stemming from global supply chain snarls have gained more attention recently, with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland saying in mid-October that Canada is keeping an eye on the situation.
“We are monitoring the supply chain and Canadian ports very, very closely,” she previously told journalists.
“Turning an economy back on is uneven and that natural unevenness is compounded by the fourth wave of the coronavirus. We need to be realistic of that, mindful of that, but I think we can also have a very confident outlook about Canada’s economy resilience and our economy recovery.”
Carson says the pandemic has led to some sudden closures of factories in southeast Asia, where some of their parts are coming from, and there’s also a worldwide shortage on raw materials.
And while he’s not worried right now about what the bottleneck could do to their bottom line, he does have advice for those in the market for a bike or repairs.
“My number one suggestion would be if you have a bike you’re looking for, or parts you’re looking for, don’t wait until spring,” Carson says.
“If you know you need inner tubes or chains or anything like that, buy them now. There’s really not much need to wait, because this is unpredictable and things may change, but I just recommend looking in a lot earlier than you generally would.”
-with files from Amanda Connolly
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