Supply Chain Situation

Dear Customer,

Since the beginning of the Corona crisis, we have faced severe problems in the supply chain. Unfortunately, deliveries continue to be bumpy. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the current delivery delays affecting some of our models and to assure you that we are doing everything we can to reduce them or prevent them from occurring in the first place. In times of a global pandemic, additional armed conflicts within Europe, and a general shortage of feed stock as well as an unprecedented bike boom, this has become a real challenge.

We would even go as far as stating it is the greatest challenge in our company's history. In this newsletter we would like to give some explanations and background information and confirm that we are in solidarity with our dealers in this situation and are trying to get the bikes into the shops.

Due to, among other things, the ongoing shortage of raw materials - in particular aluminium, rubber and steel - we are still struggling with the high volatility of our suppliers' delivery commitments. Another factor that increases delivery times is the already above-average and increasing demand for bicycle components on the world market. Compared to pre-Corona, the delivery times have increased fivefold in some cases. On the one hand, this has to do with the increased demand, but on the other hand, production capacities have been decimated due to Corona measures or, in some cases, temporarily suspended due to temporary plant closures. Such dynamic growth is unique and unprecedented in the bicycle industry, so that bicycle manufacturers and suppliers are facing major challenges.

Since autumn 2022, the delivery times of suppliers have been decreasing, in some cases significantly. Nevertheless, there are unfortunately still individual component groups, including circuit components, electronic components or parts manufactured exclusively for us, which continue to increase the production time of a complete bike. In conclusion, however, we can say that there is a positive trend towards better planning and that we can hopefully expect shorter and more reliable production dates again soon.

As a manufacturer, we have reacted to this with a massive expansion of our planning horizon and have intensified our monitoring. We check upcoming delays well in advance in order to be able to react in a swift manner. In addition, we are currently compensating for delays in delivery to an unprecedented degree using air freight shipments instead of conventional sea freight for parts from the Far East. However, we try to avoid specification changes as far as possible to maintain the exclusivity of our bikes. Be assured that we will do everything possible to keep delivery dates that have already been communicated and to keep delays as short as possible.

Our suppliers are also trying everything in their power to increase production capacities in order to meet the demand and not to let delivery times increase immeasurably. But there are also limits to this, as this often involves structural measures and the procurement of special-purpose machines is needed as well.

The reasons for delays in each model are very individual and, to make matters worse, very dynamic. It is the brakes one week that come late, it may be the fork next week that is suddenly announced to be late. The crux of the matter is also the fact that if a component is missing for the production, no matter how unimportant it is, the whole production of this model cannot begin. Currently, our models Gustav, Greta, Emil and Emilia are particularly affected and have had to be massively postponed due to delivery bottlenecks at Shimano in the production schedule. However, we are working on alternative specifications here to keep the delays as minimal as possible.

We would like to sincerely ask again for forgiveness for the delivery delays and hope that our bikes will still ensure many wonderful cycling hours.

Martin Schellhase and Jörg Schindelhauer