Call me grumpy if you will, I was just saying to my cycling friend Frank the other day, after his electronic front derailleur went on the fritz, and we discovered replacements are no longer available “Don’t get me started on obsolescence!”
The big bicycle component makers really do have your best interest at heart, offering sensibly priced components with long service life, and a well-stocked range of compatible and interchangeable spare parts. Err, said no one, ever. Let me give you an example of a recent call to a major distributor.
“Hi there, I’m looking for a replacement part for a ******** but I can’t find them on your B2B anymore”
“Thanks for your call, that part has been discontinued, and there are none in stock”
“So, do you have an alternative that would substitute? The bike is only 5 or 6 years old”
“No. You might find something second-hand on ebay or marketplace, but this might be a great opportunity for your customer to upgrade to a new 12 Speed groupset”
“Great opportunity? &#%# $^&$&*!!!”
Well, you can’t stop progress as they say. But you better get used to this treatment. With the manufacturers burgeoning product lines that are continually changing (sorry, I meant “upgrading”) the spare parts lists were becoming longer than the queue for a flat white at a Beach Road café at 9.00am on a Sunday morning. And no doubt becoming more difficult and expensive to manage as a result.
Another example is buying spokes for pretty much any wheel that uses proprietary parts and spokes and is more than a couple of years old. You are going to be met with the good ol’ “Yeah nah mate” when you enquire about spares. Buy a new one mate! Yep, that $3000 wheelset that promised such speed and weight savings are now going to end up as land fill.
Not saying that the big brands would rather you buy a new groupset than they would help you keep your customer’s trusty steed with a perfectly good 11 speed group set going. But it would appear to be the case. Why sell a spare part when you can sell a complete group set…and lock that customer into proprietary parts choices.
My prediction for the not too distant future may sound like this. A customer walks into their LBS, approaches the counter to be served by an attractive AI Android –
“Hi there, I want to buy a replacement shifter for my bike. It’s the 17 speed Fookyu , I bought it 2 weeks ago”
“Is it the Fookyu 1 or 2?”
“Fookyu 2”
“Thanks for your enquiry human subject of undetermined sexual identity, that part has been discontinued and is no longer available. Would you like to take this opportunity to upgrade to the latest group set?”
“Ah no thanks, I might keep looking elsewhere”
“So be it puny human. The choice is upgrade or die. We shall now destroy you and your kind. Thanks for shopping with us please come again. Please leave a positive review on Google”.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Stock up the bomb shelter with whatever parts you can find now!
Share your angry rant about wholesale suppliers right here! What parts do you need but can’t get? If you’re a wholesaler, let’s hear about the unreasonable expectations of retailers expecting you to hold parts for 25 years! Let it all out at The BIN, you’ll feel much better afterwards…
