Fuel For Thought

Yesterday, my brother told me he'd spent over $100 to fill his gas tank.

On one hand, I sympathise with him.  For one thing, he is my brother. (This is what age does:  I didn't say, "in spite of the fact that he's my brother." LOL)  For another, he lives in an area that's more car-centric than my hometown of New York.  Even if that weren't the case, he'd rely on his car because medical conditions constrain his physical activity, at least somewhat.

On the other hand, I remind myself that petrol prices are only now surpassing levels I saw when I first set foot (actually, bike tires) in Europe, back in 1980.  I could get into a rant about how playing nice with Saudi Arabia and giving tax breaks to oil companies wouldn't have continued to keep down the price at the pump forever, but it would be just that--a rant.  Others with far more expertise in national and global politics and energy markets can explain it better, or at least in more depth, than I ever could, even if I were to hijack the focus of this blog (really, it exists).

But what my brother told me is nonetheless relevant and can perhaps be best illustrated by something I've just come across.  In Electrek, Micah Toll points out that at the current average cost of gasoline in the US--around 5 dollars a gallon (around a euro a liter)--it would take only five fills of an F-150 truck's tank to buy an entry-level electric bike.  Or, it would take someone fueling an evil SUV six times, while a sober, sedate sedan would need to be topped off seven to eight times to buy a basic e-bike like Ancheers being sold on Amazon--and driven by many delivery workers here in New York.

Photo from Electrek

The old adage "your mileage may vary" applies in more ways than one. If you live here in New York or in California, where gasoline averages more than $6 a  gallon, it would take even fewer fills to equal the cost of an ebike.

Of course, a regular bicycle, especially a used one, can be had for less, even as we enter a third year of COVID pandemic-induced shortages.  I don't know whether the gas-bike equation I've described will persuade many people would persuade to give up driving, even for short local trips.  But it's certainly food, or fuel, for thought.  So is this:  Once gas is burned, it's gone.  A bike, however, can last for years, or even decades.

 

Waiting For...Murray?

I waited nearly a year for Dee-Lilah, my custom Mercian Vincitore Special.  At least I expected as much:  When I ordered her, the folks at Mercian were advising customers to anticipate such a lag between the time they placed their deposits and received their frames or bike.  

If I recall correctly, I waited about the same amount of time for my first Arielle, my dear, departed first Mercian. For ten or twelve months to pass from the time someone puts down a deposit and takes delivery of has never been unusual when ordering a bespoke frame or builder.  But, until the pandemic, the longest I can recall myself or anyone waiting for an off-the-shelf bike was three months, in the heyday of the 1970s North American Bike Boom.  That's how long it took for me to get my Schwinn Continental in 1972.  To be fair, though, I wanted a color that, I'd heard, Schwinn was offering in limited numbers.  

But I don't recall a situation like the one that's developed during the COVID-19 pandemic:  People have had to  wait a year for a bike.  And I'm not talking about a Mercian or a custom frame from someone like Richard Sachs.  Rather, folks are standing in line for Murrays and Huffys from big-box stores.  That has to do with the supply-chain disruptions you've heard about:  Factories closed during lockdowns and ship and dock workers, and truck drivers, either couldn't go to work or quit their jobs.

So it's particularly galling to see this:

 

 Why, in the middle of a bike shortage, is Target tossing brand-new bikes into a dumpster?  One would expect that if those bikes didn't move during a shortage, perhaps they could have been discounted or donated.  But no.  For all that the company, like so many others, likes to tout its philanthropy and environmental objectives.  It doesn't, however, donate merchandise under any circumstances. 

To be fair, many other companies have similar policies. They also, like Target, try not to sell merchandise at significant discounts:  If Target sells Schwinn or H&M sells a sweater, for example, at 50 percent off, the regular price seems much higher.  As for donations, some companies cite the tax and other legal implications of this practice.  Call me a cynic, but while I am willing to grant that companies find that it's too difficult or costly to give their stuff to Goodwill or a community bike center, I can't help but to think that tossing brand-new stuff comes down to the only two words I remember from the only economics class I took:  supply and demand.  Retailers want to keep the former low and the latter high to prop up prices.

I wonder whether the dumpster-diving mom who took the video had been waiting for one of those bikes for herself or her kids.

If You Can't Find It...

Some of you may already know what I'm about to say:  Some bikes and parts are really, really hard to find right now.

Those woes seem to have begun a month or two into the pandemic, when lockdowns shut down factories, warehouses and distribution centers, and disrupted supply routes.  In some places, even bike shops were shut because they weren't deemed "essential businesses."

Now, a year and a half in, the situation doesn't seemed to have improved.  I was able to do my most recent build only because Mercian built the frame (which the insurance settlement paid for) and I had most of the parts on hand.  

Mat Brett (Good name for a hero in a detective novel, isn't it?), on the British road.cc website, relays some of the recent woes of Matt Page, a  contributor on sibling site (We can't be sexist here, can we?) off.road.cc, in sourcing replacement pads for his Shimano disc brakes.  He's set up stock alerts, it seems, with every online retailer in England as well as the country's official Shimano distributor.  His alerts include notifications for, not only original equipment replacements for his model of brake, but any other compatible pads.  I'm not familiar with all of the disc models, but the situation he describes seems something like what you might encounter if you had to replace your Dura-Ace 9, 10 or 11-speed cassette or front derailleur and couldn't find, not only Dura Ace, but also Ultegra/600, 105, Tiagra, Sora or other Shimano road parts.

Page also encountered another problem. Here in the States, some people have managed to find stuff, sometimes via Amazon, from retailers in France, Germany, Spain and other European countries.  But some of those outfits won't ship to the UK.  Or, if they will, customers have to pay sometimes-hefty import duties now that the UK is not part of the EU.

Not long ago, Bicycle Habitat, one of my longtime go-to shops, started carrying Giant bicycles, I would guess, because they actually had bikes to ship to Habitat.  Many shops say they don't expect to have new stock, whether of bikes, parts or accessories, until some time next year, if at all.  That means that if the shop you patronize doesn't have the bike, helmet or shoes in your size, let alone the color you like, you have to wait or buy another model--if indeed that is available.  I would imagine this situation, like the one Page describes, is also further complicated in the UK because some companies, even those based in Asia, serve the UK through distributors in Continental Europe--which means, of course, import duties.

(Ironically, for a time earlier this year, all-leather Brooks saddles like the B17 and Professional were unavailable in England--where they're made--because after they're finished, they're sent to the parent company's distribution center in Italy.)

So, while I don't encourage hoarding, I think that if you don't have some spares of brake pads, chains, casettes, tires, tubes and other parts that normally wear, it might be a good idea to buy them--not to mention the bike you want, if you can find it!

Oh, and be aware of fake websites--like the one of a "Shimano Clearance Store"  Page encountered in his searches: