First the good news: Swiss bike dealers also sold well in 2019, with e-bike sales once again growing by a double-digit percentage. The warm and dry winter ensured an early start to the season. Velosuisse, the association of Swiss bicycle importers, also conducted a survey among its members and found that many people in Switzerland are switching to bicycles to avoid the concentration of viruses on public transport. All of this is leading to high demand from Swiss bike sellers.

It takes around six months for a bike ordered by a dealer to find its way from the Chinese factory to his warehouse. This means that the bikes for the 2020 season were already on the road when the coronavirus pandemic began in China. "We are therefore able to meet the increased customer demand," Velosuisse reports in its press release.

Things will get tight from the middle of the year

"It is currently still very difficult to assess the supply situation from the middle of the year," said Intercycle Director Walter Schärli, while other CEOs in the industry expressed the same opinion, according to Velosuisse's media office. "The bicycle manufacturers in China have now resumed work. However, due to travel restrictions for their employees, the factories are only producing at partial capacity," explains the head of the sales company that sells Wheeler, BiXS and other bicycle brands. What should have been produced after the Chinese New Year (January 25, 2020) will be delivered with a significant delay, Schärli is certain - also because bottlenecks will occur in sea transport when the Chinese industry tries to catch up on its delivery backlogs.

Of course, we don't want to call for mountain bike hamster sales here, but if you're thinking about buying a new bike anyway, it's a good idea not to wait.