Wow, what a year 2020 was!
2020 was one of the biggest years Pello has had to date! We feel so fortunate to have all the amazing children (and parents) loving our bikes. This is truly an upside to the pandemic we are all part of. Because cycling is a great way to socially distance and be outside it makes sense that so many families are now riding bikes and staying safe. Perhaps this is a silver lining for families and friends to come together in such trying times. We feel so honored to be part of your family during this experience.
While we have had a great year there is another side of the coin that the pandemic has created. This is the supply side. In the world of producing bicycles, we are only as fast as our slowest part. Meaning that when we go to production we need to gather all our parts so that we can assemble the bikes in a timely and efficient manner. Because of the surge in bicycle sales (global bicycle sales have increased 38%) many of the parts we normally get on time are delayed, in several cases delayed until 2022 and even 2023.
We have been working with our supplier for years and they have been like a family to us. In fact, Shane (co-founder) knows many of the supplier's family, wives and children. During the pandemic they have seen a surge in their business and have had to really work hard to keep up with production. Many folks have asked us if we could get another supplier. While we could look at other suppliers to produce our bikes (and some have promised shorter lead times) we feel this would be a mistake because of our trusted partnership. Dating back to 2016 when we first started producing bikes our supplier has maintained Pello’s high standard of quality that has helped keep those first bikes rolling today. This, in part, is one of the reasons we stand behind our bikes enough to offer a lifetime warranty. Because of their attention to detail in all our designs and specifications we feel confident standing with them in these trying times.
We are working diligently to come up with better solutions for moving forward while maintaining our quality all in an effort to bring the bikes to you as soon as possible. For example, we have chosen to switch our geared bikes from SRAM to Shimano. While we still love SRAM we feel super confident that Shimano will offer the same level of quality and reliability but will help us get the bikes to you quicker. Not to mention Shimano is one of the best and biggest component manufacturers in the world. We are confident our new partnership with Shimano will serve Pello for generations to come!
With all this we are expecting and excited to begin shipping our single speed bikes Spring of 2022. Unfortunately we understand this will affect this year's summer experiences but as explained we are doing the best that we can to ensure we maintain the same quality Pello is known for.
We are expecting to open pre orders very soon. If you would like to be notified when pre orders are available please sign up for our waitlist and we will send you an email update when the preorders will be available.
https://www.pellobikes.com/news/2021/waitlist
Thank you again for all your kindness and patience, there is so much fun ahead...a lifetime of it!
Sincerely,
Pello Team