YIKES!!

Updated 11-14-2021

As you've probably read in the newspapers, the bicycle industry is having a rough go of things. It's been almost 2 years now, and we are not seeing a let up. There are some specific challenges around repair that we need to adjust for. Here's what's going on.

We need to make some temporary changes to our service methods in order to continue serving our customers as best we can.

The challenges we're experiencing:

Our supply chains are still broken. The manufacturers and distributors that keep the bike industry moving are still out of product. This has led to a scramble on everyone's part to secure whatever is available. We have to contact many different sources to find a part. If we are able to find your part it must be purchased immediately or it will be gone. Shipping prices have increased at a phenominal rate. This means hours more work searching and increased costs in both price and shipping. We are lucky to have been more prepared than a lot of other shops, but it's still a massive obstacle.
Staffing is an issue because still mostly because we are still getting our footing in how to do business now, and we are apprehensive to bring in new people when we are not sure what the taining should be. We could use more people, but the industry is changing from week to wee as to what we need to focus on, and training new hires does not work well in that environment. This slows production as well as repairs, so we have to schedule work further out on the calendar. This means that the shop fills up with an increasing backlog of repairs. It's a snowball effect that affects every aspect of our work.
Demand for bicycles is at an all time high. Increased demand is a great thing, and in normal times, we would increase staffing levels and increase inventory (see above). Since our repair staff also functions as our custom bicycle assembly and wheel building staff, increased demand for new bicycles also taxes our small staffing levels even further.

The Temporary Plan:

We have to prioritize email over phone calls because we don't have the manpower to answer all the phone calls. To contact the repair shop, we ask that this be done by email. We check email several times a day, and can more efficiently communicate this way. It also allows us to have employees that are not currently on site answer these questions. Phone calls will be directed to our answering machine and those messages will also get checked a few times a day but email will take priority.
Appointments only. Our shop can only hold about 40 repair bicycles at once, and is currently packed full. We are not able to have bikes left for long periods of time, so we are asking that you email us and work out an appointment for service and drop the bike off on the appointed date.
No walk-ins... temporarily. Until we can hire more people, we cannot take in walk-in repair jobs. Please email for a time to come in, and we'll do our best to accommodate your schedule.

:-( These changes are not what I would consider great service, or how I would choose to operate our repair business. I apologize for the necessity to make these changes. I am not used to having to make changes based on mandates or shortages that are out of my control, but none-the-less, here it is. We love our customers, and are very aware that without you choosing us as your shop over the last 48 years, we would not be here. We sincerely hope that we can all work through this together, and come out the other side stronger.

As hard as these last 2 seasons have been, we here at R+E Cycles feel blessed. Being too busy and under-staffed is a problem that we will eventually solve. My heart goes out to the many restaurants, bars, and other businesses that have been all but destroyed in the shut downs. How I will miss so many of my favorite haunts around Seattle that have been permanently shuttered. Opening, and running a small business is a VERY HARD job. I cannot imagine working as hard as those folks have for so many years, only to be shut down by circumstances out of their control. They have paid a very high price, and that should not be forgotten.