The bicycle industry is experiencing a sustained boom in demand, but production remains difficult. Brakes, frames, forks – all sorts of components are currently missing.
The booming bicycle industry in Germany will also be slowed down for the foreseeable future by delivery bottlenecks. The managing director of Bosch eBike Systems, Claus Fleischer, pointed this out before the Eurobike bicycle fair, which starts this Wednesday in Friedrichshafen.
The Association of the German Bicycle Trade also complained about delivery problems. Some bikes could only be delivered months late.
Fleischer told the German Press Agency that the corona pandemic had caused major failures at suppliers from Asia. “At the moment we are mainly seeing a shortage of mechanical components: frame, fork and brakes. The bicycle manufacturers fight for every bike they can build because components are always missing. ” However, the electronic components on which Bosch is dependent are also scarce. This is not only due to bottlenecks at the suppliers, but also to the increased demand.
“More and more control units are being installed in every car, more cameras for driver assistance systems and to prepare for autonomous driving. There are now three cameras in every cell phone. It used to be one. ” The demand for so-called microcontrollers – these are semiconductor chips that contain a processor and peripheral functions – is much higher than it was three or four years ago, said Fleischer. “Production does not keep up because the construction of a wafer factory and the downstream processes take a long time to go into production.”
Despite the circumstances, Bosch was able to supply customers in the bicycle industry, emphasized Fleischer. Due to the shortage of components, however, it is currently not possible to deliver an upgrade set for the Nyon system to specialist retailers, because delivery to the manufacturer has priority.
Bosch does not produce any bicycles itself, but with its components for e-bikes it is the leading European system manufacturer for pedelecs. Almost 100 bicycle brands worldwide use the Bosch system: In addition to the electric motor, this also includes control electronics, displays and apps.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
