Growth of the cycling market in the last 2 years was greatly unforeseen by component manufacturers. In fact, while Shimano and SRAM were developing new tech for gravel and wireless shifting, a global pandemic struck. Although no one in the industry will be caught complaining about new enthusiasm for cycling, it has brought about a certain level of frustration for the consumer.
We must now look at solutions to build your dream ride despite this components shortage which is suspected to last until the end of 2023.
1. Purchase a complete bike from an Asian manufacturer
Yoeleo is based in Xiamen, China. This is the largest hub of production for all cycling equipment. Before branding itself Yoeleo now 1 years ago, Yoeleo was producing carbon cycling equipment for a variety of other brand names. This has given Yoeleo a strength of relationships with Shimano that allows better leverage to equip our complete bikes. It is a bit of a wild west bidding war for components in Asia right now so solid relationships can go a long way to help our customers.
We offer three options to keep our complete bikes very simple:
STD comes with R7000
PRO comes with R8000-R8020
PRO DI2 comes with R8050-R8070
2. Cable Actuated Hydraulic brakes
The cycling industry is transitioning slowly but surely to disc brake. That being said, there is still plenty of rim brake component option out there. A trick we use with the Yoeleo Test Team p/b 4MIND is mechanically actuated hydro shifters. This means that you can upgrade to a disc brake frame and wheelset by simply purchasing a set of callipers.
Here are some great options:
3. Previously Owned Components
Take a look at the used cycling components market. You will find many people selling mechanical parts as they shift to DI2 or rim brake groupsets as they shift to disc brake. Use well-renown marketplaces such as Ebay as much as possible to make sure you are getting genuine parts. Don't be scared to mix and match parts, but do make sure they are compatible (don't be afraid to ask us for advice, we are here to help!).
We hope these three tips will help you either purchase your first bike, upgrade your current ride or just succumb to the n+1 amount of bikes phenomena.
Pablo Cruz
Yoeleo Test Team p/b 4MIND rider
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
https://www.instagram.com/pablocruz504/
https://www.strava.com/athletes/1013150?oq=pablo