Running a bike shop in 2021 definitely seems to take careful inventory planning and chucks it out the window!  Before as a small shop we would spend a lot of time thinking about what would be good buys for inventory, how much to carry, making sure we can turn anything we stock quickly as we are a small shop with an even smaller budget but that's long gone.

The bike industries inventory levels continue to be questionable at best so many of us now are impulsively buying anything we see come into stock if there is even the tiniest potential we may need it in the next 6 months.  Why are we being so impulsive, submitting multiple orders a day with the same supplier?  Things go out of stock insanely fast on our end.  I've seen a set of rims come into stock, have 30 available and in the time I click "add to card" and try to submit my order they are down to just 5.  Those numbers are not even made up, that just happened a few days ago.  Most suppliers have "item watch" that sends us an email automatically when a part comes into inventory and even that system is too slow.  I've got an item watch email, saw it and followed the link within 5 minutes of it being sent and the product was already gone.

This isn't really a rant and I am sure I am not telling any of you anything new but we can call it an excuse to post a meme I made when I should have been doing something more constructive and I'll let it do double duty as a plea to wholesale suppliers, PLEASE ADD A "SORT BY IN STOCK" OPTION TO YOUR CATALOG.  If JBI, who has the worst online catalog out there can figure it out, surely those of you with otherwise spot on websites like QBP can make it work.  We waste so much time clicking through item categories that are not available and you would save us huge amounts of time in trying to quote customers or place orders.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the meme as that really was the motivation behind this post...
​Chris

The DT 240 EXP is the predecessor to the tried and true 240s hub.  This new version claims to be even more durable than the previous 240s by minimizing the amount of parts that have to move to engage.  The previous version was already incredibly reliable, especially considering its lightweight so it will be exciting to see how this update holds up in the long term.

The 240 EXP may not be the fastest engaging hub on the market shipping with either 36 or 54 points of engagement but it is fast enough to not feel sloppy and is significantly lighter than nearly all the competition so this hub will work fantastic for racers or people who just like really light and fast bikes that do not get obsessed with lightning fast engagement.
Price: $711 for the pair
Engagement: 36 or 54 POE
Weight: 374 grams for pair of boost, XD
Spoke Counts: 24, 28, 32 hole
Axle Config: All common, non boost, boost, super boost, etc.
Colors: Black (plus they did a limited run of oil slick hubs!

The Spank Hex hub is relatively new on the scene but it definitely comes out swinging with 102 points of engagement and only a $298 price tag for the pair of hubs.

This hub is relatively new on the market but the design is a tried and true pawl set up so it should hold up well long term and the bearings are very easily replaceable cartridge bearings so whenever they go bad they will be very easy to replace with standard tools.

Price: $298
Engagement: 102 POE
Weight: 480 grams for pair of boost, XD
Spoke Counts: 32 hole only
Axle Config: All common, non boost, boost, super boost, etc.
Colors: Black

I know a lot of you follow us because you are interested in building your own wheels so I put together a video better detailing how to lace your own bike wheels!  This video covers the lacing process in detail, if you watch to the end of the video you can find the complete video on how to tension and stress relive your wheel after it is laced.

Let me know if you have any questions at all!

Thanks!
​Chris

We had a great time custom building this Why Cycles Big Iron titanium fat bike.  This is easily one of our favorite fatbikes on the market and because of personal bike, I love this one especially as it has a lot of purple anodized bits to keep things exciting!

The rider this is going to rides for Team PHenomenal Hope which supports people with pulmonary hypertension.  It's a great group so be sure to check them out!