Updates from the madhouse

We've had a few days of nice spring weather, which means bulbs popping out of the ground and an inbox full of "I'm really excited to start riding my new wheels..." emails. In the ever-shifting landscape of product status and lead time adjustments, it's hard to keep up. We've always taken a lot of pride in delivering on promised dates, but there is so much that's out of our hands right now. We're doing everything we can, and if worrying and sweating and swearing were productive activities, we'd be neck deep in inventory right now. 

Here are a few notable things going on:

The Boyd Altamont ceramic rims that we'd had in stock are now all gone. Nearly 4 years to the day since the ceramic rim window opened with a first big delivery of Al33 rims, the ceramic rim era closes for us. A shame, but fortunately there are still good alloy rims available, among them a very thin stock of original Altamont in 24/28. Boyd will have a new Altamont rim brake rim coming out late spring, which is spec'd more or less right down the middle between the previous Altamont and Altamont Lite rims. We're excited for those. The disc brake version is available, and once we get a look-see at the set that's on the way we'll put builds with them up in the store. 

HED Belgium+ disc 700c rims, which we thought were gone forever, are back at least temporarily. Drillings are limited to 28 and 32 hole, no more 24 to be had. It's a constant game of looking under rocks to see what you find, and we've found enough supply to keep those products lit up for a good while. Belgium G (which used to be called Eroica, because we need that bit of confusion right now) are climbing up the charts to become one of our most popular products. Everything wide is all the rage right now, except in Vermont where you really love the paved roads right now. Mud season is FOR REAL. No joke. 

Velocity Quills are just terminally backordered. They're lovely rims, and we look forward to building with them again, but the time and effort it takes to snipe stock, plus the unpredictable lead times, mean we just can't offer them at present when everything else is fully crazy. 

All Road 38s are slow getting to us. They're becoming more and more popular, which is great, but production is slow. Pre-orders for those will need a bit of extra time for delivery. Meantime, All Road 50s are in better shape thanks to me over-forecasting on our last order. They are getting sold through, and once what we have on hand gets spoken for it will be a bit of a wait for them, as their production is like the 38s - fast wheels, slow production. 

The hubs situation is still what it was - nuts. We are ordering all of the White Industries black hubs that we can for the QuickShip™ builds. With orders for black and silver hubs taking 3 to 4 weeks to get out the door from White, we're basically always on the back foot there. Hopefully that will ease. In the meantime, colored hubs from White, as well as all I9 and Chris King hubs are at 10 weeks lead time. Onyx hubs are at 3 weeks lead time. We're anxiously waiting for some Aivee hubs that had an 8-week-and-counting lead time. 

For accessories, I don't like to call myself a hoarder, but hoarding is as hoarding does. We have stock of Ultegra rotors in both 140 and 160. These are only available to order with wheels. Tires are a bit of a nightmare. We have some Schwalbe Pro Ones on hand, but as many of you know, trying to buy a road tire bigger than 25mm right now is madness. Continental GP5000s are due to be available in a week, but I'll believe that when I see them. They've skipped four or five due dates already. 

And that brings us about up to date until the next bombshell lands.