A back room full of half-finished bikes
Walk into most bike shop workshops in May and there is a corner, or a ceiling rack, of bikes that are neither done nor started. One needs a rear mech hanger that is specific to that frame. One needs a Shimano freehub body that is out of stock everywhere. Another is waiting on brake pads for a less common caliper. Each bike has a tag with a scribbled note, and each note means something slightly different depending on who wrote it.
A customer rings to ask about their bike. Someone walks to the back, finds the tag, reads 'waiting parts', and then has to work out which part, from which distributor, ordered when, and whether it has already arrived and is sitting in a box by the door. Often nobody knows, so the answer is 'we will call you back'.
The part and the job live in different places
The job sits in the diary, the workshop system or on a paper ticket. The part order sits on a distributor's dealer website, in an email confirmation, or in a phone call someone made on Tuesday. There is no link between them. When the delivery arrives, the box is checked against the invoice, not against the bikes that need what is in it.
- Parts are ordered in a daily batch, so one order covers several jobs and nobody writes down which bit is for which bike.
- Distributor back-order dates move and nobody is told, because the update sits in an email inbox.
- When a part arrives, the job is not reopened, so a fixable bike waits another week.
- Frame-specific parts such as hangers, bearings and thru-axles take the longest and are the easiest to forget.
- Customers are told 'a week or so', then hear nothing.
What stalled bikes are costing you
Floor space is the first cost. Every bike waiting on a part occupies space that a paying job could use, and in spring you run out of room before you run out of mechanics. Then there is staff time: every chase call interrupts someone, and the answer usually needs a walk to the back and a search through emails.
The bigger cost is goodwill. A customer who dropped off a commuter bike for a week and hears nothing for three stops trusting you, even if the delay was entirely the distributor's fault. That customer is less likely to buy their next bike from you.
Parts linked to the job from the moment they are ordered
We build a parts-on-order tracker tied to your workshop jobs. It can sit alongside your EPOS or workshop software, reading jobs from it where that is possible.
- When a mechanic finds that a bike needs a part, they log it against the job on a tablet at the stand: part, compatible alternatives, and which bike it is for.
- The part joins an order list grouped by distributor, so your daily orders are built from the jobs rather than from memory.
- Order confirmations and back-order emails from distributors are read automatically, and expected dates are attached to each job.
- If a date slips, the job is flagged and the customer gets a short message with the new date and an option to choose an alternative part.
- When a delivery is booked in, the tracker shows which jobs each part belongs to, and those jobs move back into the mechanic's queue.
- A single screen lists every stalled bike, what it is waiting for, from whom and since when.
| Step | Today | With a parts tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Part needed | Note on a tag | Logged against the job at the stand |
| Order placed | Batch order, no link | Order line tied to the job |
| Back-order delay | Sits in an inbox | Job flagged, customer told |
| Delivery arrives | Box goes on a shelf | Jobs reopened automatically |
What changes on the shop floor
The counter can answer a chase call from the screen, without walking to the back. The mechanics see which bikes can now be finished because their parts arrived, so nothing sits for an extra week. Customers hear about a delay before they have to ask, and they get the choice of a different part when one exists.
You also see patterns. If one distributor is late again and again, or one type of part keeps stalling bikes, you have the record to decide whether to hold that part in stock.
Is this your workshop?
- You have bikes in the back that nobody can explain without looking at the tag.
- Parts arrive and sit in the box for days before anyone matches them to a job.
- Back-order emails from distributors are read by whoever happens to open them.
- Customers ring more than once to ask where their bike is.
- You have run out of floor space while mechanics still have hours free.