Overloaded workshops, rising costs and a growing gap between riders and brands.
Published by Radical Life Studios / MTB Report
Doesn’t matter if it’s Santa Cruz, Cube or Canyon – when your bike breaks in 2025, you’d better clear your schedule.
Repairs take weeks, sometimes months.
Parts are out of stock, workshops are full, and prices are rising.
What used to be routine is now a privilege: getting your bike fixed.
Overloaded Shops, Overwhelmed Riders
The boom years flooded the market with e-bikes – but not with mechanics.
Workshops are drowning in repairs while spare parts are stuck in global supply chains.
Even simple fixes like bearing replacements can take weeks because components are proprietary or unavailable.
It’s not bad luck – it’s design.
Many brands have centralized their after-sales business to keep profit margins high, leaving local shops stranded.
And the riders? Waiting, frustrated, powerless.
When Maintenance Becomes a Business Model
Service used to mean support.
Now it’s a revenue stream.
Diagnostics, firmware updates, even battery checks – everything has a price tag.
That’s fine, if the service works. But too often, it doesn’t.
Brands no longer sell just bikes – they sell dependency.
Electronics: Blessing and Curse
E-MTBs are masterpieces of engineering – and that’s the issue.
The smarter the bike, the more fragile it becomes.
Sensors, apps, displays – one glitch and the ride’s over.
And with closed systems, only authorized workshops can touch them.
Convenient for brands. Frustrating for riders.
The Rise of DIY Resistance
A quiet rebellion is forming.
Riders are learning to fix their own gear again – through YouTube, forums, and good old trial and error.
DIY isn’t just about saving money. It’s about taking back control.
Because freedom doesn’t come from Bluetooth – it comes from a wrench.
What’s Really Missing: Trust
The service crisis isn’t mechanical. It’s cultural.
Brands, dealers and riders have lost connection.
And until that trust returns, no app, motor or update will fix the problem.
The bike industry has built rockets but forgotten the runway.
Technology has outpaced service – and the gap is widening.
If 2026 wants to call itself revolutionary, it needs one thing above all: people who care.
Because no matter how smart the bike gets – it’s still the rider who keeps it alive.
- A Connected Trail Network: What the Real Solution Looks Like — and What Baden-Württemberg Keeps Refusing to Build
- How Dangerous Are Bike Parks, Really?
- Rotwild — the German engineering brand that doesn’t ask to be liked
- The Truth About Bike Insurance
- Mountain Biking and Forest Conservation: Baden-Württemberg Finally Needs a System — Not Another Ban
- Schwalbe launches the Pressure Guide (Beta) — less guesswork, more grip
- Bans Create Shadow Use: Why Baden-Württemberg Is Building Its Own Trail Problem
- Why More Bike Brands Are Shrinking Their Lineups — and What It Really Means for Riders
- Security through networking—or the perfect excuse to let infrastructure continue to decay?
- Cannondale is doubling down on full-power eMTBs—but making them more configurable, more connected, and more “long-ride practical.
- Forbidden — why pairing the Druid with Avinox is more than “just another e-bike launch”
- The Shift Back to Precision
No responses yet