Wondering if anyone has had the same experience:

I ordered a Surly Steamroller frame set from my LBS toward the end of April. I was told at that time it would be available June 1. As a newbie to the ordering process involved with purchasing a new frame set, 5 weeks seemed a bit long to wait for a bike frame, but I went with it. When I went to my LBS toward the end of May, I was told the date was now June 21. I called Surly directly and was told that could very well be a tentative date and early July was entirely possible.

Am I out of line, or is waiting over 2 months for a bike frame just a bit ridiculous? When I spoke with Surly I was told they had no way to track a shipment, which I find unbelievable. Is this the way of it in the cycling world, the consumer should not expect any sort of firm date? Money has been paid, but the consumer should not have any expectations regarding a delivery date for receiving his purchase? I know they come from Taiwan, but somebody has to put it on a ship and record when that occurred. Or am I wrong?

Just a bit PO'ed right now. I would love to hear from anyone with previous experience who could offer some insight.

Thanks for allowing me to vent!

You are wrong....

In Taiwan, they fill a container with Steamrollers. When that container is full, it is put on the dock. Surly probably knows when it left the factory heading for the dock. The rest they are not going to care about because it is completely out of their control.



When they get enough containers to fill an entire cargo ship, they load them on that ship. Surly has no idea how long getting a ship full of containers might take, shipping aggregators and logistics companies do all this and there are very few if any guarantees on dates unless you are huge enough to fill an entire ship all by yourself.



After that, the ship sails to a US port, maybe LA or Seattle. The ship is unloaded, containers are stacked at port. Some are chosen by customs to be inspected, some are not. Regardless, customs has to rubber stamp a bill of lading for every single container and they do that when they get around to it. Oh, another cup of coffee and a cigarette break are higher priority than inspecting containers.

After that, Surly's container of frames is finally picked up by a trucking company and hauled to their warehouse and checked in.



After that, it may go straight to your shop if they ordered directly or to the wholesaler if your shop got it from Quality or some other distributor. Probably they went with the distributor.

Then the distributor turns around and ships it to your shop.

I predict you'll get it in Aug or Sept.

Thank you andrOid. I really had no idea how the process worked. I should have educated myself prior to ordering cause I wouldn't have done it. There are good used bikes that with a couple of upgrades would have been just fine. Thanks again.

It is quite usual experience when buying Surly frames. I usually try to buy what is in stock at LBS or confirmed stock at distributor/warehouse otherwise you are likely to wait a long time for pre-orders. I have about 8 Surly bikes at the moment and about 5 sold in the last several years, all built from frames, it was 50/50 - either in stock and shipped immediately or picked up or waiting game and me annoying the hell out of LBS. All-City and Salsa are the same (as they all QBP)

Thanks for the reply mongol. It pretty much confirms for me that I'm going to cancel the order. There are other steel fixed gear frame sets out there.

If you are without a ride - for sure, would suck to miss out entire summer. But if you can wait - Steamroller is a great frame, still regret selling mine. I usually prefer All-City for road/gravel/fixed and got Big Block to replace Steamroller. While I do like it a lot - thinking about getting Steamroller as well. You can probably get it elsewhere, plenty of online shops with stock or look at local shops for previous year models. Jenson was selling completes couple of years ago for like under $500, in store only

I had the same problem in 2009 when I ordered a Cross Check. It was worth the wait for the 2 months I rode it. After I got hit by a van and the frame was bent I got an in-stock bike at the shop.

Took a tour of LA Harbor a few years ago. It was awesome to see how cargo is moved.

This ship was loaded with new cranes. Nice paint but they came from ROC.


Old facility they use for movies/TV.


View from the stern.

Relevant The State of Surly | Blog | Surly Bikes

Interesting... I was trying to buy a new frame from All City this spring and their inventory was completely drained of several different kinds of frames in my size. They said they wouldn't have their new shipment in until August. I wonder if the problems outlined in Surly's blog post are for al QBP brands or just Surly?

that is interesting. Surly has a problem sometimes because they are often trend setters, or at least they have products that nobody else sells. When other companies come in and make a similar product, then oftentimes Surly doesn't stack up. I think that happened to them with gravel/adventure bikes and fatbikes.

I'm sure QBP has seasonal demands on their capital and they are probably gearing up to 2017 right now.

I was in the same boat, tried to get Macho Man disc since ~December. LBS told me inventory was a mess, no way for them to know the date, etc. So I ended up getting AWOL

I order manufacturing overseas and deal with shipping logistics. Andr0id did a great job summarizing things. However:

- Order could be delayed on Surly's end with the appropriate product manager late placing an order.
- Factory could be backed up and unable to meet Surly requested manufacture finish date.
- Delays happen at manufacturing plants outside of ordering company's control.
- Manufacturer could be holding product for pre-payment.
- Could be that shipping savings would be realized with ganging Steamroller frame shipment with other frames and is held until other frames are finished.
- Freight could also be held for further consolidation at Port of departure.
- Ocean freight is usually quick and reliable nowadays, but one never knows...
- Could be delayed on entry due to customs or other Port of arrival shenanigans
- could be delayed by re-shipment and receipt at Surly (QBP) warehouse.

So when the order is placed, an arrival date is projected, but may be only the best guess, especially since this is probably busy season for bike manufacturers. Once shipped, there should be shipping docs and tracking info along the way, but ETAs are just that, estimates, not guarantees.

And through personal experience with QBP and other wholesalers, if a product is on order/not in stock and I need or want it sooner, I will seek out same or similar product elsewhere. It pays to be flexible...

There's a thread on this very topic over in mtbr. It's basically impossible to get a lot of Surly's fat bikes right now as well. Surly had a huge sale on all of their fatties in the late winter, likely because they had purchased too much stock and were getting eaten alive by increased competition. I reckon that Surly bet big on fatties and it didn't work out. Some over on mtbr were speculating that QBP was shutting the brand down...

It's good to see Surly / QBP owning up to what's going on in that blog. I think QBP's Salsa brand is having similar issues. For a supply chain focused company to screw up their supply chain so badly doesn't speak well for QBP.

Hey andrOid, a bit of a follow up. It seems as though your prediction of August or September would have been just about correct. I spoke with Surly today. 6-21 was to be the scheduled delivery date (the original was 6-1 after ordering 4-25). I was told it would be another month. I do hope all turns out well for Surly, but I couldn't wait. I ordered a Wabi instead. I'll take delivery of it Monday.