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by greenpresident 1078 days ago
That’s a common waiting time at my local bike shops to be honest. The difference is that you can do most stuff on a normal bike yourself with off the shelf parts (supply chain woes permitting).
2 comments

What is local for you? In Amsterdam a 6 minute waiting time is more common if you have a regular bike.
Not OP, but I live in Munich and have heard of both six-week and one-day waiting times this summer. It depends on part availability. One day is common, six weeks not unheard of. A friend waited almost that long when two strange and unusual screws had to be replaced, the wrong ones arrived from the manufacturer, etc. The quick routine procedures failed her, the result was slow.

Just from what I hear, it seems that there are more cases of unavailble parts this summer than a few years ago. Maybe the supply chains haven't quite settled after covid, even now.

The person who mentioned six weeks didn't specify whether Van Moof has a six-week average or whether it's a 99th percentile.

It was claimed six weeks was common, common is more like 'average' than it is to '99th percentile'. Your example of the missing screws is unfortunate but it also sounds like something that is not 'common'.
Right. Old and unusual screws, a misunderstanding on the phone, someone on vacation... it was an uncommon congregation of bad luck.

Words like "common" have stretchable meanings, though, and particularly on Twitter.

There are three within 5 minutes on my bike. But waitlists for appointments are crazy in the summer. My friends don’t cancel but pass them on amongst each other if they don’t need theirs.
In Hamburg and London, bike shops absolutely have six week backlogs.
That sounds rough. Normally the guy at my corner does them for me within a few hours if it's something quick. If he's busy or on holiday I'll go to one of the other five or six bike shops within a few minutes' walk of the house.

Before moving to the Netherlands I did a lot of repairs myself but I've totally stopped now that it's so quick to have them done for me.