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Canyon pauses shipments to UK customers, blaming Brexit uncertainty

German brand says it plans to resume deliveries after 11 January once situation becomes clearer

Canyon, the direct-to-consumer bike brand based in Germany, has paused shipments to customers in Great Britain and has stopped accepting orders entirely from those in Northern Ireland, citing uncertainty caused by Brexit. The company, headquartered in Koblenz, says that the move is a temporary one and insists that it has been taken “to avoid delays to your orders,” although in practice it seems that is exactly what will happen.

Since the southeast of England entered Tier 4 measures on Sunday morning, both print and broadcast media have shown huge queues of lorries building up in Kent after France closed its borders to traffic from the UK.

While that is primarily affecting goods leaving these shores, it does provide an indication of the potential delays to inward goods come the New Year, especially in the event of a no deal Brexit and the associated checks and paperwork involved.

Canyon, which has prepared an FAQ on its website for customers, said: “The UK’s Brexit transition period ends on 31st December, so we’ve put extra processes in place to ensure your bike can be ordered and shipped without any issues.

“Due to the uncertainty and potential bottlenecks at the border, we are temporarily halting shipment of all bikes from 19th December until at least 11th January. We want your order to be tracked accurately and any hold-up at the border will challenge our ability to do this.”

However, notwithstanding the pause in shipping bikes to customers in the UK, people here can still shop through the brand’s website.

Canyon said: “Despite stopping shipment, we will be taking orders throughout the transitional period. Once you have placed your order, you will receive confirmation by email.

“As soon as we’re able to ship your order, we will again notify you by email along with payment details. Bikes that have a dispatch date beyond 11th January will be unaffected by the temporary pause on shipments.”

It also reassured customers that they would not incur surprise additional costs, saying: “All duties and tariffs are included in the price of your bike which means you’ll never have to pay any hidden fees when your bike arrives on British soil.

“Canyon will handle all customs and import documentation further easing the process for you and getting you riding as soon as possible.”

It cautioned, however, that “E-Bikes are affected due to the battery’s classification of dangerous goods as well as the heavier weight and increased dimensions of the box.

“It may take us beyond the 11th January to work through the additional process for these bikes and we apologise for the extended lead time to your order. We will keep you updated on the progress in our FAQs.”

Canyon continued: “As we make these adjustments, we regret that orders and shipments from our valued customers in Northern Ireland cannot be placed at this time. We are working hard to implement processes that will enable you to order your new bike as soon as possible. Updates about this can be found in our FAQs and in the meantime, deliveries to Ireland and Great Britain are still possible.”

Canyon added: “Our dedicated UK customer service team are on standby to take your questions throughout this transitional period, so please feel free to reach out using our live chat feature or browse our FAQs. The team will also be taking care of all aftersales care including guarantee and warranty related queries as well as crash replacement and servicing. We continually strive to offer the best service levels in-house within the UK and we look forward to seeing you out on your new bike as soon as possible.”

Aaron Budd, UK head of sales and marketing at Canyon, explained in an email to road.cc the background to the decision to pause shipments from last Saturday until 11 January, saying that it was “to safeguard our customers from any ambiguity or doubt on the shipping process and ensure we could still get their bikes to them with confidence. A small window of disruption is necessary to make sure we can make some changes at our end to any open orders and we are all set to get this actioned very quickly in the New Year.

 “For any customers who have an order in that was expected to ship before the 11th of January we are working to process these as a priority to minimise the lead time for their order, and our dedicated UK customer service team are on hand to answer any more queries in detail, should the customers need it,” he added.

“We have an excellent well-planned strategy in place and we’re extremely confident that as the situation becomes clearer we’ll be able to service the UK consumer better than ever.”

Rose Bikes puts complete stop on orders from UK and cancels existing ones

Meanwhile, another German brand, Rose Bikes, has said that it can no longer accept any orders at all from customers in the UK, and will cancel existing orders that had not been shipped prior to last Sunday.

It said: “Due to the Brexit and the withdrawal from the EU domestic market without a Free Trade Agreement from the 01.01.2021, we can no longer fulfil any orders from the UK. Already ordered goods, that can be shipped until 20.12.2020 will be send out. Orders that cannot be shipped until this date will be cancelled.

“If your goods can not be shipped, our customer support will contact you via e-mail. Unfortunately we feel compelled to not fulfil UK orders currently, we hope to be able to ship to our UK customers soon again. Thank you very much for understanding and for your loyalty and support.”

The company had said in September that it would only sell parts and accessories, rather than complete bikes, to customers here, although at that point it blamed the fact that “In the UK, bicycles are constructed differently than in the rest of Europe: The market standards and laws in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland clearly convey that the front brake lever must be mounted on the right-hand side of the handlebar and the rear brake lever on the left-hand side. For the rest of Europe, it is the exact opposite.”

> Rose Bikes publish statement explaining why they have stopped selling to the UK

At the time, it added: “With the technical complexity of our bikes increasing, we are facing the ever-growing challenge of being able to offer affordable Rose bikes with a high level of quality and safety. And because we want to shorten our delivery times for our customers, this summer we decided to gradually shut down the configuration of bikes, so that we are able to maintain our usual standards. Installing the brake cables and brake levers on the opposite side would require the type of special solution for the UK that we simply can’t realise right now.”

As we reported earlier this month, the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s future relationship with the EU, as well as global logistics issues resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, is already causing concern within the UK cycling industry, with Brompton warning that it may have to temporarily halt production at its West London factory due to parts being held up in the supply chain.

> UK port delays hit Brompton production as parts for its bikes get held up or cancelled

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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122 comments

Avatar
Chris Hayes | 3 years ago
0 likes

Not that I have any skin in this game, I don't own a Canyon and am not contemplating buying one, but it seems strange that they have stopped all shipments to NI.  As far as I understood NI is still in the Single Market.  Perhaps the details of the 'deal' have not reached the good burgers of Koblenz?

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mdavidford replied to Chris Hayes | 3 years ago
0 likes

It's quite possible that their shipping route to NI involved transit through the rest of the UK, and they can't easily switch to route around it, though.

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wycombewheeler replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes

mdavidford wrote:

It's quite possible that their shipping route to NI involved transit through the rest of the UK, and they can't easily switch to route around it, though.

any trouble getting canyons to Ireland? I doubt they are flown into Dublin

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Chris Hayes replied to mdavidford | 3 years ago
0 likes

Fair point...and I'd agree with you if they were doing it by themselves, but if they are using DHL/FedEx or any other international freight company then this would be sorted out for them, surely? And then it depends whether the good is being delivered by truck (with multiple stop-offs in the UK en route - hence the delay) or by plane.  

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armb | 3 years ago
1 like

Rose might resume once details of how the last minute deal is going to work are sorted, but smaller suppliers will have difficulties.

https://www.dutchbikebits.com/shipping
"Unfortunately, we will not be able to send parcels to the UK from mid December 2020 onward. Quite apart from uncertainty surrounding the shipping cost, taxation etc. after that time, there is also a problem caused by the British government deciding to impose a unique taxation regime which will require every company in the world in every country in the world outside the UK which exports to the UK to apply and collect British taxes on behalf of the British government. For providing this service they intend to charge a fee [...] Therefore from mid December 2020 onward we ship to every country in the world... except the UK."

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HoarseMann | 3 years ago
2 likes

Pretty much have to ban live animal exports from the UK with the time it's taking to get through the ports now.

Much of the arguments for leaving the EU from the leave side are non-specific 'we could do things differently' type arguments.

However, I would question the overall benefits of doing something differently in isolation, rather than instigating wider change through membership of a union.

It would be interesting to find out how many times the UK tabled a motion at the EU parliament to ban live animal exports.

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Miller | 3 years ago
15 likes

Fuck brexit and everyone who promoted it and voted for it. Fuck them all.

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Rich_cb replied to Miller | 3 years ago
6 likes

Merry Christmas to you too!

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996ducati | 3 years ago
1 like

Time to end this arrogance towards customers. If Canyon do not wish to sell their bikes in the UK then buy from someone else.

The good value price angle of Canyon is being erroded.

This is EU strong arm rubbish, similar to the full blockage of UK flights because we have a fantastic bio science industry here which recognised the new strain and informed everyone who didnt know about it. All the countries who blocked our flights will also have the new strain, they just dont know it yet!

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David9694 replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
10 likes

All rather suggests Brexit (100% our thing, remember) isn't benefiting anyone right now.  What retailer wants all the "where's my order?" hassle?

Apart from Brompton, is there any at-scale bike manufacturing in this country? 

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996ducati replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
1 like

Very true, we are definiately at the "pain" stage of the transition.

Alternatively we need to buy from other markets, such as Japan who have a formal agreement with us. Fuji bike anyone?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Japanese_bicycle_brands_and_manufa...

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David9694 replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
7 likes

996ducati wrote:

Very true, we are definiately at the "pain" stage of the transition.

Alternatively we need to buy from other markets, such as Japan who have a formal agreement with us. Fuji bike anyone?

(I) great, let's have more container ships crossing the whole of the globe;

(ii) there are other stages?  Oh, you mean like "more pain", "I'm fed up with this"... "why are we doing this?", "whose idea was this?"

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Rich_cb replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Because Canyon bikes aren't shipped from the Far East at any point...

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Alf0nse replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
5 likes

I think Canyon do wish to sell their bikes here but a bunch of knuckledraggers and flagshaggers decided to vote for something other than Britain's Got Talent for the first time in their lives. They got all whipped up by some blokes trying to short the £. Facebook helped out and then one gammon got so foamy he assassinated an MP. A functional government would have stopped the referendum at that point seeing as one side had gone full terrorist, but no they let it go ahead. MPs living in fear of getting murdered by another pensioner with a pair of wraparounds and a polo shirt acquiesced and humoured said knuckledraggers and flag shaggers.

TLDR it's not the EUs fault, it's the gammon 

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Sriracha replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
3 likes
David9694 wrote:

All rather suggests Brexit (100% our thing, remember) isn't benefiting anyone right now.  What retailer wants all the "where's my order?" hassle?

Apart from Brompton, is there any at-scale bike manufacturing in this country? 

Is there much bike manufacturing at-scale in the EU? Take Canyon for example, frames and just about everything else manufactured in the Far East. Assembled in Germany.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

Look bikes is probably the closest although I believe the frames are created in Algiers or similar North Africa state. And the Italian brands maybe although most are probably the same as Canyon with key components sourced from the far east. 

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Bmblbzzz replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

I think the largest brand actually making frames in the EU is Kross. 

https://kross.eu/en/

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
11 likes

You do remember a month or two ago when we blocked the Danes from coming into this country because they had detected the disease in their Minks and it hadn't even been proven to move to humans but we blocked them to be safe. 

Then our government release data which shows a variant which is apparently more spreadable and THEY decide to move to an unheard of tier 4 in less then 24 hours, but you expect the other countries in the world to just go, "oh well, no problems here, come in, all our welcome". 

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David9694 replied to AlsoSomniloquism | 3 years ago
5 likes

AlsoSomniloquism wrote:

You do remember a month or two ago when we blocked the Danes from coming into this country because they had detected the disease in their Minks and it hadn't even been proven to move to humans but we blocked them to be safe. 

 

if only we'd done that ourselves back in February. Still, easy to say now. 

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
17 likes

The EU is a union of democratic nations that trade together under a framework of law and regulations. The EU has always been very clear on this. There is no 'strong arm rubbish'. The EU applies the law. In fact this was one of the main issues brexthickers had - EU law. So now that the EU is applying and abiding by its laws and regulation on trade and is protecting its own borders (borders being another brexthick unicorn) the UK shouldn't be complaining. Especially as the UK no longer has any say in the matter. Unfortunately, whinging, complaining and blaming the EU seems to be ingrained in the UK psyche. 

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njblackadder replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 3 years ago
4 likes

You should take a long, hard look at yourself. Why do you think it is acceptable to throw insults at me without knowing the first thing about me? Without ever having discussed anything, let alone Brexit, with me? It seems to be the way of those who are in favour of the E.U. that they are too arrogant to believe that any other way or opinion is possible and that anyone who believes that it is, must be stupid, racist, or both. Happy Christmas.

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dreamlx10 replied to BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 3 years ago
0 likes

The english psyche you mean ?

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BRyan-DeAth replied to 996ducati | 3 years ago
0 likes

I have two Canyons, love them both, and for a couple of years now I have been worried on a "what would I replace them with if I had to" basis as they no longer sell what i want. The spec level was awesome for the price and this is nowhere near the case any more. 

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brooksby | 3 years ago
9 likes

How long do we have to wait before we can have another referendum, on rejoining the EU?

(After all, the Scots seem to have a 'once in a generation' referendum on independence every couple of years).

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Sniffer replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
7 likes

I don't think they woud have us back.  Not with the current shower in charge.

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Mathemagician replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
3 likes

Eh? When was there one before 2014?

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njblackadder replied to brooksby | 3 years ago
2 likes

We left. Get over it and get on with it!

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David9694 replied to njblackadder | 3 years ago
8 likes

we did. But tell me why we did it, what you see as being better in our lives next year - and I'll consider your suggestions.  
Tenuous link back to cycling: I was going to ask for some GP 5000s for my birthday next year - what are my chances? 

Avatar
njblackadder replied to David9694 | 3 years ago
1 like

Hello David. I know you will think this is a 'get-out', but I promise it is not. I hope you would agree that this means (discussion board) of attempting to have a sensible conversation about something so complex is not really practicable. I have my reasons for wanting the U.K. out of the E.U. I have reasons for wanting the E.U. disbanded completely, but this is not the place to try to explain. It really gets me sometimes that so many people (on both sides of the argument) will accept no other opinion than their own. It is done and we must move on and make the best of it. It is very odd to encounter so many people who wish for the U.K. to fail simply to be able to say, 'I told you so'. This is a really strange attitude. By the way, in answer to one of your questions, I don't see much being better in our lives next year (with regard to Brexit), but in the longer term there is absolutely no reason whatsoeverr why everything can't be. Much of the World trades quite happily without being part of the E.U. Happy Christmas.

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to njblackadder | 3 years ago
6 likes

njblackadder wrote:

Hello David. I know you will think this is a 'get-out', but I promise it is not. I hope you would agree that this means (discussion board) of attempting to have a sensible conversation about something so complex is not really practicable. I have my reasons for wanting the U.K. out of the E.U. I have reasons for wanting the E.U. disbanded completely, but this is not the place to try to explain. It really gets me sometimes that so many people (on both sides of the argument) will accept no other opinion than their own. It is done and we must move on and make the best of it. It is very odd to encounter so many people who wish for the U.K. to fail simply to be able to say, 'I told you so'. This is a really strange attitude. By the way, in answer to one of your questions, I don't see much being better in our lives next year (with regard to Brexit), but in the longer term there is absolutely no reason whatsoeverr why everything can't be. Much of the World trades quite happily without being part of the E.U. Happy Christmas.

My big problem with the whole argument for and against Brexit is that the arguments for Brexit didn't seem to make any sense due to lots of misinformation going round about the issue.

Purely out of interest, could you detail some of the more reputable reasons for wanting the UK out of the EU?

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