I know it sucks when you don't know what is going on with your order, so I'd like to share a more positive 2021 experience with Propain. Maybe it will help some of you. Before I placed the order, I did some research, including reading this thread, to get a realistic idea of what to expect.
I finally settled on the parts I wanted and ordered my Tyee on July 1st. I got the PD on Oct 22, which seemed years away. So I tried not to think about it as much as I could, which only resulted in poring over all available resources on the Tyee in the following months.
Finally October comes and about a week before my production week, I check in with Propain to see how we are standing, only to get a response within 30 minutes, that everything looks good to go, and that they should be able to deliver in time. I waited it out cautiously excited. Then, on Monday Oct 18th, I get the first email about part picking, and two hours later the assembly email arrives. You can imagine how thrilled I was!
On Tuesday morning Oct 19th, I got the QA email. The bike was shipped out the same day by noon, and I got it on the 21st! As you can see, Propain fully adhered to their production plan, and communication was prompt, and their actions too! However, there are some caveats.
We all know that the parts that cause the delays are Fox anything, along with RS coil shocks and top of the line
SRAM bits. The reasons are not difficult to foresee: since they are rather affordable with Propain, and super popular with the buyers, the majority of the orders end up with at least some of these parts - and herein lies the trouble. These parts arrive in lesser quantities than what Propain orders. Especially so for Fox, which really seems to be struggling with meeting the current demand. No one is particularly to blame, this year is just challenging unlike any other... except for maybe 2020. If your supplier fails to meet the deadlines, any of the many that are involved in the production of a single bike, what can you do?
The only way for us buyers to make a difference is to educate ourselves and either adjust the expectations, or adjust the orders to circumvent the likely bottlenecks and increase your odds at getting the bike as non-committally announced.
Among other things I've learned is that Petrol Blue is gorgeous and much more vibrant in person (the photos made me skeptical), you don't get any tools for bike assembly so get shopping if you don't at least have a full set of Allen keys, a Torx T25 (for Bikeyoke at least), and a good fork / shock pump. Also, if Propain misses a small mistake in assembly, they will fix it for you without any hassles. As far as I'm concerned, my little calculations worked out perfectly, and on their end, Propain did a splendid job. The bike they built is kind of fantastic, too
Good luck to all of you waiting and considering pulling the trigger, hope this will help you, or at least give you some hope. See you out on the trails!
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