Why the World Waited 400 Days for One Company's Bike Gears

In 2021, bike brands were told to wait about four hundred days for gears, because most of them came through one family company from Sakai, Japan. This is how a one-lathe workshop built that tollbooth, and how the same queue that made it rich ended up fooling it. Sources: • https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/hist... • https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/hist... • https://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa... • https://www.bicycleretailer.com/inter... • https://sgbonline.com/obit-yoshizo-sh... • https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/hist... • https://www.sheldonbrown.com/suntour.... • https://www.shimano.com/en/100th/hist... • https://bike.shimano.com/en-NA/techno... • https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busin... • https://cyclingindustry.news/a-year-i... • https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/n... • https://www.bicycleretailer.com/opini... • https://road.cc/content/news/shimano-... • https://escapecollective.com/its-offi... • https://www.sgieurope.com/financial-r... • https://micromobility.io/news/shimano... • https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buye... • https://www.bicycleretailer.com/indus... Footage & images: Pexels, Wikimedia Commons. Some scenes are AI-generated illustrations; no real person is depicted with AI. • Shimano bicycle museum (CYCLE CENTER) in Sakai at dusk, October 2018 - 487.jpg — Laitche (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Antique lathe (49725811048).jpg — Thomas Quine (CC BY 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Lathe machine 6.jpg — Amuzujoe (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Maillard Atom Freewheel Roue Libre frontview.JPG — AlfvanBeem (CC0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Birmingham History Galleries - Birmingham its people, its history - An Expanding City - bike - Ladies Bicycle (8170405709).jpg — Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom (CC BY 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Lower Manhattan Skyline from New York Harbor, circa 1966-1969.jpg — Dada1960 (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Suntour sprint rear derailleur.jpg — https://www.flickr.com/photos/otherself/ (CC BY-SA 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Shimano xt 2008 derailleur.jpg — Parrot of Doom (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Shimano Hyperglide cassette 8-speed CS-HG51 11-32.jpg — Petar Milošević (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Dura Ace Schaltwerk.jpg — Singlespeedfahrer (CC0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Shimano shifters-frame mounted.jpg — Peter.shaman at Polish Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Umwerfer cylone2.jpg — NxNW (CC BY-SA 3.0 de) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Shimano STI.jpg — No machine-readable author provided. Dhodges assumed (based on copyright claims). (CC BY-SA 3.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Shimano neutral car.png — Shougissime (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... • Antique lathe (49725811048).jpg — Thomas Quine (CC BY 2.0) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Also available with a Spanish audio track.