Canyon’s CEO and founder, Roman Arnold, has penned an open letter apologising to his customers for the delays that have left thousands waiting months longer than promised for new bikes.

The delays were caused by Canyon changing factories and upgrading new IT facilities, however the transition did not go as smoothly as planned and many customers were left waiting for their purchases.

In the letter, Arnold says: “As you will already know, the process of upgrading and transitioning did not go as planned. Throughout this period of transformation, we failed to deliver the level of service that our company stands for. We are heartbroken that this has caused many in our community to lose their faith in Canyon.”

He claims that the customer services department at Canyon was not equipped to deal with the volume of complaints he received. He said: “All of these problems, while unintentional, were our responsibility and I deeply regret how many of you have been affected.

“As a person who is extremely passionate about riding nothing gets me more excited than the idea of getting a new bike, so I can honestly sympathise with how upset you must be. Your emails, calls and posts have not gone unnoticed, they have been taken to heart.”

Canyon’s Facebook and Twitter pages inundated with complaints from disgruntled consumers, with one even going as far as setting up a Twitter account specifically to publicise the problem. However, according to Arnold, these problems are now “working themselves out.”

“Over the last few weeks we have dramatically improved the situation thanks to the sustained effort and commitment from the entire Canyon Crew. Our new systems perform better with each passing day. We have learned a tremendous amount from this experience and are certain that in the future we will be much better prepared for any challenges.”

He signed off the letter by urging customers to not allow the situation to affect their perception of the company. He said: The whole Canyon Crew is giving their best to meet your expectations and we won’t stop working until we do”

To read the full letter, click here.