Who are you guys using for mail order /online source for hard parts ??

[DJ Bill]

I'm starting to get into repairing the run of the mill bikes mainly for friends and the local bike rescue organizations So far everything has been big box store thrashed mountain bikes and old ten speeds..(How Sears and Wards ever got so broke with all the bikes they sold I dunno..)

If I keep buying parts as I need them from the LBS I am going to go broke(r). There are all sorts of online places, like Modern Bike and other similar places. Who is good on the common low entry level hard parts like axles, cones, bearings, headsets, hubs, freewheels, chain? I can always wait until another junker comes in and hope it has what I need, but things like axles are never any good thanks to folks using their cow tools and hammers on them or running them into the ground by leaving adjustments all whacked out.

We are talking bikes that retailed for $50 - $200 here, not high end for sure. I'm not trying to open up my own bike shop, I'm just saving bikes that would otherwise be trashed.

Any ideas appreciated.

 

[horsefarmer]

Got together a big (for me) $150 order to niagaracycle.com (free shipping).
Just went nutz and ordered batch of inexpensive 26" tires, tubes and rim strips. Also picked up a 26" front wheel and a kick stand and handllebars.
Lots were from the clearance area of their website.
I cant tell you how many times so far I've gone into that box and raided parts to fix a bike!

 

[clamdigger]

Amazon Prime , Niagaracycle, Huskybicycles , Bikeworldusa , ebay

 

[jamesdart]

Yeah Niagra seems to have a ton of stuff. Sometimes there are good buys in the clearance section of rei too. Amazon and of coarse ebay.

 

[Bama Bill]

Niagara for me.

 

[DJ Bill]

Thanks guys.. I forgot about Niagara.. I'm going to have to google rei..

 

[DJ Bill]

Another quick question.. What parts do you always run out of and need to stock up on? For the bikes I am working on I think axle parts , cones, bearings, nuts are always in short supply, and every bike needs a good chain.

 

[horsefarmer]

I figure tires tubes and to a certain extent rim strips - I buy new. Bearings, chains sprockets etc, I usually try to source from parts bikes.

 

[DJ Bill]

All my parts bikes seem to be taken out of the same riverbed and were all worked on my the guy with the metric pliers and One Size fits none hammer/chisel set. (That's after they were ridden to Chicago and back by a 300 lb gorilla, with every drop of lubrication replaced by sand, and nothing tightened at all before he started. ) Of course if they were any better they wouldn't be parts bikes.

Some of what I'm going to get next order I make...

Tubes, yup. I bought a bunch of them at the last swap, and they vanished in an instant. Now I have a bunch of tubes to patch for the next batch o bikes.
Gumwall tires for the old ten speeds, or preferably blackwalls instead. Mt Bike tires, preferabley non agressive, to replace the scrubbed to nothing rear tires and the weather rotted fronts I see. (No actual trail use predicted anyway.)

Multi speed chain....do they sell it in bulk?
Single speed chain and master links..

 

[ratcycle]

Hey Smoopy's, I may have to hit you up on the rust buster chains. Getting expensive around these parts.

 

[Ichoptop]

Niagara has jacked up my last three orders then got lippy when I called them on it. My last order had a backorder item and it took them a week to tell me, so I ordered from a different supplier. I got the part from the other supplier a day before Niagara even shipped the rest of my original order. I have probably 100 orders with them without problem until the last month.