Why are small bike bits so expensive?

[beanzontoast]

you can never have too many cable ties or too much duct tape....

You are correct - and you beat me to it!

 

[Aperitif]

It's the metal Cleatium, it's only found in a secret underground cave near Swindon and mined by specially trained marmots on the third Tuesday of every month when the water level is low enough. It's fashioned into a metal clip by qualified cleaturgallists who have spent at least 15 years in training. That's why they're so expensive. Maybe.

Surely the answer is not to buy a small bike? SPD-ers are lucky, they get metal. What about us poor Looky Delta/Keo slaves. More durability in a beer bottle top.

beer not berr - I hate this instant 'flag up an edit' facility

 

[Silver Fox]

Replacement XTR rear mech for the Yeti, £89.99. Blimey, could have spent that cash on loose women and beer then wasted the rest.

 

[MacB]

Replacement XTR rear mech for the Yeti, £89.99. Blimey, could have spent that cash on loose women and beer then wasted the rest.

A cruel person might say the moeny would be better invested in some more up to date jokes

 

[Silver Fox]

A cruel person might say the moeny would be better invested in some more up to date jokes

True, but the old ones are the best.

I thank yow

 

[accountantpete]

Four replacement Mirage brake blocks from 2001 are £24 - it's cheaper to buy a new pair of brakes.

 

[fossyant]

Replacement XTR rear mech for the Yeti, £89.99. Blimey, could have spent that cash on loose women and beer then wasted the rest.

Erm, how do you break an XTR mech, other than crashing it ? I can't break LX and XT, never mind 20 year old Ultegra and Dura Ace....

 

[Night Train]

If possible try to buy small stuff online. It's usually a lot cheaper.

I just bought some valve caps for the trike from Ebay. 99p for 10 and free postage. They came in little plastic bag in an envelope that was well sealed up with sticky tape and two second class stamps.
I reckon it was the valve caps that were free!

I very rarely buy small packs of small things. Bolts, screws and other fixings are always in boxes of 100-500 as are cable ties.

When my dad had a shop in London he used to sell hundreds of small packets of stuff each week. He didn't over charge though so he got a lot of trade. Even tradesmen would buy small amounts of odd stuff they wouldn't use often.

I've, so far, not been caught with the 'dealer special tools' thing yet. I usually read the Haynes manual first before starting to get parts just in case. However, I can also bodge something if I have to even if it means welding a nut to a stupid shaped fixing.

 

[Fnaar]

OK folks... no LBS for me to nip into, so where can I get those bolt thingies that you use to attach bottle cages? I need about 5. Plus a few spares of the bolts used for cleats on SPD shoes.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

OK folks... no LBS for me to nip into, so where can I get those bolt thingies that you use to attach bottle cages? I need about 5. Plus a few spares of the bolts used for cleats on SPD shoes.

CRC, Spa, SJS would do that sort of thing, Fnaar. If you get stuck I could get the cage bolts for you and maybe cleat bolts too!

 

[Fnaar]

Thanks 3BM... not urgent though...

 

[John the Monkey]

Fnaar, Boltbase on eBay are good for that sort of thing, ime.

Small bits - I've paid loads for some - (Derailleur hangers are bafflingly expensive) and little for others (my Brompton handlebar catch assembly was a mere £4). My LBS quite often lets me have nuts & bolts &c gratis, if they have enough in the bits box.

 

[goo_mason]

Recently bought new jockey wheels for my Tiagra derailleur. Couldn't believe how much they're charing for two little bits of light plastic! £20 upwards!

I did find really cheap compatible ones on CRC for a couple of quid, but they were out of stock (and still are, as far as I can see - and no wonder!). Ended up paying a tenner for a pair of Tacx Shimano-9sp compatible ones on eBay, which were the cheapest I could locate.

 

[gbb]

Another example, with wildy varying manufacturing processes..
Overhauled my FSA BB.
Standard cartridge bearings...all the machining, foundry'ing, precision, huge production lines that have to be used to make them....at a cost of circa £3 each. Good value in my book.

Then there were the BB end caps....a 1mm thick disc of plastic with a smidgeon of moulding...circa £3 each.

Compare one to the other...where's the sense in that !!!

 

[buddha]

This should become the 'CycleChat Thrift Thread'.

Not wanting to pay a mere £24.50 for a C-spanner (flimsy stamped metal spanner-shaped object). I took a drill and file to the never-used headset spanner from my Lidl took kit. 20 minutes, and a lot of sweating later - I had my own C-spanner