We now live in very challenging times for buying bike parts and accessories, and indeed bikes. Covid has kicked production in the plums, lockdown has turbocharged demand, Brexit has made bike part shopping in euroland more complicated, and some idiot crashed a boat on a dead straight canal (having said that, I am quite crashy in a narrow boat. You know the movie scene where they go up the river in Apocalypse Now).
From zen mind tricks, to cunning searches, to building an empire… I am going to show you a few techniques to help you carry on shopping during this tricky time.
Stop Needing New Bike Parts.
Yeah, just get over it and you may find that 10 speed is simply fine. John Tomac got radder than you on a 7 speed with drop bars! Your tyre is not worn out, it’s now an awesome summer tread. This is by far the easiest solution to your shopping problems.
Supersize Me.
So you just need one new chain, but you can’t find one anywhere. Think big. You can buy chains on 50m long reels. Get one of those and chop off your 120 links and sell the rest on ebay. This is sort of how “Charlie The Bikemonger” started with 100 one speed chains shipped in from overseas at a fraction of the retail price.
Think Sideways.
The component you are after may exist in several different forms. Perhaps you need a new freewheel, consider getting a new hub and taking the bits you need. Or get a whole new wheel and keep the old one for spares.
Google Shopping.
Always have a look in google shopping. If you click the “compare prices from 25+ shops” you will find a list of shops who are highly likely to have what you are after in stock. However if they state “usually despatched in 3-5 days”, they probably don’t carry the stock and plan on ordering it in for you. Which is great only if the wholesaler has stock, and they probably don’t have it right now.
Beyond Google Shopping.
To get a product listed in Googles “shopping” results a business must not only upload the product data, but also pay to be included. Many businesses do not do this, but still have a web shop with stuff for sale. However, if you go into google shopping, at the bottom of the “compare prices from 25+ shops” page you will often find the products unique GTIN code and part number. The GTIN number is the number under the barcode on the products packaging. Now copy those and go searching in Google “All” (aka just a regular google search) and you are now doing a shopping search beyond the boundaries of Google Shopping.
Google Images.
Take the GTIN number or product name and search Google “Images”. As you scroll down you will see some pictures have a ticket icon. This tells us it’s a product that is for sale. Click on through and you may find the thing you really need.
DIY.
Repair and roll on. Can you sew up the gash in your tyre? Can you get a service kit and conjure another year out of that old fork? When I started mountain biking back in the 80’s, UB40 were in the charts, Thatcher was doing the miners in, mullets were cool, and I was unemployed and skint. If a crank arm rounded out, it got given a load of shims made from beer cans and went on for another season or two, whether it wanted to or not.
And don’t forget “Gaffer tape is the new black”
Mega DIY.
So, no one has any 35mm stems. Simply think of a brand name such as “Mister Stemy”, approach that place on the industrial estate that normally make motorcycle or space station parts, tell them what you want to do, and have 100 stems popped out of their CNC machine. Maybe buy your own CNC machine, they are cheaper than…. 2 or 3 southern houses. Get smart on the legal, safety standards and insurance front…. And accountancy, tax, marketing, distribution, and e-commerce… and before you know it you will be bigger than Avid (whatever happened to Avid?).
What’s stopping you?
Pre loved.
Use the obvious channels of ebay and Amazon to see if you can find a second-hand product. Also use online communities such as the awesome Singletrack World Classifieds, and just ask. Have a shout out… “Hey, has anyone got a thingy going spare?”. I am certain there are more bike parts in our sheds than all the warehouses, shops, and factories combined.
Get on the blower.
You will be amazed what bike shops have somewhere in store, but not online or even on the shelf. The part you need might be under a desk or fitted to a display bike. I have liberated hub parts from a cutaway display hub to keep a guy rolling (and make a quick tenner). There is no point in calling the big retailers as their customer service agent is looking at the same data you are seeing in the web shop. Call the dusty traditional bike shops. The sort of places that close early on Wednesday, and the owner is still suspicious of the Nokia his children forced on him 15 years ago. Have your own J.R. Hartley moment. Yeah, that reference has just divided the Singletrackers into: “what/who?”, “Was that the guy shot in that Dallas TV show?” And “Man I feel old now”.
Overseas shopping.
This has become more complicated with Brexit. You now need to know when you might catch import duty and VAT charges (the answer at the moment is everywhere except purchases under 150 euros in the EU). You will be picking up bigger shipping costs, and returns will be a bit trickier too. And if that is not enough… Nín de zhōngwén shuǐpíng rúhé? Yeah, as I suspected, your Chinese language skills do not go beyond “Sweet and sour chicken balls please mate”. Googles “translate” can help here, simply tap in what you want to say in English and google does the rest. Having said all that, overseas shopping is usually straight forward, but can have extra costs.
Give up.
Stuff mountain bikes. Sod ‘em. Bloody creaky weary outy crashy hurty costy bastard things. You have spent well over half your life and most of your money on bikes, but have you ever tried motorcycling, or fly fishing, or mountaineering? I am told that S&M is rather involving. Take a holiday from mountain biking and go and try some of the other sporting fish in the sea. Why not double back to your youth and pick up an old sport again? Go back to something like skateboarding, you will be shite at it but in your head you will be ripping, break a wrist, tell the boss it was a DIY accident, it’s all cool. Mountain biking will still be here when you come back, and you know what, after a trial separation, you will be into it more than you ever were…
Bike frames with specific components which are not always available are an issue which can make a whole frame redundant because one custom part is not available.
The future could be like classic cars with us all having multiple spare frames in our garages to keep that one classic and much loved bike rolling.
Avid is part of SRAM
Some great tips – thank you.
Some good tips! The GTIN route and give the shops a call, I can particularly recommend!
Never saw the chain reels before, that’s pretty awesome.
Oh I wish you could get a 10spd XD cassette
All my bikes have as similar as possible parts, so I can swap bits between them: standard-sized 9mm QR wheels, 27.2mm seatposts, etc.
Sram/Avid… it is almost as if the Avid brand has been retired, hanging in there until they run out of BB7s. The only live products are shorty canti brakes, BB7/BB5 mechanical discs and some levers. It’s odd to own what was once such a big component brand and do nothing with it???
Well they did, they launched the elixir brakes and killed it deader than a very dead thing.
Twice been told by big bike manufacturers (Scott and Specialised) that the parts I wanted weren’t available. Asked them to go check with “Albert” the old bloke that has worked in stores for decades and not just use the computer to see what it says is in the warehouse. Both times they found the “last one” of that part and saved a bike from being potentially scrapped!
Dammit I feel old now.