JoeTBM 

Just throwing an idea out there, are there others interested in a thread sharing information on the purchase of parts & tooling for volunteer and charity bike shops?

This could be great prices on bulk buys, super deals, etc.?

If so would it best in this sub-forum or somewhere maybe in the classifieds?

RustySpokeTech

If you make a decision on the best venue drop me a note. I volunteer at the Rusty Spoke in Phoenix. We don't carry a lot of new stock, but we do buy a fair amount of inner tubes (which we often sell at a loss). So something like that may appeal to the powers that be at my shop.

JoeTBM 

I'll throw this one out there as we buy these items wholesale

100 pairs of handlebar grips
US $174.80 / lot (100 Pair) shipped via UPS from china
Black and other color choices
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1977...dcd44c4dH2pq2b
Nice rubber, easily cut to work with twist shifters



Same vendor also has wholesale lots of 50 combo cable locks
US $159.60 / lot (50 pieces)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1789...5c1ddd8eBTQGwV


Delivery is about 2 weeks lead time. We have purchased several lots of both from this vendor and they are very reliable and responsive.

JoeTBM 

No sure why they would sell them at a loss, when we do sell them we mark them up 25% over cost. We also have a tube patching party about every 1-2weeks
I used to get 26x1.9-2.125 at about $3 each bulk purchases and have a fair amount new in stock, now the best deals I can find is the bikesmiths @about $5.00/each bulk lot of 10 on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dmd...cat=6822797016

Or this one for a lot of 50 @ 189.99, about $3.80 each shipped
https://www.ebay.com/itm/22419868533...UAAOSwR5lgPo6d

Alibec

rusty spoke is a great place, we used to go there pretty often

louky

I would love to see this topic as a forum or subforum.

louky

I wonder about seats; some of my donor bikes have seats with varying degrees of rattiness. Is there a good source for inexpensive seats? When your organization sends these bikes back out, how pristine are they?

JoeTBM 

We actually get a pretty good supply of new seats that are takeoffs from two of our LBS's.
on top of that we are supplied with vinyl remnants from a local car reupholster and recover seats, mostly the larger ones where we can remove the springs/bars and use a pneumatic staple gun with stainless steel staples to secure the new cover.
just about all bikes sent out have a proper looking seat.
We do purchase some seats but that is only when we find an exceptional deal. The public, through our Facebook page and other forums have also supplied us with a number of donated seats/saddles.
last our volunteers also scour the thrift shops and online (Facebook Marketplace) for folks selling seat and persuade the sellers to donate them to our mission.

albrt 

I posted asking whether there is any interest in a co-op forum - it's in the Forum Suggestions & User Assistance forum at the bottom of the root Bike Forum page. That forum does not seem to get much regular traffic, so if anyone is interested please stop by and comment.

A thread here might be OK, but I suspect there are enough different co-op topics that a single thread would get cumbersome.

primesuspect

Sounds about right

JoeTBM 

We have moved to another supplier in China on Alibaba and after three successful orders, we are now dealing directly with him. Orders must be in bulk (Minimum order quantities, etc.) and best pricing is to ship by sea but will do by air if a rush.. Here are some sample costs to us (including shipping by sea

Grips .38/Pr
Cables .30/cable
Locks 2.03/each
ferrules .01/each
brake pads .38/pair
kickstands 2.10-2.35/each
reflectors .25/each
Chains 1.55-3.00/each
Tubes 2.20/each

louky

Joe:

Good hearing from you! I did buy a few things from Ali Express, but the price difference wasn't enough to wean me from Amazon and I wasn't crazy about their website. I am paying about $1 each for grips and cables. It would be great to get a better price on the brake pads and chains as I would be more likely to change them out. I am still operating by myself (with Denise helping me pick bikes up and take them to the donation site). I am probably averaging 2-3 bikes per week. I am not buying as many bikes as I was 6 months ago and getting somewhat more donations. I still get some parts at the co-op but their prices are unstable, sometimes very good, and sometimes not much less than Amazon.

I have been doing a little more chain salvaging. Many of the donations I get are pretty rough and often need servicing on the rear wheel bearing and freewheel. If the rest of the bike is OK and doesn't require a lot of parts, I take the chain off and run it through my ultrasonic and also put the freewheel in the ultrasonic. I usually take the tires off so I can check the rims strip (many of these are rotten/broken). This step leads me to fixing what tubes I can and make sure the valve stem is straight when I reassemble. These bikes lead a rough life as they live outside, and the folks who receive the donated bikes have no way to maintain them. I am now seeing "rotating donations", getting bikes back that I fixed last year. The charity will give them a "new" bike and take the non-working bike back to be re-repaired.

I got a bike as a donation last week that has a transmission that was new to me and led me to some research. It is a Schwinn World Tourist with a freewheel on the crank. I haven't gotten into it yet.

Almost all the box store bikes I get need the bearings adjusted on the wheels. Seems like half of them are actually too tight. What do you think causes this? I can understand them getting loose from wear, but I can't figure out why they would get tight.

Ray

JoeTBM 

Sorry Ray, I somehow missed this from you. Tight bearings on big box store bikes are not uncommon. Poor workmanship and less then premium parts is the typical culprits. I've gotten chains down to about $3 each for 6/7/8 speed and $2.60 for 1 speed. Kickstands (stand and 3 bolt side mounts about $2.50 each. Brake and shifter cables about .30 each. I am buying them in 100 piece lots. All prices include shipping costs. My typical order total is about $2,000-$2,500. We place the orders about 2-3 times a year. That covers about 2,200 bike repairs.

digger

I volunteer for a community bike shop but we operate a bit differently than others, or rather, have a different interaction with the community due to our location in a very rural area. This bike shop is part of a larger experimental/environmental/learning entity...well, there's a lot going on and you can read about it here.
https://thedeaneryproject.com/

Part of that is the community bike shop called The Bike Hub but we are in a very rural area and so do not have any, or few, requests for a donated bike to be used for commuting or utility. Rather, we have a fleet of bikes we rent out at a very low cost, we can do basic bike repairs (cables, housing, brakes, hub service, chain replacement, etc) and provide maintenance and cycling safety courses. In essence, the community would pay for the part and then donate to The Deanery for my time; the goal to build up some financial resources to purchase items needed in The Bike Hub such as lube, grease, ball bearings, etc. Right now we have $150 in the bank account for The Bike Hub, clearly we do not have much money so I scavenge parts off of other bikes that are not repairable but that can only go so far.

I've read the posts above but I am still uncertain of a good website to purchase small parts that I need, I'd rather a one-stop-shop if I could and bike shops can be expensive to purchase parts although local bikes shops (65km away) do donate where they can.

I need the more consumable items such as:
Rim strips of varying wheel diameters and widths
Cable housing ferrules
shifter cables
brake cables
shifter housing
Brake housing
Cable end crimps
Headset bearing race
Bottom bracket bearing race

Can someone offer some ideas on where to purchase such items? I know I can buy of Aliexpress, Amazon, etc but would there be a more one-stop-shop option for these items?

Thank you in advance.

Robvolz 

I will say we (all three co-ops I help out) have a strict policy of not undercutting the LBSs for consumables. We want and get the support from the other shops.

Not to mention take some burden off them. Example, some fellow on a 80's department store bike has needs but no money and that part new is worth more than his steed . . .

"Head to the local co-op" they say, where bins of parts for cheap (or a sweep of the floor if that's all you got) is available. Plus we will hand you the tool for the swap.

Anyway, my point is; we don't ever undercut the locals and they appreciate it.

louky

I am repairing bikes for the unhoused in Southern Indiana and your list of needed parts closely parallels my Amazon shopping list. In the past, when searching for these items, I have not been able to find anywhere to buy them all that was cheaper. I know that most of these parts come from China and are not as high quality as others available but I do what is necessary to get as many bikes on the road as possible. Most of the bikes I work on come from China anyway and the component quality is at least equal to what they started with. I have been buying shifter cables in groups of 10 and they often come with cable crimps and housing ends. I get the groups with 5 front and 5 rear but end up running out of rears and found that they also market them with a pack of 10 rears only. The same goes for brake cables. I buy the housings in 50 foot rolls. I use Gorilla tape in place of rim tape. I purchase handgrips in packs of 8. I haven't had to get any bearing races. I have purchased various derailleurs and shifters from Amazon with no failures or drama. My understanding is that many of these being sold on Amazon now are "counterfeit" but, once again, they are suitable for the bikes I am doing. JoeTBM weighs in on the thread and has been helpful to me. He is involved in a huge charity operation (in Florida I think). He is sourcing parts in large quantities but I am not sure he has found anyplace that beats AlieExpress. The Deanery looks interesting!

albrt 

I get some things from Carson City Bike shop online. They're generally cheaper than other US retailers, but on most things they are not AliExpress cheap. They also have issues with their website, which is hard to navigate and does not contain adequate product descriptions, their shipping charges are kind of arbitrary, and their fulfillment is a bit lackadaisical. But I keep going back for the prices.

louky

Ha! I just ordered a rim, and initially found it on their site, at a good price. The listing didn't state if it was a 36h (which was what I needed). I called the phone number to verify and the person just answered "hello" without acknowledging that I had reached the bike store. I had to ask them if it was the Carson City bike store. I did get my question answered but the phone conversation left me unsettled. I ended up ordering this rim from Amazon for a couple of dollars more.

digger

That's good, not undercutting the shops in order to keep their support, I wholeheartedly agree, but I'm wondering if you're responding to my post above, and if yes, how does that apply to the community shop I volunteer for and the purchase of consumables?

As I stated, the nearest bike shop is 65km away and although a very good shop (I take my bikes their exclusively) they do charge $75(CAD)/hour and for advanced level work they charge $90/hour. Many people who own entry level or department store type bikes won't pay that, nor should they for a bike worth $50 - $200 on top of the 130km round trip. I purchase these consumables for the shop I volunteer for and charge the customer the same I paid for the part, but I ask they donate to The Deanery for my time and I have a list of suggested donations based on the work required.

The Deanery is not in competition with the 'real' bike shops, in fact, I feel we try and work together. Here is what the owner of that same bike shop I visit said to me when I had asked for some advice on purchasing some tools. I later dropped $700 on tool purchase when a local counsellor donated $1,000 to the Bike Hub.

Hey Doug

Congrats on your retirement! Well deserved and hope you are taking some time to ride your bikes too!

Kudos to you for volunteering, without you and other like minded people who volunteer, a lot of things would never get done. Thank your or helping out the community.

<snip of unrelated text>

Hope this helps.
Andrew xxxxxxx

Owner
He/Him
If there is a repair I am unable to do, or one that I am unsure of how to fix, or one that I should not touch because I do not have the proper tool, then I will suggest that they visit a bike shop and I will provide them with a description of what needs to happen....or just buy a new bike.

The real goal of The Deanery, specifically the Bike Hub, is to try and change attitudes toward active transportation and exercise. If they do have a bike in the basement and they want to try and get some exercise or ride the 5km down to grandmas house instead of taking the Ford F-250 they can bring their bike to me and for really low cost get it fixed up....if I can. I have no formal training in bicycle mechanics just 30 plus years of cycling and I think I have made all the mistakes by now. :-)

digger

Thank you, I guess Amazon might be the best bet then.

Hmmm, Gorilla tape for a rim strip...do the edges of the tape stick to the tube?

JoeTBM 

You may not need the quantities we do and therefore dealing with a supplier in China may not be the best for you. When we first started, we used ebay for many of our parts and specialized tooling purchases. I worked with many different sellers as some specialized in certain parts an we were very frugal with our resources. I found AliExpress to be the worse of the options out there, and no longer use them as we had too many issues. We still use ebay for some odd or rush items and found most sellers dependable. We actually set up a bunch of "Saved searches" for items and get emails when new product. become available. Not 100% sure if ebay in Canada is different. Last, as we are a certified non-profit, we are sales tax exempt on purchases and have set that up in our PayPal profile that we use to pay ebay with. Other direct purchases we file a copy of our sales tax exemption with them to avoid that additional costs.

JoeTBM 

Absolutely right and we follow the same policy, we have 4 LBS's that feed us bikes, parts, etc. We do not want to jeopardize those relationships. Yes we do sell a few bikes to fund the shop but we do not advertise them nor do we advertise repairs. During early Covid days, we actually help some of them with parts that became scarce and still do for some older stuff that we have salvaged. They understand that we are not there to hurt them and actually push customers their way.

JoeTBM 

Yes, we are in Florida. We had moved to AliBaba vs AliExprress a while ago and found one supplier there that was excellent, we now deal with him directly for our large part orders. Quality is fine for the bikes we work on as well. Our typical large order may end up with a 800-1,000lb shipment of ordering about 2 dozen items in large quantities. We typically have it shipped by sea, which takes longer but is much cheaper thus making our money go further. We place these major orders about 2-3 times a year. I wish we had more space to store parts and actually do a sort of co-op purchasing for other non-profits. We do help some of our other "locals" doing the same work but I need to know what they want ahead of time to combine it with our order rather then sell our inventory.