Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - does E.A.I. actually have all products on their website?

I was browsing through E.A.I.'s website, and they have a number of products listed that are seemingly out of production. Are E.A.I. dealers able to order things like Suntour cogs and cranksets and Cinelli Olympic framesets?

Just curious.

I remember hearing that they have a slew of NOS parts that they sell. That may be the case with the Suntour stuff and other discontinued items.

they don't have a lot of the parts listed on their site. I've had numerous bike shops call about stuff, especially the suntour cranks and they did not have them.

Yes. They a TON of NOS stuff.

They might have a lot of NOS stuff, but they definitely don't have everything listed on their site.

They might have a lot of NOS stuff, but they definitely don't have everything listed on their site.
Your experience?

I was talking to one of the guys at my LBS just a few days ago about this. Apparently, the original owner was a total packrat and collected a huge store of cool old parts. When he died, they started selling everything at really high prices. The guy I was talking to said he wouldn't order most stuff from them because the wholesale costs were so high that he felt bad selling stuff to customers for anything higher. Plus, he said the guys who work there are clueless about what they have. One guy will tell you they have something, the next guy will tell you they don't.

Your experience?

Recently as I was trying to get a padded five gold saddle. The shop I was going through was first told that they had them, and then later that they did not have them and probably would not have them in the future.

That sucks. I have a had good luck in getting stuff that is no longer available from them.

Interesting tidbit: Did you know all of the Kashimax saddles are handmade by *1* guy?

Interesting tidbit: Did you know all of the Kashimax saddles are handmade by *1* guy?


http://www.martialdevelopment.com/wordpress/wp-content/images/chuck-norris-1.jpg

In my experience, they list things online and in their catalog that are representative of the types of things they keep in stock. They're not ones to post the exact quantities on hand as a majority of what they deal with (at least track goods) are out of production. They're a pretty aloof company, so the fact that they might not have some things their out-of-date website shows doesn't surprise me. Anthony's a pretty straight shooter, and although he can have a pretty curt tone on the phone he's amiable in person. One of the other guys there (forgot his name, but met him at Interbike) is a total chach and seems quite worthless. They have a lot of exclusive rights to distribute some of the track stuff and things like TA, so they have a solid, albeit small market share.

total chach

where did you pick this up? some friends of mine from milwaukee have been saying that **** for YEARS and ive never head it anywhere else.

where did you pick this up? some friends of mine from milwaukee have been saying that **** for YEARS and ive never head it anywhere else.

Welcome to the internets, where dialects are assimilated daily.

That sucks. I have a had good luck in getting stuff that is no longer available from them.

Interesting tidbit: Did you know all of the Kashimax saddles are handmade by *1* guy?

It was a little disappointing, but not a big deal. Ended up scoring one one on ebay a month or so later for a lot less money anyway.

And don't get me wrong, I'm not downing those guys at all. If they have half of what's on the site I'd still be pretty impressed. And maybe there are more sources these days, but for a long time no one else was bringing in the stuff they were.

Nope, didn't know that, dude must have been pretty busy in the late 70s/early 80s.