Bicycle Mechanics - Where To Buy A Replacement Bolt?

My singlespeed fell over and the left brake lever took the brunt of the fall. As a result the bolt that clamps the lever to the stem sheared in two and now I have a left lever that just limply hangs on the bar. I have visited several LBS near me but they couldn't help, and I have been looking online to no avail. Doeas anyone know where I can source this bolt? It is part of a left Shimano XTR M-950 brake lever. Does anyone have a beat up lever that I can cannibalize the bolt from? ;) Thanks!

I have found that Ace hardware has a good selection of stainless steel allen wrench hex head bolts in metric that are identical to OEM bolts. A friend who is a bike mechanic turned me on to them. The only limitation I've found is that there is a limited selection of 7m bolts (I needed one for a stem and the sizes jump from 6m to 8m).

Good Luck

loosescrews.com

$10 minimum though. I just ordered a package of misc stuff and it took about 1 week.

boltdepot.com. Not bike-specific but they have any kind of fastener you could imagine.

Look in your yellow pages under Fasteners.

and/or simply go to a real hardware store - not Home Depot, Lowes, Target hardware section etc. A real hardware store like True Value, Sentry, etc. A lot of those places will have an aisle or two of fasteners including boxes of very unusual specialty items.

Look in your yellow pages under Fasteners.

and/or simply go to a real hardware store - not Home Depot, Lowes, Target hardware section etc. A real hardware store like True Value, Sentry, etc. A lot of those places will have an aisle or two of fasteners including boxes of very unusual specialty items.

Unfortunately for the OP... and all of us mechanically minded souls, these real hardware stores are becoming fewer, and farther apart, they just can't stand up in the face of the big box stores. Or in my case... mother nature. The really wonderful true value here in town was flattened by a tornado last night :eek::(:twitchy:. They had just moved to a new location last summer.

http://news.themercury.com/2008/06/Tornado/article.aspx?articleId=4378bdfcfd13407296fdc50ccaded00c

So now I have to find a new source of good stainless hardware. <sigh>

www.mcmastercarr.com

Thanks for all the tips guys, really appreciated. I will try each one till I get that bolt.

Halthane, I hope everyone is ok over there. Pity about that hardware store, I hope no one was hurt.

bike bolts often have reduced diameter heads than normal industrial bolts.

so might be difficult to fit a standard bolt into your brake lever

Go to the LBS and ask. Every LBS I've ever been to has had a big tin full of various bolts.