Bicycle Mechanics - A cheapskate discovers Campy crank arm bolts....

OK, I've scarfed together almost everything I need to assemble my new bike ('04 Basso Reef with mostly Campy Centaur) and the budget is running low. Oh, that good deal I got on the Chorus crank and BB did not include the crank arm bolts - no big deal, right? A trip to the web reveals these suckers cost around $25 per pair new. Since I bought the pristine crank for around $45 on Ebay, this rankles....does anyone know any good alternatives? Good thing I got a cassette lockring with my hubs, or I'd probably be asking about that too!

OK, I've scarfed together almost everything I need to assemble my new bike ('04 Basso Reef with mostly Campy Centaur) and the budget is running low. Oh, that good deal I got on the Chorus crank and BB did not include the crank arm bolts - no big deal, right? A trip to the web reveals these suckers cost around $25 per pair new. Since I bought the pristine crank for around $45 on Ebay, this rankles....does anyone know any good alternatives? Good thing I got a cassette lockring with my hubs, or I'd probably be asking about that too!LOL...$25 for crank bolts!! Several different types of generic and other brand bolts will work.Any LBS should have a drawer full of old ones to choose from. Either free of minimall $$.

LOL...$25 for crank bolts!! Several different types of generic and other brand bolts will work.Any LBS should have a drawer full of old ones to choose from. Either free of minimall $$.

I doubt the shops in my area (I'm a not so affuent type in a well-off area) will be very helpful. Their goal seems to be to extract maximum $$ from every customer. Looking for a quill stem for an older bike I spotted a pegboard at my LBS with dozens of what look like take-off stems of various sorts. Thinking they might want to sell one at a resonable price, I am told that I can probably have one (throw in a bit of attitude here) for $40 or $50. On the counter sits a bin of the little brass Schrader-presta adapters, labeled $5.95 ea. (we used to give these to customers in the '70s). And lets not talk about the labor charges.....

I'm not really that cheap, but to an old time biker there is something that doesn't seem proper about some of the prices being charged for odds and ends.

Anyway, I've seen two types of these 8mm crank bolts: allen head, chrome plated with plastic dust ring, not to cool looking, probably made in Taiwan but only about $4. The others are the titanium hex head bolts made by Ritchey - seems like these are around for under $10, but I'd really prefer something closer to the campy type with an allen head.

I doubt the shops in my area (I'm a not so affuent type in a well-off area) will be very helpful. Their goal seems to be to extract maximum $$ from every customer. Looking for a quill stem for an older bike I spotted a pegboard at my LBS with dozens of what look like take-off stems of various sorts. Thinking they might want to sell one at a resonable price, I am told that I can probably have one (throw in a bit of attitude here) for $40 or $50. On the counter sits a bin of the little brass Schrader-presta adapters, labeled $5.95 ea. (we used to give these to customers in the '70s). And lets not talk about the labor charges.....

I'm not really that cheap, but to an old time biker there is something that doesn't seem proper about some of the prices being charged for odds and ends.

Anyway, I've seen two types of these 8mm crank bolts: allen head, chrome plated with plastic dust ring, not to cool looking, probably made in Taiwan but only about $4. The others are the titanium hex head bolts made by Ritchey - seems like these are around for under $10, but I'd really prefer something closer to the campy type with an allen head.colorado cyclist has FSA self extracting allen bolts for $12.

biketoolsetc.com has sugino crank bolts for substantially less than 25$.

no self extracting!!! they will only lead to problems

no self extracting!!! they will only lead to problems

No, I'm not interested in the self-extracting kind. I did find that FSA makes a basic 8mm allen head type that is pretty inexpensive and nicely finished. I'll probably look for some of those.....