EvilV

Does anybody else horde spare parts for a favourite bike?

Since Anita has stopped selling the Mercs, I've been buying up spares. Just received a spare rear wheel with new SRF3 hub and some other bits. I have mentioned before that I am laying down a stock of spares. This time I got 2 chains, a new rear sprocket and a new rear wheel and three speed hub for £55. All bright and shiny new. I think that is an unbeatable price. I expect I will be able to ride this bike until I'm aged into my late nineties since I have also got lots of spares from Huw LittlePixel's mercton fixie. I think the only things I don't have are a spare frame main member and a spare front wheel.

So far, the only spares I have needed were chains, brake pads and a rear tyre. I have three new ones of those and several chain rings - oh - I replaced an inner tube from my stocks when I was too lazy to mend the puncture once. I also put on a new gear cable as a precaution when the old one had a couple of broken strands.

wahoonc

Considering that bulk of my bikes are 20+ years old..with a couple topping out over 50. Yup I hoard spares! I haunt EbayUK and have the parts shipped to my son in Leeds then he brings them home at Christmas Some parts like tires and chains are less of an issue, but shifters, and internal bits for the SA hubs are getting harder to find. I have a Giant Excursion from around 1988 or so that I am still trying to source some odd bits for (little snaps for the generator wiring system). Only folder I have at the moment is a 1968 Raleigh Compact RSW. Got a dyno hub for that one last year along with an OEM headlight. Still want to round up a full set of OEM cables for it. I don't ride it very much, but if I ever snap a cable I am going to be SOL, or doing some serious field engineering.

Aaron

SesameCrunch

I'm guilty...

somnatash

Uuh, I can understand it so well. I want my bike to last, never loose it, have a second one just the the same as backup ;-)

4cmd3

I just can't get rid of the parts left over after upgrading...
I just know the minute I pass it on, throw it out, etc that I'll want it back.

folder fanatic

If you plan to keep the bike for a long period of time (10+ years or so), I think it is vital. I don't call it "hording" but "collecting" a group of components that might be next to impossible to get when needed. That might prove critical in the event of deciding whether or not to scrape the whole bike to the junkyard for the want of one or two little parts.

tim24k

+1
o^o

mackerel

If you plan to ride your bike for the next 50+ years, it makes sense.

griftereck

Ive got loads of bikes and spares.
I got 2 pairs of wheels from Ebay this week.
And 5 bikes from the secondhand bike shop thats near work. 2 of them are for spares for 2 of the other bikes.

jur

I hoard a horde of parts but very few spares.

EvilV

Eeek - that's much worse than me. Sounds like you may have that junk hoarding 'mentalist' problem.

EvilV

Well I thought that since Anita has stopped dealing in new mercs, she would run out of spares soon enough. I know I can retrofit Brompton parts, but they are about five times the price. That new wheel and gear unit for £35 is an astonishing price. I know from the last rear wheel that I'll be well advised to check the spoke tension, but at this price, I can afford to put a half hour into the wheel before I use it, if I ever need to. The old one is doing fine still.

griftereck

Ive been wanting a road bike and a 3 speed roadster.
One bikes a mint condition Hercules Balmoral. It seems to be a newer model than the ones Ive had before. As its got a Shimano 3 speed instead of SA.
I got a Dawes touring bike. And a Raliegh ladies clubman mixte for spares for the Dawes.
I got a Raleigh Explorer, I think thats its name. A 3 speed humped toptube roadster bike. Ive had similar bikes on 24" wheels. But this is on 26". Well it will be when I take them off the Royal Enfield ladies bike I got for spares.
I have stripped one of the 700c alloy wheels that came from Ebay. But its rough. Said it was rusted in the advert. The valve was stuck in the rim. Had to hit it to remove the tube. Ive got a spoke set and alloy hub polished up, from another wheel. To fit in this one. Still the wheels were 99p.

EvilV

LOL - Yes. I just noticed the mistake. HOARD - do you HOARD your spares.

mulleady

You might want to keep some spare body parts frozen too Tony. Otherwise your Merc might outlast you.

But you have been coveting a younger woman called Vitesse................

social suicide

I had an evil three speed as a kid with a Shimano set up.

khearn

So let me see if I have this straight...

We buy folding bikes that take up less space than "normal" bikes, but they have oddball parts that we might have trouble getting in the future, so we stock up enough spare parts to rebuild the bike twice, thus taking up more space than a "normal" bike would.

Yes, I know that not everyone buys a folder to save space - Mine is for multi-mode commuting. But it still struck me as amusing.

Heck, mine's a Downtube, so I don't even have to worry about oddball parts, they're mostly standard. Then again, maybe I should go ahead and buy a spare steering tube just in case...

Keith

EvilV

Yes that is funny, but in my case, I stocked up on parts because they were CHEAP. I think all the parts for my bike can be bought from Brompton dealers, only at three times the price. Anyway - it is comical that I have spares stored in a cupboard, but they are small, as is the nature of the bike. The whole lot of them are in a box less than 2ft cubed, so it ain't so bad - anyway, I have plenty of room.

I really enjoy this bike, and I am intending to ride it for a long time.