Originally Posted by
3alarmer
...there's a charity used bike parts operation in Marin county here that does the same thing as Freewheel in Madison.
I mostly can't afford to buy stuff from their shop either. They sell used chain rings by the tooth count.
They have a derailleur I could have used on this 50's project, but I ended up buying one from England, because theirs was priced so high.
I can't figure out with the pandemic if this business model will continue to be successful, because of everyone stuck at home doing projects, or if they'll run out of volunteers to disassemble all the donated bikes.
I tend to have good running partnerships with local bike shops, since we have only two co-ops in the region - the local one is quite small, while the one in the next county has 4,000 bikes. I couldn't regularly get to the latter even before COVID.
It's easier to trade parts here on the forum if it's something specific though. Ironically, quite a few of my lightweights have come from the LBS'es though - a '61 Paramount (10+ years ago), a '75 Raleigh Pro (for way too much in a package lot), and a bundle of a 1960's Bottecchia and a chromed '75 Raleigh Pro in trade for four other frames and some wheels. Three-speeds never come from LBSes though. Never.
-Kurt