JoeTBM 

Just throwing an idea out there, are there others interested in a thread sharing information on the purchase of parts & tooling for volunteer and charity bike shops?

This could be great prices on bulk buys, super deals, etc.?

If so would it best in this sub-forum or somewhere maybe in the classifieds?

RustySpokeTech

If you make a decision on the best venue drop me a note. I volunteer at the Rusty Spoke in Phoenix. We don't carry a lot of new stock, but we do buy a fair amount of inner tubes (which we often sell at a loss). So something like that may appeal to the powers that be at my shop.

JoeTBM 

I'll throw this one out there as we buy these items wholesale

100 pairs of handlebar grips
US $174.80 / lot (100 Pair) shipped via UPS from china
Black and other color choices
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1977...dcd44c4dH2pq2b
Nice rubber, easily cut to work with twist shifters



Same vendor also has wholesale lots of 50 combo cable locks
US $159.60 / lot (50 pieces)
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1789...5c1ddd8eBTQGwV


Delivery is about 2 weeks lead time. We have purchased several lots of both from this vendor and they are very reliable and responsive.

JoeTBM 

No sure why they would sell them at a loss, when we do sell them we mark them up 25% over cost. We also have a tube patching party about every 1-2weeks
I used to get 26x1.9-2.125 at about $3 each bulk purchases and have a fair amount new in stock, now the best deals I can find is the bikesmiths @about $5.00/each bulk lot of 10 on ebay
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_dmd...cat=6822797016

Or this one for a lot of 50 @ 189.99, about $3.80 each shipped
https://www.ebay.com/itm/22419868533...UAAOSwR5lgPo6d

Alibec

rusty spoke is a great place, we used to go there pretty often

louky

I would love to see this topic as a forum or subforum.

louky

I wonder about seats; some of my donor bikes have seats with varying degrees of rattiness. Is there a good source for inexpensive seats? When your organization sends these bikes back out, how pristine are they?

JoeTBM 

We actually get a pretty good supply of new seats that are takeoffs from two of our LBS's.
on top of that we are supplied with vinyl remnants from a local car reupholster and recover seats, mostly the larger ones where we can remove the springs/bars and use a pneumatic staple gun with stainless steel staples to secure the new cover.
just about all bikes sent out have a proper looking seat.
We do purchase some seats but that is only when we find an exceptional deal. The public, through our Facebook page and other forums have also supplied us with a number of donated seats/saddles.
last our volunteers also scour the thrift shops and online (Facebook Marketplace) for folks selling seat and persuade the sellers to donate them to our mission.

albrt 

I posted asking whether there is any interest in a co-op forum - it's in the Forum Suggestions & User Assistance forum at the bottom of the root Bike Forum page. That forum does not seem to get much regular traffic, so if anyone is interested please stop by and comment.

A thread here might be OK, but I suspect there are enough different co-op topics that a single thread would get cumbersome.

primesuspect

Sounds about right