Nuts 'n bolts - where to get replacements?

DeepBlue

Probably a silly question as "the hardware shop" is probably the obvious answer.

Is this the only option or is there other options? Can one get a pack of nuts 'n bolts that contain the most common sizes for bikes?

ednwireland

not many nuts and bolts on a bike these days its all allen key bolts, the only ones ive needed recently are for fitting mudguards (and even then the guards came with them ) halfords do packs of stuff but are obviously expensive, or your local bike shop - sure to have loads

peterako

I'd recommend your local engineering shop.

Plenty here near me.

I have found that, while teh hardware shops have nuts and bolts the selection and quality isn't usually up to much....(my experience).

If you don't know your local engineering shop just ask your local mechanic/garage and they'll point you towards it

Peter (the tinkerer...)

tomasrojo

I've found that some of the nuts and bolts on a bike are specific to bikes and won't be found in a hardware store -- for example, I had to buy a new set of pedals because I couldn't find a replacement lock nut. Mind you, the pedals had seen about 50,000km, so it wasn't that big deal. Of course, I kept the lock nut from the other pedal for further use, and all the other still usuable parts.

In fact, I squirrel away the nuts and bolts of everything that I'm finished with. I've even found use a bike-related use for the screws that held together my old laptop.

They're curious things, nuts and bolts; they're simultaneously invaluable (in utility) and virtually worthless (in price).

Piercemeear

I had a brake assembly bolt snap on my old Raleigh Tourist a few weeks ago. Assumed I could replace it no bother, went around several hardware shops and it was a totally weird imperial size. Even the hardware shops that stock that kind of thing couldn't find it.

Had to take it to Kieran in Squarewheel in Temple Bar and he put a complete new (old) rear brake on it for super cheap.

tomasrojo

Piercemeear wrote: »

I had a brake assembly bolt snap on my old Raleigh Tourist a few weeks ago. Assumed I could replace it no bother, went around several hardware shops and it was a totally weird imperial size. Even the hardware shops that stock that kind of thing couldn't find it.

Had to take it to Kieran in Squarewheel in Temple Bar and he put a complete new (old) rear brake on it for super cheap.

Has any tried rothar.ie for old parts? It looks like a good place to go, but I've had no dealings with them.

Piercemeear

tomasrojo wrote: »

Has any tried rothar.ie for old parts? It looks like a good place to go, but I've had no dealings with them.

Nope, didn't try them. Possibly would have been a good bet.

Guy in Temple Bar has a lot of old parts by the looks of it and he said it was getting increasingly difficult to find non-metric parts like the one I was looking for.

tomasrojo

Just googled Raleigh Tourist. That's a good, robust bike! How old is yours?

Piercemeear

tomasrojo wrote: »

Just googled Raleigh Tourist. That's a good, robust bike! How old is yours?

Actually young enough. It's my dad's originally. I looked up the serial number recently and it's '83 Nottingham, which means it's from the last year they produced them before moving production to Taiwan that summer.

Tourists were all over the place in the '60/'70s. Mine's actually got "Tourer" on the decals but is identical to the original Tourists. Perhaps they rebranded before discontinuing.

It's heavy enough but has beautiful momentum. Lovely for city riding.

The tax man

DeepBlue wrote: »

Probably a silly question as "the hardware shop" is probably the obvious answer.

Is this the only option or is there other options? Can one get a pack of nuts 'n bolts that contain the most common sizes for bikes?

Might be of some use. Kinda lucky dip stuff.:)

tomasrojo

Good idea that. Lucky dip, as you say, though.

Liamo08

Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but I find http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk really good for picking up small bits and pieces.

Home:Ballyhoura

I found Toronto cycles very good for this kind of stuff, especially if you want to pimp out your bike with couloured bits. I think the attention to detail that things like jockey wheels give is really nice! Cheap too, even compared to eBay. Good luck

BH2008

DeepBlue wrote: »

Probably a silly question as "the hardware shop" is probably the obvious answer.

Is this the only option or is there other options? Can one get a pack of nuts 'n bolts that contain the most common sizes for bikes?

Try www.tastynuts.com they mostly sell motorcycle bits, but you'll find loads of fancy bike bits in the other cycles section.