Spare Parts: How the Local Bike Shop saved the day, time, and money

The culprit

Interesting that I had been looking for a part, and I just couldn't seem to find one for my bike through all the usual means.  See, my rear derailleur broke, a little wheel, referred to as a "pulley" had cracked, ensuring the chain would not effortlessly weave through the device that alternates the gear ratio on my bike.  So, I needed a replacement pulley.  I didn't need anything fancy, and I didn't want to spend too much.  I looked online first to see what kind of parts were available.  I found Pulleys for as much as $130 a pair!  Wow!  Why, you might ask?  I guess because they're ceramic, but probably because someone would be willing to spend so much (a Ben Franklin burning in their pocket, I guess).

Anyway, I found a nice pair of pulleys online for about 20 bucks.  ...But come to findout they were out of stock.  This is a simple part, and I was rather frustrated that the shipping process alone would slow this down a few days, so I wasn't about to wait for some online retailer to stock the thing.  Frustrated, I went down to one of my local bike shops, a rather high end retailer of bikes in the city.  I was doing some errands, so it was easy to drop by and see if they could help out.  No joy.  Turns out they were lacking in Pulleys, too.  Global shortage of derailleur parts?!?  Don't know, but I was kind of frustrated.  Not at the employee, just that it was proving difficult to get a relatively simple machine (my bicycle) running because one lousy pulley was broken and no one seemed to carry a inexpensive replacement.  I guess the bike shops have a hard enough time keeping up with all the non-standard items the bike industry keeps throwing at them: kind of hard to maintain a stock for every part for 29", 26", and 650b wheels, along with 10, 9, 8, and 7 speed drive trains, not to mention mountain, road and many other "styles" of bikes.  So much for keeping it simple.

So yesterday, while on the way home from work, I decided to drop by another bike shop.  I've bought from this shop from time to time, and truth be told, the service that this guy does is bar none.  Top notch.  I figured if anyone was going to have this part, A&M Cycles would.  So, I  cruised on over, talked to Karl, who introduced me to his excess derailleur bin.  I found all sorts of derailleurs, of different makes and different eras.  And low and behold, I found a Shimano 105 derailleur that had been stripped of the other pulley.  So, I was completing the robbery!  I unbolted the other pulley, tossed it in my bag, gave Karl five bucks for him saving the day (which he promised to use on a cold beverage), and headed home.

Thanks to a small, not so glamorous business, I was up and running in no time, and for little money.  If there's a moral to my little experience, it's something about recycling old parts rather than buying fancy new stuff, and more importantly, helping the local guy who helps you.