Bicyclebits is a new Etsy based store that sells NOS and refurbished vintage bicycle parts and accessories.
It has been started because bicycles have been involved in my adult life for the last 40 years. I’ve raced in time trials – badly – done day rides and short tours, belonged to various cycling clubs, commuted and pottered up and down hundred of kilometers of rural roads and quiet urban side streets.
Over that time span there have been about 20 different bikes sharing the experiences, some sequentially and some simultaneously. Gradually, the various bikes came and went but like after the ebbing of the tide there always seemed to be something left behind after each bike had gone. In my case, the “something” is 40 years of odd spare parts that no longer fit anything I currently own, accessories that seemed very necessary but never got used, items tried but not liked and parts accumulated for that ideal built for which I sold the frameset.
Now if you have been at this long enough, you have piles or boxes or bins or tubs of “stuff” and you know exactly what I am speaking about. Since my “stuff” has reached critical mass, I have decided to get it into the hands of the people out there who need it, or, Lord help them, actually want it. To do this, I have established the on-line shop at Etsy which is a sale site based in the United States but accessible from anywhere.
Some of the stock is unique, some is period typical and some is weird – why ever did I need that Shimano Centeron pulley – but all of it is NOS or cleaned up and shown in photos with a description of the item. Because the parts are mostly leftover bits from earlier cycling phases and projects, the store gets the name Bicyclebits.
Typically, on this site, I do not advertise and actually pay to have ads omitted. This is to ensure that if I mention a product, a supplier or a service that mention comes from actual experience and is unbiased by commercial considerations. This announcement of the launch will be the only promotion of my shop on this site. You will find it and other vintage parts suppliers listed alphabetically in a new category on the right hand sidebar called “Vintage Bicycle Parts.” I hope that this site will continue to be a useful resource for all cyclists involved in renewal or restoration of their vintage bicycles and especially of their Bertins.
Bertin Classic Cycles 