Has anyone noticed that people looking for parts on "parts for sale/wanted" hardly get any reactions lately... ? Not even for smaller gear box bits.
Are parts realy getting that hard to find ? Seems so.
One would think that there are barns full. But maybe not.

Well, last week I sent a clutch arm ball bearing (a single ball) to a forum member in response to a post...

It went in a 1st. Class envelope and I didn't charge him anything...

I wouldn't want to do that every day though, as I have got my own projects to work on!

I guess for anyone trying to make money from their spares it's not worth the time finding a small part amongst the spares, packing it and posting it.

How much would I have charged for the ball on that basis?...This is why shops have minimum order limits...

Also, to use the example given, I've rarely bought small gearbox parts at a jumble..Most of what I have comes from complete gearboxes that have been broken...
If I then sell all the hard to find small parts what will I do with the rest?...

A great example of this is wheels...If you buy a bare hub the chances are you will never find the rest...I'd like a pound for each time I've been asked if I'd remove a part from a wheel because someone doesn't want to buy the whole thing...

The fact is the small parts of a larger assembly can be hard to find separately and frequently the same parts are missing from common assemblies..

B31/33 cylinder heads will be found bare more often than with the rocker assemblies in place...The same parts that are more prone to wear/ getting lost will always be needed for an M20 gearbox...Kickstart ratchet pinion/indexing plunger to name just two examples...

I think it's a combination of all these factors that lead to a 'no result' from a posting rather than one particular cause...

In the bigger picture though, the fact is that as time goes on the parts for 50s,60s and 70s bikes will become as hard to find as those for 20s and 30s bike are now...There isn't an infinite supply after all ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I'm not sure that posted responses on a 'wanted' thread are a true indicator of whether there has been any response. Any positive response is likely to occur off-forum.

I don't think that there are many of us here with barns full of spares to sell - just a bunch of enthusiasts trying to find enough parts to ensure that they themselves are not faced with a 'Vehicle Off Road' situation.

It's probably been about twenty years or more since there were large quantities of NOS / ex-dealer stocks available - most of the dealers who had WD bike stuff moved it on in the late 1970s and anyone who still had some will have sold out since. It's pretty rare now for someone to find a large quantity and to actively need to move it on quickly in order to cover the costs.

I don't have a BSA so most of the requests are outside of what I have anyway and any parts that I do have will have been purchased because I thought that I needed them. Even if I do have two or three of something there will always be the feeling that I may need it in the future myself. I'm also not very good at haggling and buying in cheaply and quickly forget what I've paid for something which means that if I do agree to sell to help someone out then I'll either make a loss and possibly end up paying a lot more to replace something in the future, or I'll have to ask such a high price to cover the costs that I'd gain a reputation for being a rip-off merchant.

In all honesty, I'm unlikely to do this unless it is in order to help out someone that I feel some connection with, either because I have met them in person or because they have posted the trials and tribulations of their rebuild and ownership on a forum. It's all too easy to sell parts that one doesn't really wish or need to sell and see the completed bike up on eBay three months later...I've been caught out a couple of times like that and don't really wish to be again.

I know it s frustrating.
I have "nothing to sell" and at this time nothing to buy so never bother to even read the clasified section.
Occasionally when I am looking for something and see some one who wants something I have then I generally let them have it and if it is a small part, for the postage cost and a bigger part then you have to come here to dissasemble it.

The days of barns full of bits ended in the 90's when the internet mad it possible to advertise worldwide for free and things like evilbay mad it profitable for electronic vendors to seek out "hoards" and cash them in
Then there are the profiteers who scour list like this hound people into selling them that last obscure bit to get their bike "on the road".
The we find the road is the road to riches as the bike suddenly appears on craigs list evilbay and the like at an outrageous price and the best we get is abuse & bad mouhing because we had saked a reasonable price.

email (option): bsansw1@tpg.com.au

Fortunatly there is always Husein !