Distributors (<a href="http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Distributors">http://www.bikecollectives.org/wiki/index.php?title=Distributors</a>) are just the middle men separating manufacturers from retailers.&nbsp; Just like food cooperatives that buy in bulk and disseminate food at bulk rates, we could do that with bike parts.&nbsp; For those of us that buy using distributors it would save an roughly 25% off of wholesale, and for those community bike shops that aren&#39;t established enough to get a distributor account -- we would be providing an option that is 75% off of MSRP.<br>
<br>Ideally we would get accounts with tool manufacturers like park tool, pedros, hozan, etc.,... as well as wearable items like grease, bearing, chain lube, patch manufacturers, and then lower-end (but quality) parts manufacturers for things that we don&#39;t get enough of donated, or that aren&#39;t worth re-using.&nbsp; This will be different for each shop, but as an example in SLC we don&#39;t re-use bearings, spokes, cables or housing -- they get recycled and we put new ones on bikes.&nbsp; We also buy new road tires (27&quot; &amp; 700c) because we don&#39;t have enough decent ones donated, either they are too worn or dried out.<br clear="all">
<br>I can think of 2 conclusions:<br><br>1) It isn&#39;t worth doing.&nbsp; The 25% cut a distributor gets is worth paying given the hassle and it is just another random thought that might result in spending $5 to save $3.<br>
2) It is worth doing.<br><br>-- <br>Sincerely,<br><br>Jonathan Morrison<br>Executive Director<br>Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective<br>2312 S. West Temple<br>Salt Lake City, UT 84115<br>w: 801-328-2453<br>c: 801-688-0183<br>
f: 801-466-3856<br><a href="http://www.slcbikecollective.org">www.slcbikecollective.org</a><br><br>Get Addicted to Crank!<br><a href="http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/">http://www.slcbikecollective.org/crank/</a>