Gazelle: prices of spares

[ThisWreckage]

I ride a Gazelle Esprit. Recently it lost a small plastic cover for the centre bolt of the handlebars (see photo). A part costing about 5p, really. No idea how it disappeared, seems someone removed it while it was parked. The shop I bought it from is asking £30 for a replacement. It would be nice to find a cheaper alternative better than a piece of electrical tape. Any ideas?

[Bmblbzzz]

When similar happened to me (not a Gazelle), someone suggested a cork. You might have to file it down a bit.

[pjclinch]

I suspect just leaving it will not result in the Sky Falling In...

Pete.

[Eyebrox]

Fill the hole with black grease. Run your finger over the top of it or use a lollipop stick to flatten it out. The grease hardens and leaves a neat finish. If you want access in the future dig out the grease - the bolt below will be well-preserved. Fill it again with grease in a matter of minutes. Only, of course, if the uncovered hole really bothers you!

[Carlton green]

I ride a Gazelle Esprit. Recently it lost a small plastic cover for the centre bolt of the handlebars (see photo). A part costing about 5p, really. No idea how it disappeared, seems someone removed it while it was parked. The shop I bought it from is asking £30 for a replacement. It would be nice to find a cheaper alternative better than a piece of electrical tape. Any ideas?

Someone’s having a laugh. Measure the hole diameter and feed into eBay something like: ‘10mm plastic plug’ .
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/266997895419 ... 6735246156

Personally I wouldn’t worry about the missing cover / blanking plug, and I’m usually fairly picky about things ‘being right’. The plug in the picture looks a bit fancy, with a sloping top, that won’t be what eBay list at say £1 but it’ll likely be good enough. Perfection is overrated, and a bit too pricey too .

[Anthony-C]

Ebay, search for quill bike stem (cover,cap) , choiceof colours, £5 - £10.

[Nearholmer]

For all the times they need to come out, a neatly cut, over-size oval of gorilla tape or similar, renewed on each occassion, would do the job of keeping the rain out for sbout 5p.

[rjb]

A squirt of silicone sealant works well and stops water getting in.

[Carlton green]

Ebay, search for quill bike stem (cover,cap) , choiceof colours, £5 - £10.

Great lead .
This looks promising : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236219785676 ... R6qz0eiAZw

I’d wonder about part filling the hole with Vaseline: keeps the parts preserved from water, low cost, and less messy / staining than grease. Part filling the hole to keep the excess filler away from hands whilst still preserving the fastener’s integrity.

[Ginge_126]

You could always use black coloured Sugru. It moulds, it's waterproof and you can get it out when you need to service.

[Ferrij]

Some great suggestions but should we also question why we are being charged ridiculous amounts like this for parts which cost pennies.
The UK is seen by many companies as a cash cow….

[ThisWreckage]

Definitely.

[Nearholmer]

Because for a part like that which one customer in a century wants to buy, the shop staff time to source it will be non-trivial.

It’s the sort of thing that most shops will give you for free if they have one lying about, but charge a fortune for if they have to source one specially.

[pjclinch]

Some great suggestions but should we also question why we are being charged ridiculous amounts like this for parts which cost pennies.
The UK is seen by many companies as a cash cow….

I doubt it's the UK being seen as a cash cow, I suspect it's more a case of they don't want to be in the business of shipping odd, occasional and inconsequential things to the UK which, thanks to the Wonder of Brexit™, is now an utter PITA and isn't much like a core business market for the likes of Gazelle.

It seems to be fairly standard practice in a lot of industries that if a firm can do something but would frankly rather not bother that they put a stupid price on it, so either the potential customer goes elsewhere (problem solved) or they pay you so much it overcomes the faff of doing something they'd rather not have bothered with (problem also solved). In other words, from Gazelle's point of view it's a win/win.

Pete.