Rims ans Spokes on Ebay

[lc4mike]

Has anyone purchased rims or spokes from Vintage Ave. Shop on EBay? Would like to know the quality since they are manufactured in Thailand.

[Zyx]

Company is based in Thailand but they don't state where their items are made. My guess would be somewhere cheap and easy for them but who knows. I would note that their shipping is more expensive than their rims, so by the time you pay for everything, your price is not exactly cheap. For that price you can get alloy rims from your local bike shop. Besides, I have shipped things from Hong Kong and mainland China (but not Thailand) and my experience has been that shipping from the East is dirt cheap, so their shipping cost appears to me to be a way to boost the bottom line without identifying what all you are paying for. (For example, $70 for rims plus $80 for shipping could really be $130 for rims and $20 for shipping, all for rims that cost them $11 to stock). Nothing coming from that part of the world arrives fast, and air charges are disingenuous. Everything except heavy freight and industrial bulk ships by air to some US post of entry. From there it comes by pony express. Three weeks is not uncommon for air shipped items, and I have seen small items air shipped from Hong Kong and China for less than $3 -- I think somehow they are getting subsidies, or have a sweet deal going with the U.S. on shipping and import duties. So I just don't trust that what they will charge for shipping is what they pay for shipping.

I have had far more luck with US based sources on eBay. Rims are out there without shipping from the Far East. As for spokes, they come in different lengths for each rim and wheel combo, and left length is rarely the same as right length because lots of hubs are offset. These guys do not post dimensions, so you will have to trust that they really know what length of spoke fits which 50 year old Hodaka wheel. For that matter, I did not even see a statement of rim diameter and width, so who knows what they will send you.

Far better to get spokes from Paul I think. First off, he actually knows which length goes with which bike, and he will make it right if things don't work out the first time. Plus, he gets good spokes from a reputable source. I would be more comfortable getting them from him, or from Bill Cook, or directly from a local spoke manufacturer, rather than from Thailand. But that's just me.