The Hodaka Club Forum

For those of you looking for alternative bushings for toaster tanks, I found these at Ace Hardware. The part number is 55055E and they are $.37 each! Just passing the info on! Victor

Ace is the place! I had discovered that!
Maxie

Yup Maxie! Ace Hardware is an amazing place for fasteners of all types. Chrome, stainless steel, #8 hardened, bushings, Springs, and a plethora of other handy items for Hodakas and other motorcycles as well!!! Victor

Looks more like a gromet? -------CT

Victor, my story is when restoring my XS-650 vintage Yamaha, I priced all the parts I needed to mount the front head light. Eek! $75 plus freight. Off to Ace. All new stainless allen head bolts, cool grommets, stainless washers and spacers. $10.75. Ace is the place!

Maxie

The local Ace Hardware in my area closed a while back. Pushed out by Home Depot which has almost nothing as far as hardware like that. When you do find something the bolts will come in a package of 2 and the nuts in a package of 3. So if you want 4 bolts and nuts you are forced to buy 6 nuts. This practice should be illegal as far I’m concerned. I will drive past 2 Home Depot stores to get to a real hardware store.

I don’t shop at Home Depot except for 2 things. They have the best supply of tile & tile related supplies & they have a fairly good gardening supply as far as plants go. But other than that, I rarely shop there. Lowe’s, on the other hand, is a favorite, but not necessarily for nuts & bolts & similar. Victor

Ace for me. Same owners for 60+ years. They call me by my first name when I walk into the place. Old school - just like me.

Same deal here Matt. The owner is in his 90s and known me since I was a kid. First name basis on the whole crew. My kinda place!
Maxie

Right on, Maxie. Just last week we were track clearing after a big wing storm. Rainy, low 40s, blustery. We ran out of chain oil so I bounced to Ace for a gallon of Husky bar oil. One of the gals, Angela, rolled up on me with a fresh cup of coffee and told me I looked cold (I was). Actually, she told me I looked like "ten miles of bad road" (I did). That, my friend, is why I go to Ace Hardware.

The Ace places around me vary a lot. Some I won't trade at. Prices are often better at my local independent.

Availability beats out prices for me. Yesterday I paid almost $7.00 for 2 rear tank bolts and a bag of 8 washers. But at least I was able to get them! Victor

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that Ace Hardware Stores are independent, retailer owned stores which are a part of what amounts to a buying cooperative. They look like a chain store operation but in most ways they are independent hardware stores that benefit from the purchasing power of the cooperative.

That’s my understanding as well Matt. And so is Big Joe Hardware as well. Victor

But still a cut of what you pay goes to Ace....