Any way to find original parts?

[glibdud]

Hi folks. I have a Giant Cypress DX (2006 model, I think) that I
bought last year. Over the winter, my cats got at it and tore up the
grips. The gear-shift portion was strong enough to survive, but the
foamy outer inch or two is totally decimated. I contacted the shop
where I bought the bike, but they don't know how to get original
replacement parts, and the third-party replacements they pointed me at
didn't look like they were the right size at all. There's one other
reputable bike shop in the area that I'm going to try, but otherwise,
I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Is it possible to find original
parts for bikes that are just a couple of years old? I guess I don't
*need* original parts, but the handles were pretty comfortable to me,
so I'd rather change as little as possible.

Thanks,
David Murphy

[Donald Gillies]

glibdud > writes:

>Hi folks. I have a Giant Cypress DX (2006 model, I think) that I
>bought last year. Over the winter, my cats got at it and tore up the
>grips. The gear-shift portion was strong enough to survive, but the
>foamy outer inch or two is totally decimated.

The problem is, this is a very, very low-end bicycle costing only
$400. On these bikes, the parts might often be coming from
manufacturing lines that are totally mature, which means they will be
phased out in just a year or two. The grips on this bicycle probably
were made in China at less than $1.00 a pair. If they cost that
little, it's unlikely that there would be an after-market demand for
exactly those grips, as the shipping will dominate the value in the
grips, making it un-economical to sell them as a spare part in the
USA.

Your best bet is to call or email Giant and ask if they offer
aftermarket replacement parts, and/or check ebay as someone might be
changing out their handlebars / stems or something, and you might be
able to get them that way.

Alternately, if this years' bikes offer the parts, you might be able
to convince your dealer to say that there was damaged to a shipped
bicycle, and he might be able to get some spares through their supply
network.

- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA

[glibdud]

On Apr 23, 4:28 pm, (Donald Gillies) wrote:
> glibdud > writes:
> >Hi folks. I have a Giant Cypress DX (2006 model, I think) that I
> >bought last year. Over the winter, my cats got at it and tore up the
> >grips. The gear-shift portion was strong enough to survive, but the
> >foamy outer inch or two is totally decimated.
>
> The problem is, this is a very, very low-end bicycle costing only
> $400. On these bikes, the parts might often be coming from
> manufacturing lines that are totally mature, which means they will be
> phased out in just a year or two. The grips on this bicycle probably
> were made in China at less than $1.00 a pair. If they cost that
> little, it's unlikely that there would be an after-market demand for
> exactly those grips, as the shipping will dominate the value in the
> grips, making it un-economical to sell them as a spare part in the
> USA.
>
> Your best bet is to call or email Giant and ask if they offer
> aftermarket replacement parts, and/or check ebay as someone might be
> changing out their handlebars / stems or something, and you might be
> able to get them that way.
>
> Alternately, if this years' bikes offer the parts, you might be able
> to convince your dealer to say that there was damaged to a shipped
> bicycle, and he might be able to get some spares through their supply
> network.
>
> - Don Gillies
> San Diego, CA

Good info, thanks. I guess maybe I should actually give some third-
party replacements a feel and see if I can settle before spending too
much time trying to track these down.

-David Murphy