Specialist support
I’m glad I can phone Autohose; I usually catch them at autojumbles... but not this year. I needed some thick felt for padding the Blackburne Scarlet Runner’ saddle (see page 91) and they’re the only source I know. They sell all sorts of useful hard-to-find stuff, some of my purchases are pictured above: rubber sheet, nitrile and viton for oil- or fuel-proof applications, gasket card of all kinds, cork rubber, HT lead, heat shrink, fuel and oil hose by the foot... where would we be without such people?
Well that’s the thing. This pandemic has benefitted big names to the detriment of small companies. Online shopping has mushroomed as people avoid leaving their homes – great for supermarkets, less so for the local grocer. In the old bike world we have the big suppliers, but there are also smaller companies who are the go-to people for some of the more specialist stuff – things you won’t find at your local motorist’s centre. Then there’s the artisans who repair or remanufacture obscure items from garden workshops. These guys aren’t expecting to make a fortune – for most it’s just a hobby that grew into a sideline business. They don’t have websites and most of their trade is done at autojumbles and by personal recommendation, so I hope they can pull through this hard time.
They are worth supporting, because we’ll certainly regret it if they’re not there when things return to some kind of normal.
‘I HOPE JUMBLERS PULL THROUGH THIS HARD TIME’