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How do you avoid accessories that just don't work?

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cbustapeck

Wore out three sets of tires already!
I'm curious as to your individual techniques to avoid buying accessories for a build that don't work when you have them in your hands.

I'm sure that it's different if you have a local retailer where one can buy random accessories, but what does one do without that?

The items below are ones that I bought for my Orange Krate build that haven't worked for one reason or another. Note: There's also a Stewart Warner Clipper repro head that isn't in this picture. Some visually just didn't feel right in person. Others physically didn't fit. And some were a rather different size than expected. Finally, there were some that were absolutely perfect for the build that I just didn't have space for.

All told, about 30% of the project cost has gone to items that I have not used.

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These streamers are a separate case - for the blue Stingray I am working on. This is the listing photo from eBay. When they arrived, they looked a lot more green than expected - they are supposed to be silver.

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I so do not want this to sound like I am complaining - I am not. I just want to learn and spend less money on parts that I don't use.

The best idea I have right now is to be willing to return items and accept the loss on the shipping costs, which will be significant, but it's better than having sunk money into stuff taking up space that I don't use, I think.

I very much appreciate your thoughts and brains.
 
It's tough for sure. That's why swap meets are so great. You can see and touch the parts before you buy, no big surprises. Likewise, selling your extras and mistakes at a swap is great. No shipping. That being said, come on vaccine ! No matter what though, you will wind up with extra parts and sometimes lo and behold they are something you can use on another project !
 
I suspect almost everyone here has had buyer's remorse more than once, or as in my case, many, many times. We see something cool, fork over the dough, and the item(s) doesn't fit or work as we thought, etc. That's when the what was I thinking mode kicks in.

It's a common ailment for those who "acessorize" their rides.
 
Research. research. research (If you don't have swap meets near).
Just reading a lot of posts about your particular model of bike can help you determine what will work.
 
Unless a part isn’t as described I never return it because I screwed up. I think a good plan from the start alleviates a lot of this. Do your research, look at other builds for what did and didn’t work, and stick to the plan. V/r Shawn
Hell I have cut bars that wouldn't fit my 1 1/8 threadless head set because they were listed wrong & or didn't offer that style for what I wanted to pay. Sometimes it's their fault, sometimes mine for senselessly buying, and like stated if you don't use them now; list them for sale to recoup $ or save them as a maybe item for another build
 
I'm trying to figure out how you were ever going to get that speedometer to work on any bike.
Mechanically, it wasn’t going to work - nor, for that matter, is the one that I put on there - a basic Schwinn. That doesn’t bother me one bit. The speedometer is there for aesthetics, at least for me.

Imagine the the plastic tabs have been shaved off and there isn’t a massive mess. I think that it could really work, at just the right angle. However, I hadn’t thought about how much it would encroach on my knees. As for option 2, it almost works.

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Please understand: I am not saying that they work, just that that was my vision.
 
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