LooseScrews.com
Title
Loose Screws Bicycle Small Parts - FORMERLY THE THIRD HAND/LOOSE SCREWS
Description
The Third Hand was born in the Los Angeles area in the mid 1970s and named for the Var third hand brake tool. Wayne Martin, a creative bike shop mechanic and budding entrepreneur, and his energetic partner, Pat Banks, began selling bicycle tools via mail order. Their catalog was small and simple, but it offered real bike shop tools, previously seen only in bicycle shops, to the common man. The business grew steadily during those years, despite relocation to Oregon and back to California in the early 1980s. Customers from that era will remember Wayne’s spicy, descriptive text and Pat’s warm and friendly manner on the telephone. Wayne and Pat had other things to accomplish in their lives, so…
Jack Moore* acquired The Third Hand in the mid 1980s and relocated to Mt. Shasta, California. Jack had an extensive background in the ski and sports industry and an incandescent personality and hilarious sense of humor. He brought The Third Hand catalog to another dimension. Customers from that time will remember reading every new catalog cover to cover just to find the new jokes. Jack’s knowledgeable staff handled the telephone with grace and aplomb, and the business continued to grow and prosper. In 1990 Jack added a “Loose Screws” bicycle parts section to his expanding catalog. He soon decided that small parts were more than he and his staff wanted to wrestle with, so…
Jeff and Jean Gilmore acquired Loose Screws Bicycle Parts in the spring of 1992 and hit the ground running with a comprehensive bicycle parts catalog. Both had been employed with The Third Hand in the early 1980s, and Jeff had a solid background in the bicycle industry, starting as a bike shop mechanic and junior racer in the late 1960s. The telephone began to ring steadily as customers became aware of this niche business specializing in replacement parts for bicycle components. In the fall of 1994 Jeff and Jean also acquired The Third Hand (Bicycle Tools) from Jack Moore, a perfect companion to Loose Screws Bicycle Parts. They published three catalogs yearly, one for bicycle parts and spring and fall catalogs for bicycle tools. An online catalog was added in 1999. A competent staff handled three busy phone lines, and orders were shipped all over the world. After nine hectic years, however, Jeff and Jean’s fiftieth birthdays loomed, and…
