I have had great experience ordering titanium and aluminum nuts and bolts from Toronto Cycles. No issues.

Home Depot.

https://www.mcmaster.com/


I've order bolts for my SC and other bikes from here. Huge selection of Ti and Alu

McMaster is a great source for fasteners. As far as home improvement stores go, I've found that the Ace Hardware and Lowe's stores around me have a much better selection of metric fasteners than Home Depot.

(I assume you're in Canada if you're sourcing bolts from Toronto cycles).

No need to go titanium. Sure, they're great, but there's really no value to them.

Homedepot and Canadian tire sell M screws, but usually they are not stainless steel (they're made from a dull black metal) and they rust relatively quickly. It's fine in a pinch, but not really great in the long run.

I buy 316 Stainless steel bolts from walmart.ca. 316 is corrosion resistant (for use in saltwater application) and reasonably priced and shipped to your door in ~2 weeks.. Not sure what length/size you need, but here's an option for M5x20mm 316 stainless bolts.

Are they for the waterbottle holders, stem clamp, etc.?

Most screws on bikes are M5 spec. Waterbottle screws don't really need to be more than 10mm. Stem screws should be measured first to match them up well.

The exception is the topcap, which is M6 spec and usually ~25mm long.

The seatpost clamp can either be M6 or M5. Generally speaking M6 takes a 5mm allen screw, and M5 takes a 4mm one.

Fred, try FASTENAL. You should be able to order online. They even have stainless. Great prices & order from home.

I beg to differ on this. Titanium > Stainless Steel FTW.

And high tensile steel > Titanium, for teh safety.

Those "dull black" steel cap screws you can buy at the local Canadian Tire and other local outlets are generally stronger and more resistant to galling (spontaneous cold-welding) than fancy titanium, stainless steel or aluminum fasteners. In some applications the bolts are not stressed to the maximum load capability of a high tensile steel fastener of the size that fits, but even in that case you need to think about what they're threaded into, what the failure mechanism is going to be if or when the bolt breaks, and possible galvanic corrosion due to the dissimilar metals. Using stainless or titanium fasteners requires you to use an appropriate thread lubricant to make sure the bolt threads don't gall on installation, and that may compromise the ability for the bolt to stay in place under load (especially cyclic or vibration-induced pulsed loads).

So if you don't know better, replace like for like, and prep the bolt (lube or threadlocker) as per the original installation. You can at least look for a bolt part list from Spec or whoever your bike/component manufacturer is and find out what the OEM replacement would be.

Lastly, a shot of clearcoat (spray paint or nail polish) does a lot to protect bolt heads from rusting after you install on the bike.

---

Less is more.

I'm looking at replacing a bunch of rusted bolts on my front end during the off-season thanks to the copious amount of sweat they have received.

I'm also looking to play with my fit this winter, how does the clear coat hold up to repeated install/uninstall?

---

Strava

Not sure what your response means. Titanium is good stuff, no doubt. But for bolts? meh.

It won't, but that is not the intent. Install the bolts, then give them a dab (or a quick spray) of clearcoat. If you expect to be doing a lot of removal and replacement you can also just wipe off any accumulated gunk and surface rust when you have the bolts out.

---

Less is more.

For one thing, you don't need all the strength and weight of steel in bicycle applications. Titanium is sufficient and 100% rustproof.

Good info. Have you heard about using clear silicon caulk on exposed bolt heads? Supposedly it just pulls off with a sharp point when you need to access the bolt.

---

----------------------------------
"Go yell at an M&M"