- This topic has 34 replies, 29 voices, and was last updated 13 years ago by Mister-P.
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£150 for full bike build?
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ackieFree MemberPosted 13 years ago
It's a cyclocross build and I'm supplying all the parts all brand new.
The bottom bracket needs facing and headset installing.
Is this about right?Ta
goldenwonderFree MemberPosted 13 years agoIt's not cheap IMO, but not massively excessive. Sure if you'd let the shop supply the parts you'd have much cheaper labour.
Or get them to fit the headset & face the BB if you can't do that, then build it yourself?
Or let me do it for half price including facing & headset fitting 😉SilentSparkyFree MemberPosted 13 years agowow, I seriously undercharged a few friends by saying a couple of beers for building up bikes 8)
PeterPoddyFree MemberPosted 13 years agoBB facing is usually about £10-£15. I can build a bike in 3 hours including shortening and bleeding the brakes. So at £150 that's about £45/hr in my book, which equals bike shop rates (or a bit over) so it's about right, but I reckon a tad harsh if they are supplying all the bits, IMO
SamFull MemberPosted 13 years agoAre they building wheels? If not it seems a bit steep.
Sure if you'd let the shop supply the parts you'd have much cheaper labour.
Very true. Shops will have different approaches – for many, if they are not supplying the parts then they really bump up the price. There are often compatibility issues which come up that the customer supplying their own parts may not have considered. It ends up being a huge headache and they'd just rather not deal with it, so they quote a high price. See other thread and Evans charging £25 to fix a flat…
RealManFree MemberPosted 13 years agoincluding shortening and bleeding the brakes.
It's a cyclocross build
ackieFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI thought it was a 'little' excessive. I can understand because I'm supplying all the parts they would bump the price up and taht it's not really in there interest financially.
I just wanted to know the what's an average price really.
It might just be better me using the money to buy a headset press and just getting the BB faced.
and arsing around for a couple of weeks trying to get the gears installed correctly!It's not rocket science is it…
RealManFree MemberPosted 13 years agoGet them to press in the headset, or do it yourself with a hammer, and get them to face the BB, then do everything else yourself. Its not hard, and it can be fun, and it will help you learn.
cynic-alFree MemberPosted 13 years agoShould take 2 hours IMO, though I've seen it take 5 on a customer supplied boutique build for the reasons Sam mentions.
5labFull MemberPosted 13 years agosmack the headset in with a hammer, don't bother facing the bb. job done
PeterPoddyFree MemberPosted 13 years agoincluding shortening and bleeding the brakes.
It's a cyclocross build
And? So?
I didn't say I was builing a cyclocross bike did I? The point was that cutting and bleeding probably takes more time than setting up cables!
lookmanohandsFree MemberPosted 13 years agoJust build a bike for tang off ere including wheels and brake bleed for a packet of hobnobs! 8)
DracFull MemberPosted 13 years agoSeems a tad steep but having seen Evans price list for labour it's probably right.
including shortening and bleeding the brakes.
It's a cyclocross build
What Cyclocross bikes can come with hydraulic disks too.
thomthumbFree MemberPosted 13 years agoincluding shortening and bleeding the brakes.
It's a cyclocross build
The point was that cutting and bleeding probably takes more time than setting up cables!
It's a cyclocross build
it's not the cables to be worried about it's those damn canti brakes!!
thomthumbFree MemberPosted 13 years agowhen i worked in a shop
it was labour + 10% of our price of the part.this was 1998 when CRC was a phone number! but a lot of bike shops were finding it hard to compete with mail order.
friendlynorthernblokeFree MemberPosted 13 years agoBu@@er, if it's that much I should have charged my Brother-in-law…
johniFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI made my own headset press with some huge washers, one big bolt and nut. Works a treat and I've fitted 5 headsets with it without any problems.
Facing is the only thing I leave to the LBS these days. (Having tried all my LBSs I decided it was safer to do it myself!)
Edric64Free MemberPosted 13 years agoWhat Cyclocross bikes can come with hydraulic disks too.
One with flat bars on?
Edric64Free MemberPosted 13 years agoit's not the cables to be worried about it's those damn canti brakes!!
What's hard about setting canti's up?
mk1fanFree MemberPosted 13 years agoHHmmm, depends how much time they've allowed to do the job. 3-hours should be enough for a top job and allow for some faffage if problems arise. £50 an hour flat rate seems about right (albeit high end) for a decen and sustainable bike shop business.
One thing I would say is – and this assumes the bike will have drop bars – how are they going to set the bars and levers up? There's not a lot of adjustment to move the brake levers once the tapes on the bars.
fubarFree MemberPosted 13 years agoI was charged £120 last year and the headset and fork was already fitted , no wheels to build. I checked and no they hadn't regreased the hubs or anything. I thought it was too much but I try not to worry about it now (haven't been back though!)
dmetcalfeFree MemberPosted 13 years agoyeh its not too bad i dont think. if you choose to buy elsewhere and cant/dont want to build yourself then pay up. when i worked in a shop it was around that sort of price for labour, if a customer bought as much from us as possible (not all shops can get all brands) then the build would be free. I would say get them to do all the facing and fit parts that need tools you dont have and then finish the build yourself.
MrSalmonFree MemberPosted 13 years agoDoesn't sound too bad too me- they're probably going on the assumption it's going to tie somebody up potentially for the best part of a day, so as bike shops are businesses I don't think they're taking the pi$$.
clunkerFull MemberPosted 13 years agoMy LBS charged me £50.00 to build my Simple but I have used them for 20 years. Who can blame the shop if you have not bought any parts from him, most folk seem to want to save a few quid ordering parts on line than supporting the local shop.
NorthwindFull MemberPosted 13 years agoit's not unreasonable, maybe a bit high, but I wouldn't pay it myself when the alternative's so obvious. It depends how you price your time I guess but it only takes a few hours to build a bike. Get them to face the BB and make a headset press for £3.
crazy-legsFull MemberPosted 13 years agoFor brand new parts not bought from the shop it's fairly reasonable. They're not making any other money out of it so fair play to them – you want a specialist service (BB facing, headset installation etc) which a (presumably trained) mechanic is going to use a lot of very expensive tools on, they need to cover costs somehow.
convertFull MemberPosted 13 years agoI have to say I'd never consider buying bits cheap online (I assume this is what you did) and then going to a bike shop to get them sorted. But then again I've built up every bike I've owned since getting back into cycling 15yrs ago. The £150 will be the doing you no favours, you could have bought this lot from us price.
I wonder how much less they would have charged if they had supplied the bits & where you would end up overall moneywise with this approach.
I'd spend the money on some tools & a book if you need it and do it yourself. It's fun and long term you will have a better understanding of how it works which helps whilst out riding and with future maintenance.
epicycloFull MemberPosted 13 years agoThe knowledge of how to do a job does not mean you have the skills.
If I hadn't built a bike before I wouldn't be starting with an expensive pile of brandnew bits. I'd strip an old clunker and rebuild it a few times first.
Take a simple job like inserting a headset – get it wrong and you can wreck the frame.
Proper bike shop mechanics are worth their money.
BigJohnFull MemberPosted 13 years agoBusiness Rule #7
If somebody comes to you asking about a job you don't particularly want to do, quote him a high figure that you'd be happy to do it for.
Business Rule #8
Charge him for facing, then just rub a file over it. He'll never know.
speaker2animalsFull MemberPosted 13 years agoAdmittedly Car dealerships probably have high overheads but have you seen how much car dealers charge per hour? Have you seen how much Jag dealers charge for a litre of engine oil? I would think £50 an hour is at the higher end but pretty fair IMHO. Are you buying anything off them? EG are they selling you the frame and you are supplying all of the parts to go on it? If they aren't selling anything to you I think they could even be undercharging.
grizzerFree MemberPosted 13 years agoi would not bother with facing a frame unless it cost the price of a small family car…
TyredocterFree MemberPosted 13 years agoBuild bikes for nothing charging only for parts though often do not get paid for the parts either Sounds a bit technical for me though would give it a go and not charge
droflufFree MemberPosted 13 years agoIt's about what I paid to have a road bike built up last year with my parts. They'd have done it for free if I'd bought the parts from them but they couldn't match the prices that I was getting from Ribble so I was still better off buying online and giving them a box and frame.
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