Hi,
I half built my bike and went to my LBS to see how much it would be to finish it off. They quoted me £70 for the various tasks that needed doing. It then got me thinking, how much would a shop charge to build it from scratch?

Probably build it for free if you bought all the bits off them.

It would have cost me a fortune to buy everything from them. CRC offered me a much better deal – saved much more than £70 by shopping online

Not all shops would do that.

Prices vary a lot op.

Got quoted £ 150 a few years ago in my LBS. Did it myself.

loads – I did similar last year..

got quoted £150 but it came in at more by the end of the build..

Are you asking out of interest or to complain? If general, then the savings made from crc leaves you enough for the lbs to finish your bike; you to support your lbs and still save money on what it would have cost.

If a complaint, do you think your lbs is a charity to support you.

Depending on how far ‘half built’ is, £70 isn’t too bad. Still, if you are any good with a spanner I’d spend the dough on some tools and a book. Throw in some google and Bob est ton oncle.

It is simply out of interest here. I just would like to know what the going rates are so I can spend my money wisely. I had a budget but crc and the like simply gave me more for that budget. So I don’t have loads of money to blow, but I will need a shop to finish my build

My local lbs wanted to charge £750 to do a complete bearing change on a full-suss xc bike!

Why do you need the shop to finish the build?

The jobs you really need the lbs for are bb facing and maybe reaming headtube fitting headset, which would be the first jobs to get done.

My LBS is charging ~ £35 for hose shortening/brake bleed and gear set up..

I was charged £120 to finish mine off 😐

Its a tricky one, we get asked all the time, we would charge £125 including cables, which I think is not unreasonable..
however its always tricky when someone brings in a half built bike as I would prefer to do the whole job and know it’s right rather than find a bottom bracket fitted incorrectly or the tension on a crank bolt too tight, or headsets fits wrong.
so we then struggle to then charge someone with half a build to charge more to correct the mistakes.

but were happy to fit parts bought elsewhere as we cant compete on price alone with the rest of the world, ebay etc.
We dont get the prices from our suppliers to compete.

Asked my LBS how much to finish a build if I ran in to trouble. They said if I bolt everything on would be about £20 to set up.

Never needed to go back anyway but seemed fair enough to tighten a few allen bolts and get the gearing set-up.

Have seen plenty of others charging £50+ for a ‘service’.

seemed fair enough to tighten a few allen bolts and get the gearing set-up.

Someone who needs the job finished for them will have invariably ****ed stuff up in the assembly process…and things like BB need checked also.

What the op got quoted sounds reasonable, outside London prices.

I got charged £100 by leisure lakes to build up my last bike from scratch

If you brought it in bits in a box I’d charge £72.If you brought it in with the easy bits bolted to it I’d still charge £72 because I’d check everything you’d done anyway.Likelihood would be ANYTHING that went wrong with it would be blamed on me anyway so I’d rather just do it all.
Same happens with wheels brought in ‘pre laced’ for a ‘final tension’.They get charged the same as a full build as it usually takes me longer to undo all the mistakes and do it properly.

I was quoted £40 for a frame transplant. Paid £45 as the (pre fitted) headset was seemingly fitted by a hamfisted cretin (not me this time!!!) and so they sorted it. I luvz my lbs I duz. It’s Boneshakers in harrogate.

Mine (Revolutions in Ross) are ace. I didn’t have time to build my c456 and wanted to ride it at the weekend. I supplied all the (used) bits and some cake. Think it was £50 or something plus some bits.

I quite like doing it myself, but it’s good to know someone you can trust will do a good job for a more than fair price. Once got charged £120 to bleed a hope mini years ago in Reading and eventually agreed they’d just forget that and I’d buy a new one off them 😉

I fitted a new chain yesterday, i was hoping that the cassette wouldn’t skip but on my way to the train station (going to Hebden Bridge) i realised that wasn’t the case.
Popped into Blazing Saddles and asked for them to stick me a new cassette on. £29.99 for the cassette and £7 for the fitting which i was happy to pay otherwise my ride was off.

One of Mine (Royles in Wimslow) charged me £75 to build mine up from a box of bits, & a frame..

Cookson’s Cycles charged me £40 for a frame swap when i paid £120 for a replacement front triangle for my old Mount Vision, considering how much work was involved in doing the job (swing arm fitting etc) i thought it was a bargain!

Mine just charge their hourly rate which is £30 iirc. So ballpark of £55?

Last time I did a frameswap, my LBS just let me use the workshop.

I made the tea and coffee, mind you. And brought cakes. 🙂

Then again, wherever possible, I buy from them as well.

Just the hourly rate from my lbs, as above, about £30/hour. Cost me about £60 altogether as I got some bar tape form them. I fitted the tyres and pedals myself. Great service from them and the bikes been running perfectly since then, nearly 2 years ago.