Had tyre emergency on the way home last night – ripped sidewall on the Brompton back tyre. Split the inner tube as well. Got a new tube in after a grimy 20 minutes on Tower Bridge and made it home. Got the bus this morning to the station to save the tyre for the London leg and called in at Evans Cycles at London Bridge 08:05…

Didn't want to repeat last night's greasy street maintenance so told them to put the new tyre on for me. Oh, there'd be a labour charge, sure, but it would get done a lot quicker than I could do it and I needed to be at work on time so…

Fifteen minutes later, the bike was bought up to me at the till. When I got to work, I looked at the receipt. I got charged £25 for the tyre. Fair enough. I also got charged £25 for the labour! For FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!

When I phoned to query this extortion, I got told that "Oh well, it's a Brompton. You have to remove a nut and the guide/tension cog assembly so we charged for "Gear Maintenance".

Fukking shysters. Never again.

I think you're on to a loser with this one. £25 seems reasonable for a rush job in the workshop in rushhour.

£25 isnt for the labour so much as the convenience. I ride with a small tool kit (including a spanner for big nuts) and a oil rag/hand cleaner in a sachet. Costs less than £25 😉

Hang on? £50 for a new tyre put on?

Tell them that you didnt ask for gear maintenance.

Think it's their flat rate for rear wheel brompton faffery. Pretty sure they remove the standard plastic 'rim tape' (which is the cause of all the tyre mounting frustrations) and replace with cloth rim tape which makes tyre duties a breeze, so that's a couple of quid accounted for….

Serves you right a) for being so lazy, and b) because you should know better than to expect €van$ to be resonable

Stoner – chuck in some latex disposable gloves as well – very useful when you need to fettle on the way to the office!

I bet you never check your receipt in restaurants either!

Sorry, just doesn't sound completely unreasonable to me. Maybe a bit expensive but a lot of shops charge a relatively high price on puncture repairs just because it's a sh!tty job that makes a mess and takes time and is frankly one of convenience ("Didn't want to repeat last night's greasy street maintenance") rather than necessity.

Perhaps a bit off that they didn't tell you how much it would cost beforehand, although I obviously don't know if you asked – but otherwise the price seems reasonable, you're basically paying for the convenience factor.

good thinking oh cheese.

and how much do you think their rent is?

clubber – i think putting inner tubes in is one of the highest profit services a lbs can do. Still £25 is frankly absurd.

Surely the crux of this is the price / time equation. Even if it had taken half an hour, £50 an hour for labour in a bike shop is taking the mickey.

b r – Member
and how much do you think their rent is?

About £30,750ish pa.

I am amazed that anyone would pay a LBS to change a tyre. That's ultimate lazy, bit like paying for someone to wash your car.

but each to your own. You wont be doing it again in a hurry 😉

£50 or what were your other options?

Stop moaning, they provided a service which you clearly needed right there, right then.

Otherwise, start inspecting your tyres regularly, carry a tyre boot, and ride a bike you can fix! 😉

Pik n Mix – have you ever had to do a Brompton rear wheel on the side of the road? Faffier than a very faffy thing on the faffiest day of it's life. Sometimes lobbing it in the nearest bike shop is the sensible (if costly) option

Maybe they have a minimum labour charge of £25? To stop people bringing them numpty jobs?
Console yourself in some reference level musical sounds on your extortionately expensive stereogram 😉

Why didn't you leave the bike at home, buy a new tyre (from your local LBS maybe, or even online, rather than a chain store in the middle of town) and spend a relaxing evening fitting it yourself?

yesiamtom – Member
clubber – i think putting inner tubes in is one of the highest profit services a lbs can do. Still £25 is frankly absurd.

Selling innertubes may well be. Changing them is a PITA. We made it expensive to deter people from doing it otherwise that'd have been all our workshop ended up doing.

'London bike shop charges Surrey resident loads for simple repair job shocker'

😆

Heh! Twenty Five Quid?? At times like this, you have to ask yourself; 'What would Jesus do?'

Console yourself in some reference level musical sounds on your extortionately expensive stereogram

This has brought joy to my morning. See? There is a silver lining. I'lll now be able to go around all day, with a smile on my face. It's a small price to pay, surely? 😀

headfirst – Member
Why didn't you leave the bike at home, buy a new tyre (from your local LBS maybe, or even online, rather than a chain store in the middle of town) and spend a relaxing evening fitting it yourself?

That sounds like a good idea, except that the extra rail fares would probably have worked out at least the same.

Greasy digits from now on.

but you take the train anyway??? Hence the brompton??

Got the bus this morning to the station to save the tyre for the London leg

Get a Dahon. Rear wheel pops out in, ooh, a few seconds. Not that I've had a puncture, you understand, but I have done a practice tyre/tube change to make sure I don't get caught out.

I'd never, unless my life was actually under threat, go to a bike shop and get them to change a tyre for me. It would be a bit too demeaning, like those useless people who come into a shop and ask to borrow a pump, then come back in about five minutes later and ask how it works.

This shop has an online workshop pricing list – puncture repairs from 13.95 – 27.95! Can't see a specific reference to "gear maintenance"? Perhaps they don't need return customers?

regardless of whether shops have rent to pay, don't want to do it as it takes up valuable workshop time, what it equates to in hourly rates, whether shop owners have orphans to feed or that it's an easy job to do… £25 for a puncture repair is blatantly extortionate – if they are going to charge you this much they should tell you up front as no-one would expect or be willing to pay that, no-one

You work in London, you wouldn't think twice about paying £25 for a crayfish and rocket sandwich on focaccia, low fat apricot muffin and a hazelnut latte so you can't moan about this! :p

I can't believe you've admitted to riding a Brompton. Do you have big long shoes and a squirty flower? I just can't look at brompon riders without this vision filling my head:

😀

£25 for a crayfish and rocket sandwich on focaccia, low fat apricot muffin and a hazelnut latte

Can I get chilli sauce with that please boss?

as no-one would expect or be willing to pay that, no-one

We charged £15 in 1998, in London so the same at £25 now sounds about right. We did always tell people up front and some complained ("But it's just a bike!") but most just accepted it so clearly they were willing. We're talking London and paying someone to replace a tube/tyre – it's an extravagence so it's not unreasonable that it's expensive.

i do have a tiny, tiny widgeon of sympathy.

actually, no, i don't. london people are funny.

i'm off down my lbs to tell them this story…

Seems a little pricey to me – but not too crazy. A bike shop will often charge £10 to fix a puncture, if a Brompton takes twice as long and you do go to Evans – then it's not going to be cheap.

It's a shame but no surprise that Evans have no local bike shop mentality at all.

I don't want to fix it myself but I want it done quickly and cheaply because it's such a simple job…….

london people are funny

Please. Woppit's not a Londoner. He lives in Surrey.

When I worked in a bikeshop, numpties who can't change a tyre/tube helped pay my wages. Long may they continue in their numptitude! 😀

I remember when Evans was a LBS. And Cycle Scurgery. Ah, the relentless march of Capitalism…

I reckon Mike_P has it about right:

Serves you right a) for being so lazy

You ride a bike, repairing it goes with the territory, MTFU, or get ripped off and then whinge about it here.

🙄

yes but i live in scotland and therefore, as my (english) so puts it, am staggeringly ignorant of english geography.

a green and pleasant land, yes, those bits of it that aren't covered in cars and people but for the likes of me englandshire consists of two parts – the south, i.e. london town, and the north (everything else)

i do not know of this surrey of which you speak – is it perhaps part of essex? i did go to southport once where well bellied beshorted men in socks and sandals who assured me i was a scotch bastard and generally treated me well.

a green and pleasant land, yes, those bits of it that aren't covered in cars and people but for the likes of me englandshire consists of two parts – the south, i.e. london town, and the north (everything else)

i do not know of this surrey of which you speak – is it perhaps part of essex? i did go to southport once where well bellied beshorted men in socks and sandals who assured me i was a scotch bastard and generally treated me well.

😆

Surrey = a boring yet leafy place just outside London, where people who are too stuck up to live in The Smoke live. They will commute in by train, then use their chuffing Bromptons to clog up OUR streets and keep our bike shops in business. Residents of Surrey are known to moan a lot, especially about such issues as asylum seekers, benefit scroungers and darkies. Usually very timid and mild in real life mind. Ride 6" travel 'all mountain' bikes at the weekends. 😉

i'm just suprised you got your bike seen to so quickly!

most times i go theres at least a 2 week waiting list despite the high prices. guess everyones got lots of cash and not much time.

I don't want to fix it myself but I want it done quickly and cheaply because it's such a simple job…….

But if it was such a simple job you'd be doing it yourself, right? If you can't be bothered then you have to expect to pay to have it done. As clubber says

paying someone to replace a tube/tyre – it's an extravagence so it's not unreasonable that it's expensive.