A mate wants to get a mechanic to build his bike – its a carbon road bike, involves taking all bits off old frame and fitting to new frame.. How much?

More than your mate will want to pay or a lot less than the “mechanic” is happy to earn, if he is a professional. 7 hours work?

7 hours blimey! My estimates must be wildly out. I had a think and I thought I could do it in three and I’m not a professional, maybe 25 n hour 75 quid? Maybe £100?

At least £100 IMO
Don’t forget all new cables and set up the gears and brakes again, steerer cutting etc etc

7 hours work?

😯

My LBS does a special “bike build” price which is considerably less then the amount it would take if billed per hour or labour. Around £150 I think

Did the same for a mate (mountain bike) in two hours – road bike migh tbe more complicated, as the bar tape/cabling might complicate matters, but I’m far from a pro, and your mechanic shouldn’t be drinking either.

Is this a new bare frame? headset in place?

Strip all of the parts off the old bike allowing for any buggerment factor and then reassemble all back on to a new frame adjust gears, brakes (cable and shoe to rim as guarantee the drop will be slightly different), clean chain and put on (or will it be a new chain/new cassette). Wrap bar tape. OK a professional could perhaps do it correctly in 5. Or maybe they are MILES better than me.

I think that I paid £120 3 years ago to have a bike built up from the frame and box of bits I brought in. Would have been free if they’d supplied the parts…

What’s the going rate for LBS spannering? £20 per hour? (that’s what the customer pays, not what the mechanic gets).

and your mechanic shouldn’t be drinking either

Unless you want the discount or priority service associated with turning up with a quantity of beer.

If we take droluf’s example of £120 for a frame built up from parts in a box. This job requires all the parts to be stripped off the old bike so what 60% of the time to assemble on to the new frame? What about cleaning. If I was putting old parts on to a spanking new frame I’d want to make sure they were all clean and shiny. Why would you want your new frame to look like a piece of tatt with dirty parts?

I take my hat off to anyone who can strip one frame and assemble on to another in 2 hours.

I wouldn’t ride it mind.

Building a bike from bits for Planet X back in the day, I could invoice £25 🙁

APF

I take my hat off to anyone who can strip one frame and assemble on to another in 2 hours.

I wouldn’t ride it mind.

I’d look at them suspiciously and ask why it took so long.

Chain off
Wheels off
Brake callipers off, unthread cables from guides and discard inners
Unbolt seatpost and clamp and transfer to new frame
Reomve cranks, then BB
Unbolt mech’s and unthread cables from guides and discard inners
Unbolt stem and transfer stem, bars and levers
Install BB
Install cranks
Bolt on mechs+brakes.
Wheels in
Chain on
Install new inners + adjust

tinas, forks and headset? bar tape?

I would say 2.5 hours for me to do bike to bike assuming that either everything fits and is in good mechanical condition or you already have replacement parts at hand. I might not have the parts at hand bit a bike shop should.

And I would go for 1.5 hours for a box of bits, new or otherwise, to a finished bike.

The above assumes that brakes don’t need bleeding, hoses don’t need threading through PITA internal routes, wheels are straight and the suspension is fine. Also not nuts or bolts are seized.

Of course at home something always goes wrong that adds a little onto the time. I would be perfectly happy to ride a bike that has taken me 1.5 hours to build. I am no trained mechanic, just a normal bloke that had been messing around with bikes for 15 years.

I am not too experienced in building, but I once had to strip a frame completely as it had to go in for powdercoat, and had about 20 mins to do so while also cooking dinner.

I was surprised how easy it was. Bike was fully stripped and I was left with just a frame by the time dinner was done. Also very few tools needed! The room did look like a bomb had hit it mind you….clearing up was another thing.

If you have the (very few) tools ready, stripping a mtb frame from all its parts hardly takes any time at all, took a girl no more than 20 mins whilst cooking a nice bolognese!

Putting it back together is another thing.. Still 7 hours for an experienced mechanic sounds way over the top! Mind you, if it is a man, they like to make a meal of things! 😉

Simone

Simone I think you might be right, I could do it in three hours but I’ll find a way to make it last at least 7, or possibly never complete it.

Couple of hours for a re-build but on to a new frame this typically the sort of job you think will take an evening and lasts all weekend. Trips to back and forwards for a new cable outer a forgotten star nut, the chain tool breaks then the front mech won’t fit etc.

I paid about 80 quid once. First and last time. Now I do a cack-handed job for most of it and pay 20 quid for them to tune it 😉

sorry what wtf about the above pricing? my local charges £65 for a full strip down and rebuild, so it can’t be more than that…

Road bikes do take longer than mtb but 60-80 would seem about right

id say a couple of hours is about right for a road bike – its not like you have to bleed the brakes….

Do it yourself and take all night, ending up finishing the beer and hitting the whisky just as you finally bang the bar end plugs home, all to a background of The News Quiz and Question Time on Saturday night – bliss.

orangeboy – Member
Road bikes do take longer than mtb but 60-80 would seem about right

How can they take longer? The griptape? I would have thought MTBs take longer because of suspension and disc brakes. Road bikes are relatively simple.

10 mins max to strip a bike, about and hour to build and set up

A bike shop will charge you a premium especially if all the bits haven’t been purchaced from them. I used to work for an independent LBS and customers that buy bits from CRC etc and want service on them really don’t get the same level as customers who have got stuff from themselves. No bike shop would touch it for less than £100 but I think you’d prob be looking at more.

I can reccomend a couple of very good mechanics that work independently of shops if you are in the north west. Inbox me if you are interested.

There’s a slight whiff of bullshit regarding some of the strip/build times here and it really does depend on too many variables. What if a frame has internal routing or needs the bb pressing in etc etc. Some of our customers have their frames taped up prior to being built and that can take a lot of time as well. There’s no standard and if your not happy with the quoted time or cost try another shop or better still buy all the tools yourself and build it yourself -then it’s “free”

get your mate to do what I did, get the LBS to fit the headset and cut the steerer, and do the rest yourself

once you get into the swing of things it doesn’t take that long and more importantly you know how to fix it and all the little wrinkles that are specific to your bike

starsh78 – Member
10 mins max to strip a bike, about and hour to build and set up

LOL!

thisisnotaspoon – Member
I take my hat off to anyone who can strip one frame and assemble on to another in 2 hours.
I wouldn’t ride it mind.

I’d look at them suspiciously and ask why it took so long.

I take it neither of you experts have ever done this for a living?

I’d say 1.5 hours minimum for all new bits without any faffing, but usually 2.

Add the time for working with old used gear and stripping, 3+ minimum, up to 5 if you have to work with lots of crap that doesn’t work so well ie a daft proprietry frame etc.

But hey I only did it for a living for a few years…

Always seems more of a faf doing road bikes
Sorting out the shifter position before tapeing the bars and getting the cables just wright