How much to fit BB & headset?
Rough guide?

including facing frame at both ends?

customer supplied parts?

I reckon £30-£40 including facing.

Onto a bare frame, or remove old parts first, do you then want it re-assembled and set up?

2hrs max.

Even with removing the old one and facing it should take no more than 1 hr at the most.
£20 max

wwaswas sounds reasonable. Have you seen how much facing tools cost?You’re paying for equipment and expertise, not just time

Onto a bare frame with my own new parts supplied to fit

Impossible question to answer – either could be a simple 5-minute job or a three-hour nightmare, but assuming it’s just facing and fitting new parts to a new frame then £15 each.

Yeh he played the do you know how much this tool costs! I might buy one and start fitting headsets!

nbt – Member
wwaswas sounds reasonable. Have you seen how much facing tools cost?You’re paying for equipment and expertise, not just time
POSTED 20 SECONDS AGO # REPORT-POST

….and compare with motor mechanic hourly rates with longer training periods and more expensive equipment.

It’s fair to charge more for parts supplied i/o parts bought in the shop. Inc facing it’s less than an hour’s work, but facing tools aren’t cheap and wear and tear of tools is part of the job cost, not just labour.

three-hour nightmare,

How?

The cost of the specialist tools is what makes some repairs expensive – a Brompton bushing tool has only one use, doesn’t get used all that much, and costs over £200 for example.

I don’t normally bother facing BB shells anyway, as I’ve never understood the need for most bottom brackets.

I might buy one

£200-£300 each for ‘proper’ facing tools 🙂

three-hour nightmare,

How?

For example if it’s an old frame and there’s a seized-in fixed-cup type bottom bracket in there. I’ve actually developed a range of tools and techniques for removing seized bottom brackets, and it’s not unusual for someone to bring me a frame and say “every bike shop in the city has had a go at this”.

Edit: or a cartridge BB where someone has stripped all the teeth.

For example if it’s an old frame and there’s a seized-in fixed-cup type bottom bracket in there. I’ve actually developed a range of tools and techniques for removing seized bottom brackets, and it’s not unusual for someone to bring me a frame and say “every bike shop in the city has had a go at this”.

The op is talking about a bare frame with new parts.

The op is talking about a bare frame with new parts.

but hadn’t disclosed that when ben made his original comment.

so what did they charge?

Headset press – cheep

BB spanner = cheep

Headset faceing and reaming tool £hundreds, ditto the BB faceing tool. I actualy had a shop refuse to face a BB because it was steel and quite thick so would do more damage to their tool than they could reasnobly charge for.

£50? £12.50 each for faceing/reaming/chaseing the headtube and BB and £15 each to install? If you’d bought say King Headsets and BB’s from the shop (i.e. the margin was enough to cover the labour/tool costs) they might have done them for less/free.

wwaswas – Member
The op is talking about a bare frame with new parts.

but hadn’t disclosed that when ben made his original comment.
so what did they charge?
POSTED 12 SECONDS AGO # REPORT-POST

Yes he had

It’s fair to charge more for parts supplied i/o parts bought in the shop.

No it’s not. It’s fair to charge less if the parts were bought in the shop.

Yes he had

I suspect their posts crossed given the timing.

Wanted £60 to start with settled on £45 after a discussion about how much tools cost etc £45 I thought it would be £30 max so feel a bit robbed ! Should have got a bit Of wood and a hammer like I have done in the past!

Yes he had

Yes, he had, but I was typing my reply and not pressing refresh so I didn’t see it 🙂

Look at it from the bike shops perspective . It will take roughly an hour . If the shop charges you £30 then that’s actually £25+ VAT . If the mechanic is on £10 per hour that leaves £15 for the shop but they have to pay the mechanic holiday pay , sick pay , employers national insurance contribution so they may be left with £10 . They still have to pay for the tools , the upkeep of the shop , rates , rent , power etc and , shock horror , they have to make a profit. They have to warranty any work that they do also . £30 to £40 doesn’t look too bad taking that into consideration , or comparing the hourly rate charged by other tradesmen .

If you really aren’t happy with the price quoted either try a different shop or do it yourself .

2hrs max.

WHAAAAAAT???

I can build a full bike from a box of parts in a tad over 3 hrs!!! 🙂

It will take roughly an hour

Correction: They will CHARGE you an hour. With my own tools I reckon I’d take 20 mins for both, unless something was siezed, including making the tea 🙂

I suppose the important thing here which both bike shops and customers should learn is work out the price in advance.

I charge from £45 to £100 per hour, depending on what I’m doing and how much you are annoying me…

Pardon my ignorance but, Is it common to have to face a brand new frame?

Surely it should be delivered ready to go.

As you can tell I’ve never bought a brand new frame. 😳

Pardon my ignorance but, Is it common to have to face a brand new frame?

Really, no. People ask me to face frames all the time and I do, but in most situations I don’t think there is a need for it.

With my own tools I reckon I’d take 20 mins for both

including facing?

I’d spend that long settign a facing tool up on an expensive frame 😉

Is it common to have to face a brand new frame?

No. Not any more. Any alloy, Ti or carbon frame should be done at the factory. Steel frames are usually OK, but there might be some paint on the cups/BB faces, which you can remove if you’re a perfectionist, but isn’t really that necessary.

including facing?

No becasue it’s not necessary.

OP – What is your new frame please? 🙂

Genuine offer:

If anyone is close to me in Farnborough, Hants, I will fit stuff like this for free if I have time, as long as you bring some Jaffa Cakes. 🙂

Possible muppet question but if you don’t ask you never find out…..

What it is “facing” a frame and why might it be necessary?

If you buy the parts from them they may well fit them for free. You should see it as a total package cost, components plus fitting.

it’s making sure that the external faces of the headtube and BB are both flat and parrelel to each other. Will reduce bearing load and wear if the faces are correct.

Video here;

[video]http://vimeo.com/3932803[/video]

only took them 1’26” 🙂

Think I could travel the 233 mile and back and bring cake and still save a fiver!

If it was a bare frame and didnt need facing I would of popped the bb in for £5 and pressed the headset for £7.50

Thanks

🙂

What it is “facing” a frame and why might it be necessary?

It’s cutting a flat face on something. It’s needed where bearings have the possibility to be squint, i.e. not perpendicular to the axis of the spindle.

So very important on crown race, reasonably important on headsets (less so cartridge ones), doesn’t matter at all for cartridge BBs. There’s an argument that it’s more important for external bearing BBs which I’m not sure I agree with.

What it is “facing” a frame and why might it be necessary?

Making sure the ends of the tube you are fitting the component to are exacly parallel. This reduces odd loading of the bearings as they turn and prolongs their life. It was never necessary with internal BBs, but external ones tighten down on the ends of the BB shell, the same as a a standard headset on the head tube, basically. Since the advent of HT2 most frames are now supplied faced from new, since they have HT2 BBs fitted from new.