“In excess of £450”

Fork service (Reba 100mm)
Brake bleed and new pads fore and aft
Complete new transmission (SLX)

Is this a tad steep?

*inhales smelling salts*

erm yes

new transmission – new cassette chain and chainrings will be all you need.
Fork – speak to Loco
Pads – superstar and watch you tube on how to bleed it yourself.

Crumbs, when was it last serviced?

If that’s the work that needs doing it doesn’t seem off to me.

effing hell… now I know how LBS survive.

Depends what you asked for when you took it in?

New pads and transmission is stuff everyone should keep an eye on, shouldn’t take you by surprise.

What does “complete” actually mean, no way everything needs replacing, do you mean chain, cassette and chain rings?

Bleeding brakes is fairly simple but can seem daunting if you haven’t done it before.

As I am told is servicing a fork, but I still bung them in to my lbs once a year for a full service.

Way way OTT.

Yes

£238 for a full 10spd SLX groupset http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/transmission-gears/groupsets-mtb/shimano-slx-10-speed-transmission-groupset.html

Do you need everything though or just chain, cassette, chain rings? If so you’re being ripped off even more

£20 for a brake bleed

£10 for pads

£40 for a Reba service kit http://www.tftunedshox.com/Catalogue/TF-Tuned-Service-Kits/TF-Tuned-Refresh-Service-Kits

Leaves about £140 for labour, though I doubt you really need every groupset component so the labour charges are even higher.

Buy the parts yourself plus a workstand and save yourself a fortune.

I’d have done it for £499.99 for you!

But seriously, is that including Parts, So cassette, Chain, Crank, Rings.

If so that price plus labour probably isn’t that pad. Is it not?

If thats just Labour, Well Bend down sir. you’ve just been Bummed by the Honey monster!

By fork service do they mean the full shebang or just the seals? Are they doing all the o-ring and the damping etc. if full thing say 80.

Bleed ~30
brake pads could be 25 each end brand retail.

so 290 for changin the transmission parts and time.

seems steep to me, but I do all my own stuff, this is why.

In fairness they would have maybe also done other things as part of the service, wheel true and bearing change. What was the standard charge for a service?

did they say what they were doing as standard?

In short unless they’re doing other stuff they haven’t mentioned I would be saying no thank you, pay them for what they have done, and go elsewhere… I can’t find maths that makes this work for the work you’ve described tbh

name and shame!

What’s a service?

For new SLX transmission see here

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/transmission-gears/groupsets-mtb/shimano-slx-10-speed-transmission-groupset.html

For new SLX transmission with brakes see here

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/transmission-gears/groupsets-mtb/shimano-slx-10-speed-disc-brake-groupset.html

Gear cable may also be required

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/mtb-accessories/cables/shimano-mtb-gear-cable-set-with-ptfe-inner-wire.html

Forks – Loco or J-Tech

Technical ability, knowledge and labour cost money. If you don’t have it then I guess its fair to pay for it.
Just think of the hours of fun you’ll get out of it… You’d spend that for a couple of hours with a solicitor for instance, but not have nearly so much fun 😀

[list]sComplete new TX= Casette, rings, chain and front and rear mech and cables.

name and shame!

derek_starship – Member:

Can’t even do basic bike maintenance.

‘full retail’ on that SLX stuff will be a lot more than the Merlin oem stuff that everyone’s linking to.

name and shame!

derek_starship – Member:

Can’t spell XT 🙂

sounds about right

£100 fork service, £50brakes, £300 Drivetrain

you could do it cheaper, and if you talk to the lbs they will cut the costs a bit.

DeBz – Member

The letter ‘R’ is broken on her keyboard.

I took my car in for it’s MOT this morning, got the call at lunchtime…….

It needs a new fuel filler cap as apparently the old one is broken and won’t come off (odd I’m sure I’d have noticed that last time I filled it up, and every week previously)

All 4 tyres are wearing on the inside edge, but seeing as they’ve done 18,000miles on the front and the rears were the old front ones and only just down to 4mm, I think they’ll survive a bit longer despite the scaremongering.

One of the number plate bulbs is a little dim.

Who want’s a sweepstake for the total bill when I pick it up at 4?

Well your obviously at the lazy end of the market, or you wouldnt have just put it in to your LBS to ask them to look at it. Because your lazy I’ll cost it up for you 🙂

Fork Service – £70 but would have to take fork off and post away
SLX Chainrings x 2 – £60 tops
Chain – £25 approx ?
SLX Cassette – £30
Brake Pads – £20
Brake Fluid Kit – £20

Total = £225

Thats just in parts. To do all that yourself you will need tools, probably £30 +

Then theres your own labour time, faffing getting to the post office etc.

So probably not too excessive.

To be brutaly honest, saying “service” to a bike shop usually means “Do stuff to my bike and then charge me for it, i want it to look clean and shiney and don’t care about anything else”. Most the people who take it in and say will be middle management don’t know anything types who will then convince themselves its made it awesome.

Here I will confess i used to take my bike in say “Service my bike”, and then get charged for things i hadn’t noticed were wrong…

Even if you don’t want to learn how to do it all yourself learn to recognise what needs doing and take it in for Specific jobs. “Here is a bike, please bleed the brakes and put some new pads in for me and change the cassette and chain” and say you would be interested to know if there is anything else they think should be done. A) removes the blank cheque factor B) allows you to get a price up front. Depending on the shop they may already have done all this and insist on billing you for it.

Standards are slipping around here. We’re 20 posts in and nobody has suggested that’ll he’ll rid himself of all this with a rigid singlespeed, with a stick to put through the spokes instead of brakes

Can you ask the shop for a breakdown of exactly what they’re charging for what?

Sounds a bit steep on the face of it, but it all depends exactly what they’ve decided needs doing.

Transmission – could be just chain & cassette/chainrings … or it could also include a new bottom bracket … maybe new cables … or they might have decided you need a new mech too. I can’t for the life of me think they’re recommending new cranks. Unless you’ve actually snapped one off. Likewise for shifters.

Fork – could just be seals, or could be more …

Brake bleed & fit new pads should be childs play for them, so maybe an hours labour plus pads (& possibly bleeding kit ?)

Who want’s a sweepstake for the total bill when I pick it up at 4?

You didn’t ask in advance??

DezB – Member

name and shame!

derek_starship – Member:

Can’t spell XT

TX = transmission, no? 😛

£100 fork service, £50brakes, £300 Drivetrain

£50 for a bleed and new pads? Where are you getting your work done?

£10 an end at my LBS http://www.bicyclerepair.co.uk/price-list.htm

And if you’re paying £30 for two sets of pads…

I can, in total seriousness, build a whole bike for that price

Unless the rear mech is bent, the worst it will need is new jockey wheels for about £15
Cassette and chain £30 from Merlin
Chainrings – you probably only need a middle, Deore will be fine £14.
Full fork service including bushes and postage £80-ish from LoCo
New pads £10 from Superstar
Tools to fit that chain and cassette £30

This is why I HAD TO learn how to do it myself. Originally I couldn’t afford it, now I just refuse to pay those prices

Full retail will be much more, I was more trying to open the OP’s eyes to what he could have if he was any good a bike maintenance.

@DezB: maybe he was abbreviating transmission to TX 😉

Why do you need new front and rear mechs?

If that is for a fork service, brake service and all those SLX level bits then it’s about right.

tbh I would question why you need the mechs and get a break down of the prices.

edit: beaten to the TX thing. Gah!

New front and rear mech???

Fair enough front ones get nacked after time, but rear would have me getting suspicious. Were the gears playing up? Massivley?

I can, in total seriousness, build buy a whole bike for that price

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/81-2011-id_8168695.html

Full X7 drivetrain

Brand new Avids

Buy the bike, swap the bits, sell what ever’s left and probably make a profit!

Failing to see how anyone would need a “complete new drivetrain” come service time. How have you worn the shifters, mechs and cranks out? 😕

Quick tot up of what you actually needed:

Fork service: £75 from Loco or similar
Cassette: £40
Chain: £20
Chainrings: £60
Brake pads: £25

I make that £220, not including any labour. Most LBS’s charge about £30 an hour labour, and if it took more than 1hr to do all of that (excluding the forks service, but labour would be included in the price of that) I’d be shocked!

Parts prices I quoted above would be what your LBS charges, obviously parts available cheaper online. Learning to fix/sort/build bikes yourself is probably one of, if not the biggest money savers in our sport due to the things the bikes are subjected to. Learn to do it yourself, save lots of money!

Rusty is correct.

TX= transmission 😆

Fork Service – £70 but would have to take fork off and post away
SLX Chainrings x 2 – £60 tops
Chain – £25 approx ?
SLX Cassette – £30
Brake Pads – £20
Brake Fluid Kit – £20

You pay £25 for a chain? Madness.

You didn’t ask in advance??

I’m far too trusting

Anyone reckon it’s a good or bad idea to have the tyres swapped arround left to right and eek another few miles out of them before they’re worn for that to be worthwhile?

@DezB: maybe he was abbreviating transmission to TX

I knew that!

I’m far too trusting

Or stupid? 😉

Re the tyres…. of course it is.

fork service £75
Brake bleed and pads. £20 each end – £40
New transmission – £120 tops, fitting 1.5 hr – £60
£300 seems reasonable for shop prices.

Alternatively learn to do it yourself and save a fortune!