[Closed] £100 to rebuild a wheel at LBS. Reasonable price?

Sounds a bit high to me. Can't you at least dismantle the existing wheel yourself - might cut some of the labour cost.

I'd say that was on high side. I'd expect to pay around £60 to £65 for decent spokes and brass nipples.

Edit, miss calculated. About £75 sounds about right

£100 sounds well steep!

NWMTB built me up a wheel from scratch, while i waited with a pro2 evo and mavic rim for £240!

Took them about 20 mins and it's been sturdy so far (lasted longer than Crossmax Enduros or LB carbons)

I took the cassette and the rotor off but couldn't find my spoke key yesterday, plus I was a bit short of time.

Sounds right to me - a build alone without spokes etc is 50 in london

Shop around!! In W Yorks I've paid £1 per spoke and £30 labour.

Between £1 and £1.60 for each nipple and spoke (quality dependant) then £25 to £35 for lacing and tensioning. Might be an extra £10 on top to strip out the old rim.

If you're getting new hub bearings in the £100, then it's about right, but if not it's very steep.

[quote=mashiehood ]Sounds right to me - a build alone without spokes etc is 50 in londonIf folk are willing to pay that, how much less do you think the shop should charge? 😉

Depends, if they used cheap, heavy spokes at a pound a pop, that would leave them £18 to strip an existing, and build a new wheel.

My mate builds wheels for me now & I'd be embarrassed to only give him £18 quid to do that, and that doesn't include any shop overheads.

You've removed a revenue stream from them by supplying the rim as well, so not exactly a great money spinner of a job for them. I think £100 is a touch high, assuming a middle of the road spoke being used, but not surpising, given a lack of opportunity to supply a rim, etc.

You could always teach yourself the first step by lacing it up youself & then getting them to tension it...

[quote=Hob Nob ]Depends, if they used cheap, heavy spokes at a pound a pop, that would leave them £18 to strip an existing, and build a new wheel.Only if it was a 72 spoke wheel 😉

Ha, read it as a pair of wheels. I blame the cheese & red wine overload of Christmas.

Ignore me!

I've just had a set of wheels built up with me supplying just the rims and hubs, spokes and build, £25 per end, by big Al at Wheelcraft in Clachan of Campsite.

It depends on the spokes and number. If it's 36h and he's using flashy spokes and nipples it's not bad.

They also might be putting the price up because you're supplying the hub and rim to account for ball ache factor when the rims a bit bent or whatever.

Local shop charged me £40 plus spokes and nipples when I did the same re hub and rim. So assuming £40 for spokes and nipples (based on 1.08 for dt swiss spokes and 30p per nipple for brass prolock) then yes it does seem expensive, albeit I do know of another local shop that charges £60 to build a wheel which would be more in line with your price.

I think i paid 65 for this last time i paid someone to do it.

You don't need a spoke key to dismantle it just a pair of pliers/snips.

Sounds high to me, I'd do it for £35 labour plus spokes or Sapim from about £1.35 x 32 = 43.2 so £78.2

Thank the lord for being able to build my own wheels, if £100 is the going rate. Bought 72 DT Revolutions for a pair of wheels last month for under £40, so £20 per wheel, from a shop , so they want £80 to swap ? Takes 5 mins with wire cutters to take the old hub out and 20 mins to lace up, that's a lot of cost then to true and tension.....I have another pair of wheels to build soon, so if I had to pay that kind of money, I wouldn't be able to spend money on bikes for bits alone, let alone labour.

Labour £25 a wheel plus spokes

DT Swiss db black spokes 95p each

DT Swiss revs black £1.10

both supplied with nipples brass or Alu in silver at my shop probably why I'm always busy lol.

£100 is expensive for my neck of the country but can see places in London or places with huge over heads charging more.

It's easy enough to use a calcultor and then buy your own spokes and nipples from somewhere like Spa Cycles. Lacing is straightforward even if you haven't done it before. Then just get the shop to true them.

Yuo 60 quid at 2 lbs I've used including dB spokes so I'd shop around

If you dismantle the old wheel, remove discs, might be more favourble

I was hoping for something more along the lines of £50

Did you say this to them? or ask them to break down the cost so you could see what the parts/labour charge was?

On the face of it it seems a little steep, but without info on the spokes/nipples they plan to use (or that you requested?) and if there are any other particulars like currently seized alloy nipples to remove or hub service etc. it's hard to judge.

As a ballpark I'd expect most shops to charge £25-£40 per wheel labour for a build, so add spokes + nipples to that as a starting point.

with spokes @ £30 + nipples your £50 expectation leaves very little for their labour time, and factoring in the need to dismantle your wheel first then I think you might need to adjust your expectation.

Sounds reasonably cheap for a pair.

Where are you based and is the rim new?

It's for one wheel, I'm in Stoke, Staffordshire and the rim is new yes.

We didn't discuss specifics of brand of spokes and nipples. They've always served me well in the past so I trust their judgement. I did say that I thought £100 did seem a little high so hopefully when I pick it up tomorrow the price will be under that. They are a great shop with a great attitude to customer service however so if I do get charged £100 I'm sure future bills for other services might take that into consideration. We shall see!

paid £25 per wheel build using DT or sapim spokes at wheelcraft. you do have to put up with big Al's chat though lol

I would remove the spokes yourself and take the rim and hub to get built up at a different store. Thats a pretty high price TBH. You could send your wheel to wheelcraft, get it built and posted back to you for less.

Do you need to replace the spokes and nipples? Personally I would try lacing it up with the existing spokes+nipples if not too old. I've done this before on my own builds and its been fine.
Difference is 2mm shorter for Flow rims, not perfect, but I doubt the extra spoke length will poke through and you'll find out if there is enough thread.

Swapping rims is the easiest way to learn as you just need to tape the new rim to old and swap spokes one side at a time (left/right), do the side nearest new rim first. Tension them evenly, counting number of turns. Can always take your finished wheel to a shop to true up completely.

I charge £30 labour for a wheel build on a normal rim (UST rims take longer so charge more for those), and £1 to £1.20 per spoke (inc nipple) assuming ACI or DT Swiss double butted respectively. Means it would be circa £65 for a rebuild onto a new rim supplied by yourself.

If you buy the rim and/or hub from us I do the labour at half price too...

Revolution spokes 56p each?

In what decade? Not this one.

Revs. €0.45 ea
http://www.rosebikes.com/article/dt-swiss-revolution---the-ultra-light-spoke/aid:47102

Revolution spokes 56p each?

In what decade? Not this one.

Try Bike-discount 😉

£34.93 for 72 in silver plus a few quid carriage. No brainer.......

Mammoth by me charge £25 for a wheelbuild and a quid a spoke. I can't vouch for their build skills personally but they've repaired a couple of wheels for me and they've been ok.

I just paid £25 for 70 dt Swiss comp spokes and brass nipples Inc del from rose

we'd charge 1 hour labour (about £40) and then the cost of spokes/nipples

most shops in London charge £40-50 for labour on wheel builds

Out of interest which shop is it ?

initially the estimate seems steep but my local chap in Plymouth is about the same - but what he does offer is lifetime truing and great back up. IMHO worth the extra for the service and guarantee.

IIRC I paid £120 for 2 wheels with DT Comp Races at Icycles, first class build.

Is it possible there's a bit of "own parts tax" here? When a shop loses the markup they'd have made on parts, sometimes they'll quietly add it back on somewhere else.

So, the price was £99 even after I flashed my stw premier card (worth a try) the wheel had all new DT spokes and nipples, they replaced 2 bearings, which they said were a bit grumbly and fitted correct sized stans tape. So generously allowing £40 for 32 spokes and nips, a tenner for 2 bearings and a tenner for tape leaves £40 for the build, saving me the trouble of building it and applying the tape. I'm better with that than I was.

or £20 for the bearings (assuming the hope kit) eg: [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/hope-pro-2-front-bearing-kit/rp-prod134411?gs=1&gclid=CjwKEAiAwZO0BRDvxs_1w-qFnhkSJABo10ggThue5msopLWhob4DfeR2MKPzoqNQJCm1UQgxMKYyjxoCHKnw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds ]as per here on CRC[/url]

so even saying £30 for spokes and nips + £10 for tape + above = £60, which leaves £39 labour to dismantle old wheel, build new and fit bearings.

Seems bang on to me.

Yeh I'd figure 30-40 labour per wheel and then plus whatever parts cost is reasonable.

This thread makes me glad I can build my own wheels. I've built 4 wheels (using DT Revs) in the last 20 days and it's only cost me £78 in spokes and nipples.

100 is proper expensive despite attempts to justify the cost above.

Us weegies are spoiled though, with a top class local wheelbuilder banging out wheels at £25 a build inc spokes/nipples amd a free retrue after 200 miles.

They must be making a loss at that though.. Just the cost of new spokes and nipples will be about £30 per wheel..Maybe a tiny bit less if they buy them in bulk, and don't charge VAT for cash payment.

cost me 25 quid to replace a dinged rim with a new one at my local lbs - they used the same spokes however as the wheel was only 2 weeks old.

Add in the spokes and id say 70 quid seems about right. 100 seems very high.

They must be making a loss at that though.. Just the cost of new spokes and nipples will be about £30 per wheel..Maybe a tiny bit less if they buy them in bulk, and don't charge VAT for cash payment.

spoke cutting machine helps

He's been in business for decades mattyfez. And his wheels are legendary!

glasgowdan - it's not that this is expensive it's that your local builder is incredibly cheap.

Even doing the spokes at trade and banging out a wheel in 30mins you might just break even.
Most shops will charge you an ~hours labour + cost of parts on top.

I've been building for nearly 20 years and even doing the labour free for friends I'd struggle to build with decent spokes for under <£20

Fair play to him if he can do it that cheap and still make a living, I guess if you've got a couple of decades worth of spoke stock sitting there it brings the cost down.

£100 😯 I need to change my job. I've been building my own for the last 30 years and if this is what they charge now I'll continue doing my own thank you(tightwad Yorkshire man)

I suppose as long as the OP is happy with his wheel that's all that matters.

Just putting the rotor, cassette and tyre back on now. They even cleaned the mud off the hub too.

A lot of people seem to be missing the bit about the new bearings and stans tape....

You boys are thinking shop prices for spokes. Big UK wheelbuilders will be going direct to DT/Sapim not buying them through UK importer. £1 a spoke inc nipple for decent double butted spokes or cheaper aero's. 40 minutes to an hour to strip, lace and true. £75 is bang on, anything much over that doesn't include any other work is a pisstake. You can bet the wheel builder, if in shop, is getting nowhere near £20 PH.

https://www.merlincycles.com/front-handbuilt-hope-wheels-26-disc-49016.html

Merlin can supply all parts and build wheel as well so work it out yourselves.

£99 for rebuild including supplying new spokes/nipples would be excessive IMHO. Factoring in the cost for bearing removal and replacement and it seems fine to me. It's fine when especially as you acknowledge OP, the service is very good. Great service costs money - but is worth it.

Normally I would expect £50-£60 for a rebuild.

A bit high if you ask me, I recently paid £72 for a complete rebuild of an Ibis 941 carbon rim, so all spokes, nipples, rim strip and sealant plus labour

Why are so many people not reading that the OP actually had new bearings supplied and fitted along with a Stans rim tape to go with his spokes, nipples and wheel build for £99!!!???

Because that information was only provided after 90% of the people in the thread had responded.

spoke cutting machine helps

Yes, though the machine has to be paid for. I'm not sure how much Al paid for his, mine was about £2300 - that's a lot of spokes! I worked out I'll break even after around 8000 spokes.

Jekkyl, pop in a see kev or alex at goldtec always been way cheaper than that

OP have a go yourself then get a bikeshops to true it up/finish it.... £100 sounds like he's pricing in his lost rim-supply margin. You can source a brand new wheel for only a £100 more.

What we have here is there will always be people who can get/do things cheaper, better, quicker than whatever someone else states. 🙄

I doubt it's a regional stereotype thing either, ego has no regard for where one is born 😉

The provision of the right product or service, in the right time, at the right price and in conformance to the customer requirements. From reading the OP's posts, sounds like all those were ticked.

And then, when the next LBS goes to the wall, outrage and claims from the same people that no one is supporting LBS's anymore and we get what we deserve spewed forth.

Well done OP for supporting your LBS, appreciating and valuing their service now and in the future.

I pay £1 per spoke+brass nip

+ £30 labour

'LBS'. Just how close is your nearest bikeshop that you use?

Your preferred shop? I think for most folk the L part really isn't local anyway.

Us weegies are spoiled though, with a top class local wheelbuilder banging out wheels at £25 a build inc spokes/nipples amd a free retrue after 200 miles.

Just don't ask for black spokes... 😉

The only real way to get an idea of the VFM your LBS is providing is to get a comparative quote or two from other local shops for the exact same work/parts...

Don't expect to get many useful responses on here, half of us wouldn't pay that, do it ourselves and probably miss a ride or two as a result, the other half will take great pleasure in reeling off the huge expenditures that their cycling habbit incurs... This basically:

What we have here is there will always be people who can get/do things cheaper, better, quicker than whatever someone else states.

I doubt it's a regional stereotype thing either, ego has no regard for where one is born

Another way to look at it is the value of your own time, if the next shop were £40 cheaper, but it was going to be another week or two till they could fit your job in, would you consider the first quote better value?

[i]Value [/i]is entirely up to the customer really, if it doesn't feel like good VFM based on your own measures of what value is, that's at least an indication that it may not be good VFM perhaps...

If it took two rides to get a wheel DIY rebuilt, it'd be a shop job.

Reality is that it's an hours work.

Ghill he's warming to black spokes! I think he gets asked for them often enough that he accepts he needs to do it!

He still likes to rant about them though 😀

I still can't get over the £1 per spoke charge. I usually use Sapim race double butted spokes which I get 36 of with brass nipples for £15 (and that's buying from a bike shop). Add to that a wheelbuild price of £15 per wheel which was done up until recently by the guy who builds Danny MacAskills wheels (the best wheelbuilds I've ever seen) and that would put me off paying £100 easily.

I don't think it's an hours work- you have to disemble the wheel too however a competent wheel builder (not the best paid) would be very quick. If I was quoted £100 I'd see it as a sign that that shops not for me. However it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job. So maybe the shop was sending you a message. So I can see both sides. Would you turn up at a indie garage or main dealer and say 'fit this that I bought' and expect loyalty/competitive fit rates?

Still if you did go through with if c£150 all in versus a £200 new wheel?

If it took two rides to get a wheel DIY rebuilt, it'd be a shop job

Reality is that it's an hours work.

For you maybe, I'll admit to taking my time over my own (all too infrequent) wheel builds and probably needing 2-3 hours to be happy I have a straight well tensioned wheel, but it is my own time and I enjoy it, not everyone would...

Plus there's the actual getting round to it; actually having the spare time, making sure you have any additional parts you need, waiting on deliveries...

The faffing could easily cost you a couple of rides, hence the value in paying a shop for their services... I don't think the OP made a terrible decision seeing as he's quite happily riding his bike now rather than costing up alternatives...

Yeah, I'd agree with that.
I've been doing cycling stuff a depressingly long time and now plan ahead. If a rim/wheel is starting to look poorly I'll order bits in advance, and I've been doing it long enough so i rarely order the wrong bits. Plus I've got several hundred spokes in common lengths for my wheels sat in boxes downstairs and a handful of rims bought in sales etc. And it's an hours workshop time per wheel, or two hours with a couple of beers in front of the telly.........

The exception being ambrosio rims, with their random number generating ERD. Had a dozen or so over the years, only two have had the same ERD........ at least 150 of the spare spokes were for ambrosio builds.

. However it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job

no its not.

hora - Member

However it is slightly insulting to turn up with the rim and expect a competitive job.

I don't think it's insulting; you just have to understand that you're buying a different service than you would be if you bought the rim from them, so the prices aren't directly comparable.