Several bad experiences with local bike shops have forced me to buy tools and learn to repair and maintain my bike. A good thing.
Once I was charged £80 for a gear cable change. They said they had difficulty in threading the cable through the internal route. First time I tried to do this myself it took 20 minutes using a capillary tube and I'm pretty technically challenged!
Anyone else had similar experiences?
I got told by a guy at Uni that he went and got a new gear cable installed at a cost of about £30, and they didn't even index the gears properly after they installed the cable. They just put the cable in, attached it to the rear derailleur and said they were done.
The only time I've been to an LBS recently to get something serviced was a pair of wheels that needed truing and tensioning, I do everything else myself so far apart from wheels and forks (and the latter will/might be changing soon. It was Bicycle Boutique in Manchester, and they charged me a reasonable £17 for sticking it in the truing stand and tightening the spoke nipples. I was happy with this.
Bicycle Works in edinburgh charged me £8 for swapping out a press-fit bottom bracket, so there are some very good value for money outfits out there as well.
I guess the fact that more and more people are buying kit online. The online stores will always undercut the high street store. But online stores cant do servicing. So LBS are relying more on the servicing aspect and adjusting their cost in turn. To make a living. No excuse for poor work or blatant ridiculously priced inexpensive basics.
Or tape the old cable to the new one and pull it through takes about 2 minutes if you've taped it properly......
You can ask what they will charge first before getting the work done. Less chance of a surprise then.
You can ask what they will charge first before getting the work done. Less chance of a surprise then.
I do this when ordering drinks at bars - from the look I get it's like I've asked the barmaid what undies she is/isn't wearing!!!
It saves the inevitable "How much...??!!" when you hand over a tenner for 2 drinks, and they ask for more!
DrP
I was in fort william in July & got charged £8 to cut about two inches off my seatpost which took all of two minutes.I thought at least the guy would for nowt as i was gonna buy some clothing but after that i was not buying anything.
My LBS did a full frame transplant for £40, and do loads of little 'odds and sods' jobs for free for me, but then I buy things from them, as well have plenty of banter with them. Admittedly I pay more for some stuff than I would on CRC and the like, but the money I save on the other stuff makes up the difference. To people who say I should do the maintenance myself, I have not the space(main problem), time, tools and to be honest, inclination to get frustrated trying (and failing) to fix/fit stuff.
My LBS is a godsend!
It works both ways
A chain store up here always quotes by the half hour, ask how much something will be and they claim to not be able to tell you as it depends how long it takes, surely they have a general idea for easy repetitive tasks
Same place once tried to charge me £15 to swop out a rear hope axle, (less than 5 min job) when questioned claimed they had had to true the wheel as well (they hadn't touched it, was brand new)
Big up though for samways in derby who last week gave me a handful of extra long calliper bolts for free and to sherwood Pines Cycles, their prices are very reasonable, especially considering a trail centre location, and Dale is a top mechanic
I try to do the same as tomhoward above, but I've been waiting on a headset from the LBS since Xmas, and I could have got it at any stage from CRC over that time, and made use of various discount codes into the bargain.
Small shops are kind of damned that way too - thy struggle to get stock as all the big boys are buying it all up. Would prefer to buy off the shop, got the bike off him after all, but patience only goes so far.
iain1775 - Member
It works both ways
A chain store up here always quotes by the half hour, ask how much something will be and they claim to not be able to tell you as it depends how long it takes
That is really poor practice IMO.
Iain, I know Samways well, great shop! Lived round the corner as a student. I may have worked at the chain store you mentioned if its on the Wyvern retail park too 😳 but when I was there we were a group of riders, who were whittled down to 16yr old who didnt care, much to the delight of the store manager!
Personally i am amazed at the amount of people who have to use a LBS to get even simple things mended or serviced. I love a spot of spannering and have probably spent far too much money on shiny bike tools recently. Maybe i should consider doing it for a living? It's got to beat sitting at a desk! I even have a shiny workshop on an industrial estate at my disposal.
In the mean time, anyone in the essex area wants their suspension serviced, reverb mended, wheels building, brakes bled, or bike assembling (for a nice cake), let me know.
Yeah, i guess experience points to a mixed bag.
Had a really bad experience with a well known independent shop; bought a new frame, the frame had slight damage, shop decided to 'make it up to me' with free heli tape. When i picked it up, there was a high labour charge - the mechanic said it took a while to get the heli tape right....
On the flip side, recently had a really good experience (and good value) getting some work done at Evans, which kind of surprised me (don't know why i was surprised really though - maybe i've got a 'chain store' prejudice, especially on price).
Would like to be completetely self sufficient, but there's some stuff i just can't do/ don't have tools for. Time is a factor too.
I only use my lbs shop for gear tuning-bleeding my crappy shimano brakes and wheel build-truing
I'll soon be doing my own brakes as I've just got some hope tech m4s (s/e) like to do all the bearings and little bits my self!!
There's two big bike shops in Carlisle palace cycles which i deal with and scotby cycles I've had my brakes bled of scotby and they charged me £30 palace have done this for nothing so I keep going back!
To balance my experience out, the bike shop is very helpful with advise re fitting when I have bought spares and tools. Often find the people who work in them very helpful but suspect there is sometimes a strong incentive to overcharge. To rub salt into the wound, it was less than three months before the cable needed changing again. Not sure what they did but when I changed it myself it lasted more than six months.
Another massive positive is the help other cyclist have given me - a mate rebuilt my wheels (twice!) and has shown me how to do various jobs.
I'll soon be doing my own brakes as I've just got some hope tech m4s (s/e) like to do all the bearings and little bits my self!!
You realise that Shimanos are vastly easier to bleed and work on than Hopes yes?
But they aren't. Both are piss easy to bleed and work on.
The shamanos brakes I have are m585 I think bottom of the Market ones!!
You realise that Shimanos are vastly easier to bleed and work on than Hopes yes?
Errmmmm - hopes are very simple and straightforward -bit of tubing and bottle of fluid and off you go
There are good and bad out there same as anything else ..
I would love to do more on my bike but live in a 3rd floor flat so very difficult to do much as i have zero storage space for a stand and tools.. This will change when i get my lock up eventualy come through but till then i have had a great experiance with my LBS .. they did a frame swap for me for next to nothing and allways give me a 20% discount on list (Before i haggle) .. they have been happy to offer advice and assistance when needed throughout me getting into biking properly .. and as such i have spent a fortune there.
They will price match if they can online .. if not will tell me to buy it and they are happy to fit ..
I guess you have to be lucky to find the right one .. i know all the shop staff by name and allways recomend them to friends
ENtirely random in my experience in terms of cost and quality of work but I ALWAYS have to wait days on end to get the bike back. Some car service places have early morning slots that are reserved for bring and wait appointments. This would be helpful in a bike workshop
Friend of mine paid a bike shop to fit a chain guide. They didn't properly tighten the cranks and he never thought to check so he almost lost a crank on the DH at Cwmcarn.
He says the particular LBS is shit, I've had good service there before at a reasonable price and suggested if he wasn't lazy he could have done the work himself inside 15 mins.
So I guess the moral of the tale is, your experience is likely to be variable.
As above, Hope and Shimano are pretty much the same to bleed arent they? Unless you're foolish enough to try and use the Littlebleeder kit in your kitchen thinking it will make things even easier....