So, I've got a broken spoke in my tubeless wheel.
I don't drive so can't easily get the wheel to a bike shop.
I've been able to find a mobile mechanic who will come out and repair it for me.
What is a fair cost?
The job will involve cassette and rotor removal, tyre and insert removal.
Make hole in tape and replace broken spoke. True wheel up.
Patch tubeless tape to make air tight again and re-install tyre, insert, cassette and rotor.
I get 1 spoke is really cost ineffective, but what would be a fair price to pay for the above job.
Many thanks
Matt
I had one go at BPW a couple of years ago, the shop at BPW didn't have the right spoke so I popped into a LBS in Merthyr. Think they charged me £25.
A mobile mechanic may be a bit pricier, as you're paying for their time/fuel costs to come to you, but I'd baulk at paying more than say £35-£45.
What's he quoting?
I'd say for someone to come and visit you at home, it's got to be at least £100 to be a sustainable business.
I sent my derailleur into my spokes in Madiera a few weeks back - it took out five spokes on the drive side, leaving the wheel so tacoed it wouldn't spin in the frame. Dropped the bike into a shop overnight, came back the following morning expecting a big bill. Was charged 25 Euro all in. I was lucky in that I had straight pull spokes, and the nipples were intact, so the tyre didn't need to come off.
The spoke and its cost is irrelevant. You are paying for someone’s time to do the job and a proportion of that persons costs in being equipped and skilled enough to do the job. If it takes an hour I think £50 is a reasonable price. Plus the cost of a new spoke and tyre sealant.
Take the wheel out and go via bus/lift to get it fixed at LBS ? - or just take spoke out and ride the bike there / wait while it's done ?
I'd expect to pay a lot more than £35 for a mobile guy to come out to site - plus 30mins of work / tape/sealant/spoke etc, depending on how far they have to travel to get to you given overheads these days
The job will involve cassette and rotor removal, tyre and insert removal.
Make hole in tape and replace broken spoke. True wheel up.Patch tubeless tape to make air tight again and re-install tyre, insert, cassette and rotor.
Can you do the job yourself?
If not, pay the price the repairer gives you. It's not going to be a made up price.
If you can do it yourself, work out how long it would take you (at least an hour or two I'd say) and calculate your own hourly rate for the job you do. That's your answer for a "fair" rate worth of your time.
Last week I took a tyre and rim to the LBS as I'd struggled with mounting it for a couple of hours, a painful wrist and sore fingers. He did new rim tape, tyre on and full of new gunk for £35.
Well worth it as I was able to sit on my ass at home doomscrolling Youtube clips.
My local Evans charge £26 to replace a spoke, £1 per spoke and £25 for the time to do it (my mate had 3 replaced in 3 consecutive weeks on his commuter before he ended up buying a new wheel). That was non-tubeless wheel though.
A mobile bike mechanic in my area charges a minimum call out charge of £20, so I'd expect a spoke replacement to be similar price to Evans with the call out charge on top.
Has the mechanic you've found not quoted you a price already?
You could reduce the time it takes to perform the repair by removing the cassette, insert and tyre yourself, along with cleaning any sealant.
Can you not do the tyre, and cassette if you have the tools, yourself so you aren’t handing over the messy part? Also much easier just to hop on a bus with a bare wheel.
id expect a mechanic to want to renew the tape completely rather than attempt to patch
I charge £25 an hr cash, if I was coming to you the at least 2hrs.
don’t be surprised if the mechanic wants to change the rim tape. Patching it does work I’ve done it. But a customer will be straight back if they have a flat.
if you are happy todo the tubeless set yourself I’d get the tyre off and the wheel wash for him.
Mobile mechanic..
Call out charge, plus an hour or so labour and parts. £75-£100
cleaning (if dirty) Stripping the wheel down is probably 15 minutes.
I would suspect a mechanic would want to true and check all the spokes tension as well as replace the broken one, and as mentioned re-tape the rim.
Rebuild, insert and tyre inflated, then re-installed and tested.
I bust a spoke last week. New spoke and nipple was about £2.50 but it took me an hour to replace it, I got away without re-taping the rim.
How much have you been quoted??
The problem with small site jobs is travel time. It's not the time it takes to do the job (and it's a surprising faff doing 1 spoke on a tubeless wheel), it's the time from finishing the last job to starting the next. Depending on how far away they are it's probably at least 2 hours total time.
I was quoted £35 at a normal shop. This was to replace the spoke and nipple, retake and tubeless top-up.
It is one of those jobs that could take half an hour or could take much longer if you have a load of alloy nipples that are corroded. One broken spoke could turn into 1 spoke and 20 nipples etc. I'd be shocked if it isn't near enough £100 from a mobile repair guy. He's not gonna patch the tubeless either, if it goes flat in a week you'll be calling him so why would he? if it has had crap tape(mucoff) he could be cleaning it for a good 15-20min for the new tape.
With an insert to faff about with and dealing with the rim tape (I can see they'd want to replace it but then that's also time to clean up the sealant mess) I can see it being around £100. Rotor shouldn't need to come off though?
I used to be, but not any more. Unfortunately with work I've moved to a rubbish place for riding and bike shops.
Thanks guys. The mobile guy is quoting £35 which based on the above looks more than fair.
By the time I've ridden to a bike shop or tried to get public transport, it will be cheaper to get this guy come out and repair it.
Thanks
cassette and rotor removal, tyre and insert removal.
Patch tubeless tape to make air tight again and re-install tyre, insert, cassette and rotor.
I'd be doing these bits myself. They just add time without needing much in the way of the specialist skills/tools that a mechanic brings.
The mobile guy is quoting £35 which based on the above looks more than fair.
Christ, is he doing it as a hobby? I can't see how anyone can make a decent living charging that kind of price.
If you can do it yourself, work out how long it would take you (at least an hour or two I'd say)
That's an hour or two to find the tools? For me I'd also factor in costs of a few months therapy if truing a wheel was involved...
I used to be, but not any more. Unfortunately with work I've moved to a rubbish place for riding and bike shops.
Eurgh, the thought of doing that for a blummin job makes me shudder
Christ, is he doing it as a hobby? I can't see how anyone can make a decent living charging that kind of price.
There's a mobile guy round this way who was looking to open a shop then he did the maths on rent, rates, heating/lighting, insurance etc and realised he'd be tied to being there (or paying someone to be there) 9-5 Mon-Sat even when there were no customers and he could make more profit and have a decent lifestyle by doing jobs from a van. If you want him there at 3pm today you'll be paying a premium but if you are happy for him to pop in at a time that suits him he'll be as cheap as a shop.
Eurgh, the thought of doing that for a blummin job makes me shudder
Same. I moved to Matlock then found a job 😎
Thanks guys. The mobile guy is quoting £35 which based on the above looks more than fair.
By the time I've ridden to a bike shop or tried to get public transport, it will be cheaper to get this guy come out and repair it.
Thanks
That sounds very reasonable. Be sure to get some nice cakes in.
That would take me at least 1 hour- I'm slow home mechanic, not a pro!
1h work+1h driving+ the correct length spoke+ I would redo the tubeless tape having removed the old stuff.
£35 is a Billy bargain. They must be super speedy and local to you for that. I'd snap their hand off at that price.
£35 sounds very fair.
Remove the tyre, insert and cassette yourself to speed things along as well.
I broke a spoke recently at Mabie, I could do it myself, but am really busy, so I dropped it off at GG Bikes in Dumfries. I expected £50 when I picked it up, he said £30. I gave him £40. Even at £40 its a bargain, it must be close to a hour to do it, then the new sealant.
The spoke and its cost is irrelevant. You are paying for someone’s time to do the job and a proportion of that persons costs in being equipped and skilled enough to do the job. If it takes an hour I think £50 is a reasonable price. Plus the cost of a new spoke and tyre sealant.
Pretty much that, just by listing out some of the steps you've shown it's relatively faffy for a job where the parts might only cost 50p.
Like most things, it's too expensive, then learn to do it yourself, if you can't learn to do it yourself then it's not too expensive.
One of those jobs where it’s possibly worth buying any tools you don’t have along with the spoke ( probably worth buying half a dozen whilst you’re at it) , taking your time and doing it yourself. Next time it will be more familiar and you’ll save in the long run .
I went through a very hard time with very little spare cash and learning to sort bike issues was a godsend.
I wouldn't be paying anyone who "patches" tubeless tape and thinks that's acceptable. Short term fix yes, long term id be removing old tape and replacing it or you'll just get issues down the line
£35?! Dunno why I bother doing stuff myself. Thought it was because of the faff of taking it to a bike shop while they're open, waiting for them to have time to fix it, then collecting it when they're open. But if someone can come to my house and do it for minimum wage + parts + a tenner, I need their number.
I'm basing my time on £60 an hour plus parts these days...
If you've got someone who can actually do a good job for £35, including replacing the tubeless tape (100% agree with what @rOcKeTdOg says here) and sealant and refitting the tyre then bite their hand off... OR... Question how the hell they can do it so cheaply, and remember "buy cheap, buy twice"...
For what it's worth, bring it to me, devoid of tyre/valve/tape/cassette/rotor so it's literally ready to replace the spoke and true it up, and it'll probably take me 15-20 mins to do... So will cost you £15-20 labour, plus the cost of the spoke (all of £1 or thereabouts)... If I've got to remove everything, i'm doing so charging you £60p/h pro rata... I'm then charging to fit new tubeless rim tape @ £5 per wheel, new sealant @ £5 per wheel, and the time to fit them along with the tyre (tubeless inserts will command a surcharge too)... And then I'm charging to get to you too more than likely... I'll waive the call out charge if the bill is over £60 (and inside 5 miles), but under £60 (or over 5 miles) and I'm charging £1 per mile (one way not both) in addition too...
I charge £25 an hr cash,
No mortgage...? 🤔
I'm cheap at £60 an hour these days... For that you're getting 20+yrs industry experience and a significant reputation, along with the tools and experience to be able to fix your bike properly in a timely manner... Others I know with my skills and experience are typically charging £75 an hour now, but then they do have higher overheads that go with dedicated retail premises too...
There's a mobile guy round this way who was looking to open a shop then he did the maths on rent, rates, heating/lighting, insurance etc and realised he'd be tied to being there (or paying someone to be there) 9-5 Mon-Sat even when there were no customers and he could make more profit and have a decent lifestyle by doing jobs from a van.
I have done the shop thing... I am now doing the van thing... Agree with what you/your local guy says... Also I'd rather work odd hours anyway, not be tied to somewhere 9-5 every day, and I am sick of trying to sell stuff to make a living when the internet is happy to sell it for cheaper than the trade price anyway... I've done the sums... I know a few decent home mechanics taking £60-70k a year (so staying nicely under the £90k VAT threshold) with operating costs of £15-25k, so making £35-50k self employed before the taxman takes his bit (and it's only 20% for self employed profits anyway)... In my best year running my own shop, we took £325k, made around £25k net profit (which I just sank into more stock, which barely made 10% margin all told), and paid myself a salary of £18k at the time (which in reality was way less than minimum wage for the hours I worked) so I could make sure I could pay my staff a proper wage (which still wasn't high, but was competitive for the industry)...
I have NO desire to have a premises again... Put it that way!
Christ, is he doing it as a hobby? I can't see how anyone can make a decent living charging that kind of price.There's a mobile guy round this way who was looking to open a shop then he did the maths on rent, rates, heating/lighting, insurance etc and realised he'd be tied to being there (or paying someone to be there) 9-5 Mon-Sat even when there were no customers and he could make more profit and have a decent lifestyle by doing jobs from a van. If you want him there at 3pm today you'll be paying a premium but if you are happy for him to pop in at a time that suits him he'll be as cheap as a shop.
My LBS is now a mobile shop for this reason. It also means he can fit in a post round in the morning.
