as someone who usually does all my own work I was apprehensive about taking my bike to my LBS recently to get all the bearings looked at as I don't have the time or tools atm if any needed replacing. also sent off my suspension to tf tuned as I blew a seal and wanted the new internals for my ccdb inline. This thread made me feel so much better about having it all done! 😛
My Tripster's brakes were honking - LBS blokey said to spray brake cleaner on the rotors and put a match to it. (Wheel off bike, of course). I did. Not only was it fun, but it worked too.
I said
Never had a pad that I could fix
Dur, should have said "couldn't"
Ive read and thought about and reread this, and what I'm still not clear about is that theres a lot of "constant fork problems" and "on-going brake problems" without it ever really being clear what the symptoms that led to that conclusion are.
Whats actually wrong with the forks? not going bouncy bouncy? going bouncy bouncy too much? too much sag, not enough sag?
Similar question with the brakes - Whats the actual problem? Not stopping very well? wheel not spinning properly?
I don't want to sound too harsh, but from everything thats been written so far, Its hard to know if there is even an actual problem for the mechanic to fix.
Oil in dirt in all the cut outs etc, only comes out when it's hot, contaminates pads again...
Blowtorch sorts this out. Certainly clean/blowtorch/sandpaper will sort a contaminated disc. But it can be worth replacing pads, you have to heat them up for ages sometimes, and can cause other issues.
There are a few things that make sense - the mechanic has suggested new wheels which if they're always needing truing (depending on the hubs) isn't a bad plan. If spares are available for the hubs, you could re-rim (and possibly re-spoke) it. Whatever's going on with forks sounds like a bad service (from 2 places), seals are needing replacement, or a warranty issue.
But really a lot of this stuff depends on how much you're riding, and how fussy you are over having a shiny bike. Also it's £686 for 5 months, most of those activities I wouldn't expect to have to repeat over the rest of the year - if those represented a typical moderately bad year it's not all that bad. It's a pricey bike, things go wrong.
While that's true, some things you'll do as an owner but you wouldn't do as a professional mechanic and this crosses that line for a lot of spannerists.
Agreed.
For other home mechanics - if you do take emery cloth or similar to your discs, they will need re-bedding in, otherwise they'll feel terrible.
Also - I think brake cleaner is awful stuff. Whenever I've used it, it leaves something coated on there that perhaps car brakes can burn off, but MTB brakes don't seem to be able to. I avoid it like the plague. Clutch cleaner otoh seems to work, but even then it's expensive. Best thing I've found as I said is Halfords bike cleaner followed by a hosepipe.
As has already been pointed out, you've spend around 200 quid on fixing deore brakes that cost 40 quid each new.
Your fork has had to be fixed 3 times..
As for drivetrain, are you replacing mechs and shifters, or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you've been royally had (unless you are running Srams x1 cassettes I suppose)
or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you've been royally had
Not really, the price he quoted looked pretty normal for chainrings, cassette and chain @ RRP + labour
As has already been pointed out, you've spend around 200 quid on fixing deore brakes that cost 40 quid each new.
true...but they should have just been sent back to shimano under warranty.
as for contaminated discs and pads...i had this a few months back....i cleaned the rotor with isopropyl alcohol and a bit of light sanding on the rotor. the pads i left on top of the electric hob for 10 minutes....the contaminant got baked out...i could see it smoking out. i then sanded the surface down to clear the glaze and then put them in my bag to be used as emergency spares.
the new pads in the caliper work spot on wiht the newly cleaned rotors.
Shimano brakes leaking oil is a known problem that's been going on a good few years.
Send back under warranty if less than 2 years old.
Can probably replace the caliper with deore ones (not tried myself but should be fine).
I finally fixed this by replacing with Hope.
The longer the op is absent, the more I'm convinced of shenanigans...
He's stuck in his garage, trying to operate a set of allen keys....
Send back under warranty
I'd have sent the whole bike back tbh.
The big list was only July-December repairs that has been going on all year. A 2015 bike with that many failures in 2016 is a lemon.
Or the OP is a DH pro without the sponsorship and a team mechanic?
That camber sound like triggers broom!
I like fixing bike nearly as much as riding them, but as said by others, not everyone is wired this way. IMO time=money, if your time is better earning than fixing then just pay the man. I would suggest you pay a different man though.
[i]Shimano brakes leaking oil is a known problem that's been going on a good few years.[/i]
Pretty sure that's XT, maybe XTR, but not Deore.
The OP gas been royally bummed by the mechanic there! His bike has cost more to run in a year than my other half's car use to!
Spanking that much on a Deore brakes is mad given how cheap they are. Th fork situation sounds like a total joke.
Most little jobs don't take long and aren't hard, especially for the sake of £1,600!
Unfortunately we've seen it on the hydro road calipers, deore and sub-deore hydro calipers
I've just built a 2017 bike for store display, and the rear caliper has leaked all over the rotor
or is this just rings, cassette and chain. If its the latter then you've been royally had
The £240 for new drive train/bottom bracket was broken down to:
FSA BBPF 30 £24
SRAM Rear Mech £42
Blackspire 30T chain ring £35
Sunrace Cassette £60
SRAM 10speed chain £20
Inner and outer gear cable £15
Fitting £45
I'll reply to some of the other replies individually when I get the time. Hopefully tomorrow. I don't have the time at the moment.
One reason I always go to a mechanic is that it takes me ages to do a job on a bike. Most of the stuff, I've never done before, such as fitting a new bottom bracket or pivot bearings for example (I wouldn't know where to start, what to order that is compatible, what tools to get that are compatible, etc and even if I got hold of them, I probably couldn't do the job unless it went smoothly with no problems encountered(when does that ever happen?)).
My most recent job on the bike, which was replacing the Shimano brakes myself (changing caliper/lever and bleeding), took ages and numerous problems were encountered, and its still not fixed.
I will try and slowly learn each job one by one, until I eventually won't need the mechanic for anything but the more complex jobs. That is the aim anyway.
BTW I don't pay a mechanic for changing tires, brake pads or discs anymore and haven't done for months.
The mechanic I used for all those jobs in 2016 was always available, would usually fix the bike on the day or 2nd day (successfully or not), and he lived a quarter of a mile away. There was (almost) no bike downtime, there was no driving to and from bike shops. That's why I kept going back to him. All the other alternatives (Bike shops) were only in driving distance and they often had waiting lists of a week or more. So I'm sure you can see why I kept using this mechanic. There just wasn't any other viable alternative. But now that I've recently moved house it is not likely I will go back to him now though.
The £240 for new drive train/bottom bracket was broken down to:
FSA BBPF 30 £24
SRAM Rear Mech £42
Blackspire 30T chain ring £35
Sunrace Cassette £60
SRAM 10speed chain £20
Inner and outer gear cable £15
Fitting £45
That's not unreasonable for that .... Whether it's all required is open to debate...
But so you know.. You could have taken some money off them prices buying yourself.
Cassette, 50%, Chain £5 less, Cables £10 less, But overall, it's not a rip off that's for sure.
The mechanic I used for all those jobs in 2016 was always available, would usually fix the bike on the day or 2nd day (successfully or not), and he lived a quarter of a mile away. There was (almost) no bike downtime, there was no driving to and from bike shops. That's why I kept going back to him. All the other alternatives (Bike shops) were only in driving distance and they often had waiting lists of a week or more. So I'm sure you can see why I kept using this mechanic. There just wasn't any other viable alternative. But now that I've recently moved house it is not likely I will go back to him now though.
Sorry, but this guy doesn't sound like a proper mechanic who had any other work, he sound like an incompetent who happened to live close to you.
I use a local, mobile mechanic from time to time and it can be 2-3 days before he can collect the bike and another few days before i get it back, because he knows his stuff and gets repeat business.
I'm just going to leave this here....
[img] 
?rlvnet=1&view_padding=%5B285%2C0%2C285%2C0%5D[/img]
I feel sorry for the OP, but he's only going through what most of us have at one time or another - learning.
It's ok for me (and others) to have a pop and say, "why didn't you just stick it on your workstand and get out your tools and replace/repair X".
If he doesn't know, and would prefer riding to not - then he will just take it to the mechanic.
Stuff costs, and doing stuff costs more. When you are in business there is no such thing as a 5 minute job, and time costs money (even a mechanic working out of his back-garden shed has to be charging +£20ph to cover costs, even if flat-out busy).
And even the best of us have been defeated by brakes. How much time and money did I spend trying to get my Avid Juicys working properly after their first winter, and they never did...
I don't mean to pick up on this, but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?
[b]I don't mean to pick up on this[/b], but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?
Erm....
When I was riding regularly (3-6hrs per week) the bike was costing more to maintain than my car, eg £400pa. That was ignoring the ridiculous Fox fork servicing schedule too
As for DIY, I am useless at that (do pads and keeping nuts and bolts snug, change tyres etc, bit of gear indexing) amd also have no space for a workstand etc
I don't mean to pick up on this, but you used to have your mechanic change tyres for you..?
Never used him to change tyres but did use him for discs once when he said they needed replacing as they were worn down. When I saw how to do this myself I couldn't believe what he was charging for such an easy job.
Jeepers - I ride almost every day and spend virtually nothing on spares. think I put a new chain on my commuter a couple of years ago - oh - and a gear cable. Tandems had nothing in the last 3000 or so miles bar a pair of tyres. MTB has had little use recently Think it had some new pads a couple of thousand miles ago
[I]Jeepers - I ride almost every day and spend virtually nothing on spares. think I put a new chain on my commuter a couple of years ago - oh - and a gear cable. Tandems had nothing in the last 3000 or so miles bar a pair of tyres. MTB has had little use recently Think it had some new pads a couple of thousand miles ago [/I]
Yes, but he's doing decent mileage on an MTB, and as Jamba said you can easily spend more than it costs to run a car (except fuel of course). But tbh all off-road sports are cost heavy, try moto-x (or on another thread, horses...).
Since Christmas I've bought (all to replace worn out and/or broken items):
- front tyre, £45
- pads * 2, £20
- spd pedals, £34
- winter spd boots, £109
- XT 11 speed rear mech, £60
- cassette, £70
- front ring (oval direct), £40
- chain, £12
- light battery, £15
And maintenance-wise:
- obviously all the above
- Pike lower leg service
- Fox shock can service
- new rear hub bearings inc freehub
I ride 3 times a week (2 nights and 1 day), in the wet, rocky, rooty Tweed Valley - such as tonight, night-ride at Innerleithen.
Oh and 3/ get a HT singlespeed, and learn how to maintain your brakes. I treated mine to a new chain this year, £8, and it might need some new pads in a month or two depending how much it rains.
Not an option. I struggle on steep climbs as it is with a 1 x 10 setup with a 30T chain ring and the lowest gear 42 at the back on a 29er. Going singlespeed will make this problem a lot worse.
The last thing I want is rigid. I also struggle and get pains after riding due to the suspension not soaking up trail clatter very well (it's not working as well as it used to thats for sure) so the last thing I want is rigid. I'd probably find walking less painful!
OP do you check your bike over before and after a ride and how often do you clean and lube it?
Putting a muddy bike in the shed and pulling it out again for the next ride is going to increase wear massively over a properly cleaned and lubed bike.
OP - how are you cleaning your bike?
I usually wash the bike with the Mobi V17 Jet Washer after each ride. Before anyone thinks this is a conventional Jet Wash its not. Its mobile battery powered and only the same pressure as a hosepipe. I nearly always degrease the chain and relube between rides.
Your mechanic is laughing all the way to the bank there.. £51 for discs.. blimey
Yes. Thats the one that stands out as a rip off the most. The mechanic told me the originals were getting worn out (after just over 1 years use) and needed replacing immediately, but I didn't have time to look at how to fit them or what to get, so I just left him to it. I'd never do that again since I found out how easy they are to fit.
brakes don't just need bleeding on a regular basis. They are sealed, nothing gets in or out. Fluid should last years and years.
They were bleed numerous times because I kept replacing componants when trying to fix the leaking Shimano Brakes.
OP, another tip is that even badly contaminated pads can be returned to life with a bit of sandpaper and an hour or two in the oven.
But wouldn't doing this contaminate the oven ? Last thing I want in the oven is oil off pads ?
If I could restore my pads this would save me a lot of money as I've got loads of contaminated pads in the garage.
£300 to change the bearings is a ridiculous price anyhow. Sounds like your mechanic has taken you for the proverbial ride
This is not for bearings. Frame bearings he said were likely to be £40-£50 for parts and £40 for labour. The £300 is for all the work and replacement componants that are currently needed on the bike, which in addition to the frame bearings; a bottom bracket replacement, a new rear wheel, new chain, a new rear mech and the bushings to be replaced in the fork.
Be interesting to know what kind of maintenance failure caused ride ending rides requiring a taxi.
One was the freehub failing. The bike was only about 15 months old.
The other was the mech getting ripped off the bike. The people I was with managed to turn it into a singlespeed, but as it's not a hard tail, the chain won't stay on, so I had to turn back and go home.
I've not the whole post but just seen your cost breakdown , your mechanic is taking the piss ! Find another one, there are plenty of good ones around who will treat your fairly.
Since moving house I've found another home mechanic. I have not used him much yet but I'll see if he treats me more fairly.
There is a balance - many jobs can be done in less time than it takes to get the bike to a shop/mechanic with just some basic skills and cheap tools.
My mechanic (at both my previous address and my current address) has always been less than half a mile away so it doesn't really take any time to ride to his house and walk back home.
If you have a dry garage or shed you can do the jobs in then for me that's half the fun.....love having a go myself and learning how to do stuff on the bike. I only tend to pop to the LBS if i don't have a specific tool.
I've got a garage and it is dry. So far most of the stuff I've tried to do myself (replacing a boken spoke and trying to sort out the faulty Shimano Deore's) I've hated doing it and it's been time consuming. It's not put me in the mood to try and take on other jobs. But I will try when I get round to it to learn some new skills and try to learn each job one-by-one. But there's no way I'm going to be able to learn how to fix everything that needs doing on my bike right now.
Unsure why you are complaining about prices
Because some of the componants seem to be made out of cheese the amount of times they need replacing. Bottom bracket last changed in October needs doing again now, for example. Pivot bearings only lasting only 10 months, another example.
The repeat problems with the brakes and suspension fork has lead me to being ripped off and I shouldn't have paid for repeat repairs, looking back, and won't be paying again to take something back to the same mechanic soon after he's supposedly fixed it.
....and using Rebound Suspension....as I found out to my cost, they (or I think it's just the one guy, Jason) are a joke.
Completely agree 100%
piss-takingly expensive as well
OP, I'm in Hindley, where's the Mechanic based mate ?
Near the bottom end of Boresdane Woods
It's not a bike shop, he works from home. BTW this not the mechanic I was using last year. I've only just starting using him very recently, so don't really know what hes like yet. The only thing that has concerned me so far is that he's telling me to replace a contaminated rotor.
It certainly does, personally I'd rather be cleaning/fixing than pretty much anything. Each to their own I guess.
Other way round for me! I'd rather be doing pretty much anything other than cleaning/fixing.
Rigid Singlespeeds are just admitting defeat unless your a complete masochist or live somewhere really dull.
Completely agree and if I got a single speed I think I'd find it too painful to ride it anywhere other than a dull route. Plus my main problems have been with the brakes anyway!
I've got to try and somehow not let the maintenance of a full suspension geared bike beat me.
Ive read and thought about and reread this, and what I'm still not clear about is that theres a lot of "constant fork problems" and "on-going brake problems" without it ever really being clear what the symptoms that led to that conclusion are.Whats actually wrong with the forks? not going bouncy bouncy? going bouncy bouncy too much? too much sag, not enough sag?
Similar question with the brakes - Whats the actual problem? Not stopping very well? wheel not spinning properly?
Forks - loosing air, seals (at the top) came off once, one time they locked out completely, harsh ride, knocking, loosing travel. These have all come up at least once over that period and explain why it's had to be fixed 3+ times.
Brakes - Constant contamination. Howling with piss poor stopping power. This is despite changing the pads numerous times, cleaning the rotors, and replacing the calipers.
Shimano brakes leaking oil is a known problem that's been going on a good few years.Send back under warranty if less than 2 years old.
Can probably replace the caliper with deore ones (not tried myself but should be fine).
I am planning to send back the 2x leaking calipers and 1x failed brake lever to Shimano and hope to get a refund or at least a set a of new ones. But I doubt they'd replace all the pads that it has ruined ?
Or the OP is a DH pro without the sponsorship and a team mechanic?
The bike has just been used for general trails mainly in the south pennines and some peak district. It's never done any DH.
you can easily spend more than it costs to run a car
Going off my July-December 2016 repair bills it has cost me £0.40p per mile in maintenance. I doubt my car costs 40p per mile including everything (maintenance, petrol, car insurance and car tax put together!) Although my car will probably cost me at least as much over a year due to the higher milage that it does than the bike.
From the op's location I'd also guess a chunk of the riding involves Rivington's finest muck and abrasive gritstone. If that is the case, a basic hardtail 2nd winter bike would make the full sus last much longer and allow it to be taken out of service for some tlc.
A friend moved to south lakes and found bike parts lasted significantly longer...
Best mtb workshop in Lancashire is probably Ride On in Rawtenstall but quite a trek for you. Have also heard good things about bounce suspension in Preston but never used them.
As a priority I would ask for recommendations of good mechanics/bike shops rather than assume the most convenient will do the best job.
From the op's location I'd also guess a chunk of the riding involves Rivington's finest muck and abrasive gritstone. If that is the case, a basic hardtail 2nd winter bike would make the full sus last much longer and allow it to be taken out of service for some tlc.
Most of the riding is around Bury/Ramsbottom/Rochdale/Littleborough/Calderdale/Rivington/Darwen. I've got 3x mudguards though (two on the front and a mud hugger on the rear).
As a priority I would ask for recommendations of good mechanics/bike shops rather than assume the most convenient will do the best job.
If the bike shop is only in driving distance away, its going to cost car money and time.
For example, Rebound Suspension is a 20 minute drive away. This will be multiplied by 4X (Drop off/Return Home/Pick Up/Return Home) nearly an hour and half of my time. Going off my salary, this is worth about £30 of my time. Plus the costs of running the car for an hour and half driving a car-something I don't enjoy doing. Plus the fact I'd need to have at least two bikes, because they often take about a week to fix it! This shows why I prioritise convenience.
Again , go and see Ben in Chorley
You can combine a visit with a ride around healey nab/rivington
An lbs can send off forks for servicing to TF Tuned although you'll be paying postage. You need to find someone you can trust with your bike, for me that has meant round trips of up to 100 miles but I know it will be done properly.
Some posts have mentioned getting a hardtail and that's definitely worth considering, check out Classifieds. I've always used a hardtail in Winter, just makes sense.
[i] I doubt my car costs 40p per mile including everything (maintenance, petrol, car insurance and car tax put together!) [/I]
Are you sure, add in depreciation, interest (if on a loan) etc and then tell us.
Out of interest OP, what do you think all this should cost? You could save a fortune if you moved within a mile of CRC?
My point is convenience costs. Yes you can get everything in the above lists cheaper (including labour) but it requires a little effort from you in either skill/time in fitting it yourself or in the driving time/cost of going further afield.
You say you can't/don't want to do any of that, but then whinge at the cost of not doing it.
I do think your old chap took the piss, but your commitment to not doing anything for yourself allowed him to as he had a monopoly on your business
...it requires a little effort from you in either skill/time in fitting it yourself or in the driving time/cost of going further afield.
While most cycle owners don't want to be a tinkerer, stripping down forks, and bushings every weekend...every bike owner should be capable of basic mechanics, to my mind you are simply not putting in even a little effort to get more comfortable with jobs on the bike, practice and you'll get quicker and more competent.*(so long as you're not a hamfisted idiot)
And you should at the very least be able to conduct your own trail side repairs, otherwise its make you an irritating ride companion, at worst it make you a liability.
Seeing as how all the experts are here I'm reposting my unanswrred thread here
Have been recommissioning some old original hope minis that have been left unused for a decade. Stripped and cleaned added new lines and put back on bike. Front bled fine but rear was not playing ball the bleed pressure gun was just going to zero with very little liquid coming through. Tighten the bolts on the caliper and then bled using the old fashioned squeeze lever method and it worked. Are bleed guns sometimes a problem or am I likely to go back in the morning to a squidgy lever and a pool of brake fluid on the floor?
Bleed gun is a motorbike one, works on the Wing!!
[quote=grannyjone ]Plus the fact I'd need to have at least two bikes, because they often take about a week to fix it! This shows why I prioritise convenience.What's convenient about having to ride a bike that doesn't work or forever being without it because it's in for repairs?
You really need to find a compromise. You are spending money to save you time and hassle, but that clearly hasn't worked as it has caused more of both. Learn a little to help yourself a lot. You can figure out what things actually need replacing and do a few simple things yourself, plus understand part and servicing costs. That way you can keep better tabs on what does and does not need replacing, rather than giving your bike and credit card to a mechanic for a week.
a basic hardtail 2nd winter bike would make the full sus last much longer and allow it to be taken out of service for some tlc
+1. Having a hardtail knocking around to ride takes away the repair panic of needing to get the bike sorted for the weekend, and gives you a bit longer to potentially do the repairs yourself (or give to a mechanic without being as stressed about turnaround time).
Even better, build the hardtail up yourself from a frame only as a project 🙂 That's where I learnt most of my spannering skills.
I know it probs sounds hard to hear, but if I was you OP, I'd be reluctantly giving up one ride a week for maintenance instead. Winter is especially hard on full sussers round here.
I know you've said you're reluctant to take on these jobs, but like anything, once you've done it once and learned from that, you'll be better next time. There's many a youtube vid, and there's a pretty decent Haynes manual that you can get from most Halfords that has all the basics covered. But if you want to cut down on costs then something else has to give. You either pay to have it replaced by a mechanic, or buy the bits and do it yourself, those are pretty much the only options. I think there's prob enough folk on here who could help out with advice and so on as well.
Good luck!!
I'm sure it's already been mentioned but making more use of warranties on such new parts in future could save a heck of a lot of this cost. Most cycling companies are pretty good so long as you don't take the p1ss
I intend on trying to learn more jobs so that I'm not as dependant on the mechanic. Obviously there are some things I doubt I'll ever be able to do, such as wheel repairs, full fork and shock servicing, but most of the other stuff I think doesn't sound like it's impossible for me to do one day.
I have got a hard tail (Specialized Crave) but I don't like it because it has such an uncomfortable stretched out position when I'm on it, so always end up on the full suss.
Sounds like it's too big, have you tried a shorter stem or adjusting the seat, maybe looking at changing the bars?
Or just sell it and get one that fits
