been looking at a couple of options for a new bike in the near future.
made a list of parts for a complete build and priced it up to build myself.
then found 2 shops who do what i wanted, so i gave them the spec.
bearing in mind that they will get all the bits a fair bit cheaper than me.
one came back £200 (which seemed fine) over what i could do it for, the other came back at a eye watering knacker shrinking £980 over what i could get the build for.
now, i know it is their fulltime job, but ffs really!!
bearing in mind that they will get all the bits a fair bit cheaper than me.
Don't count on it and even if they did why should they not make a profit on the parts ?
OK the £980 increase is a p*ss take but £200 for a shop to source all your parts and build a bike for you doesn't sound like a ripoff.
i meant to add, that the £200 one seemed ok. 🙂
It depends on where you get the parts from. From Merlin or Rose bikes etc... you probably aren't far off what the bike shops get having to buy genuine parts in at. Then there is the time/effort to source them and build the bike. £200 extra sounds like a good deal to me.
£980 sounds like an RRP quote. What is your cost?
I'm not being funny but CRC etc are often selling below prices most shops can buy at.
£200 seems reasonable. Sometimes the piss is being taken. I was once quoted more than RRP for a BB. Included fitting, though 😐
AL, £3200 give or take a tenner
I'm not being funny but CRC etc are often selling below prices most shops can buy at.
A good way below! Shimano and SRAM stuff is generally available cheaper than even the top quantity advertised quantity rate from Fisher/Madison.
Another thing - putting together a quote takes a reasonable amount of time, and some lbs aren't interested in competing with CRC et al - and I know I wouldn't be.
Jamie - Member
I was once quoted more than RRP for a BB. Included fitting, though
You expect free fitting?
bearing in mind that they will get all the bits a fair bit cheaper than me.
And there is your first mistake 🙁
You expect free fitting?
When I was told fitting was free, if I bought it from them. Then yes.
seriously just under a grand to build a bike up, shirley nobody can think that is good.
seriously just under a grand to build a bike up, shirley nobody can think that is good.
As mentioned, they probably didn't want to do it.
As mentioned, they probably didn't want to do it.why? when all the stuff was gonna be supplied by them.
A lot of faff to build a bike from a pile of bits versus a repair or stock bike, plus as you're finding their margins are utterly dreadful. Why would they want to do it?
why? when all the stuff was gonna be supplied by them.
To offer a price you would be happy with, given what CRC/Merlin sell for parts for, they will make chuff all for quite a bit of work.
Edit: Too slow.
build it yourself, take comfort in the fact it has been built properly, and take the 200 quid and spend it on something else.
because both shops offer a custom build service....... 😆
porter jamie.......that is what i have decided to do.
Offering a service and it being a primary source of income is rather different...
Been here in the past. Usual format is to either charge RRO for everything and through in the build cost or charge £100-150 (complexity dependant) for labour on customer supplied parts. Wheel builds would be charged separately.
Ubyk seem to specialize in custom builds. Paying someone else to do it all seems to spoil half the fun, but I appreciate I may be atypical.
Can't believe no one has asked! What bike??
Not exactly a big job to build a bike from nice new parts! How many hours do they expect it to take and what is their hourly rate?
Bike build from scratch 4/5 hours absolute max including shorten hoses and bleed brakes, fit cables cut steerer tube fit bb and headset etc.
Any decent shop mechanic with proper tools should easily be able to do 2 a day if they cant they are too slow.
One of the local mechanics, according to his website, anyhow, charges £75 for a 'custom frame build' with parts you source. Whether that covers absolutely everything, I don't know, but even £200 could well be beatable.
Double post
Why do you guys think its a problem for a bike shop to order parts and do a custom build ?? I worked in a bike shop once, and we'd order parts all day long. Twenty parts for one person is less hassle than for twenty different people. The parts come in and you assemble them, thats what you do. As said 4hrs £200 is ok £980 is to much.
Not exactly a big job to build a bike from nice new parts! How many hours do they expect it to take and what is their hourly rate?
It's a bigger job, than a repair or building a bike from a box.
Any decent shop mechanic with proper tools should easily be able to do 2 a day if they cant they are too slow.
Agreed - but we've ascertained that they're not allowed to make any money on the parts as that's a 'rip off', and how much labour will people pay. Ah yes, nothing, they [i]could [/i]DIY. I wonder why shops aren't falling over themselves to do custom builds!
martinhutch, garage?
as for bikeshops paying more for parts than me buying in 1's.......utter boolax!!
as for bikeshops paying more for parts than me buying in 1's.......utter boolax!!
Oh how little you know 🙁
Custom builds take a lot of time, we probably spend 2hrs+ working out the build details with the customer then having to order all the parts then spending half a day building it up (thus meaning other jobs are delayed/turned down). Then consider the parts will not be as cheap as CRC etc. But IMO the main thing is if a shop builds it for you then you can take it back with any issues with set up etc that you won't get buying parts doing it yourself.
At £980 I assume they're machining all the parts from solid for you 😆
£200 not too bad I suppose. If you want to think about hourly rates, maybe expensive. If you want to just value the service- a bike that works right, first time, no hassle with parts or indexing or last minute rushes to the shop because you forgot to buy an SFN or whatever, then it feels better. Especially with good service included (most of the LBS's I've ever used would charge you, then when you turn up to collect it would say "Oh, we've been a bit busy, come back tomorrow", then you go back the next day and they say "Oh we forgot to order the forks")
just emailed jeffjones, he said, if i take him for a pint and a curry next time he is over, he will build it for less than a grand...... 😉
as for bikeshops paying more for parts than me buying in 1's.......utter boolax!!
As per SDB, they really are on some things, not everything admittedly. But as I said previously SRAM and Shimano can be had from many outlets for less money than event good trade rates!
Paid £90 or so for my last build. I was buying the frame from the shop but I supplied 99% of the other parts.
Seemed reasonable.
[quote=ton ]
as for bikeshops paying more for parts than me buying in 1's.......utter boolax!!
Sorry Tony - but you don't know the half of it!
As a self-employed person I thankfully get asked to provide quotes to make, create or build something for someone.
In the same way that not all people are equal, neither are quotes. Agreed, £980 is more than £200.
Chances are, they didn't want to do the work, for one or a plethora of reasons or intuition, but possibly thought if they do it, they might as well make a quid or two. Fair enough.
How were your initial and subsequent conversations/communications with them before they gave you their price? For instance.
Paid £90 or so for my last build. I was buying the frame from the shop but I supplied 99% of the other parts.
Seemed reasonable.
ok heard you the first time grt!
How much you pay grtdkad?
Not sure if this is any help but it was my build experience. I bought the frame and wheels via a bike shop, wheels were offered as cheap as I could find them anywhere else, and then had all the other parts delivers to them from places such as CRC and the German online sellers. They built the bike for nothing and offered the free mini service after a few miles, couldn't fault anything they did.
Okay, okay. Stupid phone ! 🙄
Trade rates can be awful, especially for small shops. The big chain stores either buy direct or can negotiate large discounts. Last time I was looking to buy some drivetrain parts, the Germany stores didn't have the right parts in stock, but their prices were lower than my LBS could buy them for.
Not just here say, I was looking at the LBS's online account. A ZEE shifter was £19.99 on Rose. Price to LBS was £21.49. Then add on some sort of profit and then VAT.
£200 above what you can buy and build yourself seems fair, to supply and fit a whole bike. £980 does seem steep. If they didn't want to do the job then why spend the time to do the quote.
Ton am I right in thinking you are saying that the shops are quoting 200 and 980 more for the parts than you can get them for (from various sources) on a 3200 build? then building 'for free' rather than the aforementioned prices just to build the bike? So charging 7% (or 30%ish) more than the absolute cheapest the whole industry can supply the parts for? I'd say the 980 guy was about standard margin for a full bike, and the 200 guy is (apart from barely breaking even) banking on repeat business or building a relationship with you. Which seems unlikely to happen given your desire to get the absolute cheapest price available.
I'd say this goes some way to explaining the demise of the lbs.
^ this
I have charged about 80 quid for sourcing all the parts (cheapest option ie merlin/chain reaction etc) and building. It appears I am too cheap. Cash up front for me though for the parts.
