Horrendous mountain bike maintenance costs

Sounds like the mechanic is employing the well-practiced car main dealer technique of throwing new parts at the bike at the customer’s expense without bothering to get to the bottom of the problem.

New brake discs because the old ones were too contaminated to fix? That IS taking the mickey. Just stick ’em in the dishwasher on the hottest programme and they’ll come out sterile.

Maybe the OP needs to get a full rigid bike with 1 x 11, that won’t need much maintenance.

You said that you’d rather be out riding than stuck in the garage…but those costs explain why you can strike a happy medium. The costs are ludicrous, especially the costs for repeat issues. Fine, spend some money periodically on more specialist stuff like fork servicing and wheel building, but learn some of the easy stuff and it’s doesn’t really take long and saves a packet. The BB for instance: buy the tool and it’s a 15-20 min job and will only cost for parts.

I’m no fan of fiddling for the sake of it, but as Gunz said earlier it’s quite nice to do it with the radio and a beer – plus you get a nice satisfying feeling doing it yourself knowing everything has been cleaned, lubed and checked.

I just remembered, you said main pivot bearing? Aren’t spesh frames warrantied for life?

That’s really bad. Although we’ve only heard one side of the argument it sounds like unless the OP cleans their bike in the dishwasher or carwash they’re being completely taken for a ride (ahem, sorry).

A large chunk of the work sounds like it should be warranty (brakes, and fork after the initial repair)!

The bearings aren’t, as per Santa Cruz for example, iirc. That said, in the combined prob 6 years/3 Spesh fs bikes I’ve had, none have needed the bearings doing.

Shimano brakes are so easy to sort yourself, especially with the videos on Youtube (and the help you’d get on here). I recommend Deore brakes to anyone who wants decent, cheap stoppers. Not had anyone come back and say they’re leaking – and the ones on my son’s bike have needed 1 bleed in 2 years use (riding to school every day in all weathers…)

Shimano brakes are so easy to sort yourself

Yep, by binning them and buying more. They’re priced to be replaced, not fixed.

I have bike maintenance costs – things needed to replace and keep it going..
Then then bike bling-bling costs – unnecessary purchases just ‘cos…

Your expenditure shadows BOTH of these!!

Your mechanic is laughing all the way to the bank there.. £51 for discs.. blimey.

DrP

I’ve just bought a camber. 😯

I’d buy a simple hardtail (or rigid) bike if I was you, then if anything goes wrong on you FS you can simply ride the new one and learn to fix the old one yourself.

I still use a mechanic for lots of bits, but only because I value my time and work away all week.

As soon as I saw the new rotors on the list it set alarm bells ringing.

IPA or finishline disc brake cleaner should suffice to get anything off them.

You would be better off just buying new bikes and selling the old one every few months at this rate!

£10 last year. (wheel re-trued). Something tells me were you to buckle a wheel you’d have it fixed then be back to have it ‘re-fixed’ a few weeks later. Then a ‘re-fix’ of the re-fix.

I’d definitely go for the 8 cans offer/option, meanwhile looking for a simpler bike or a smarter better mechanic. Maybe both 😉

Can’t be bothered to read this whole thing, but you are having the wool pulled over your eyes by that shop.

I’d concur, looking at that list of costs, at least half of those is their fault and should be no cost.

To be fair with the drivetrain, if worn enough chain it may mean cassette and full RRP LBS price on a fancy cassette these days if it’s 11/12sp is monstrous (and they’ll probably spec XTR or similar). However it’s way more likely the chain will run on for way longer (even if they used a chain checker). Heard a few stories from friends where their LBS seems to advise replacing complete worn drivetrain each time they take the bike in for something unrelated.

I’ve just bought a camber.

Yeah, but… I’m sure you’d question £51 for discs….. 😉

(that being said, i’ve removed the discs from the tandem in the drive, so stop you ferreting about…)

DrP

Can’t be bothered to read this whole thing, but you are having the wool pulled over your eyes by that shop.

The OP hasn’t been using a shop as they’re too expensive.

That sounds way too much – I did some rough calculations and my maintenance/replacement costs are about £40 a month, though I do it all myself. That includes things that didn’t really need done like shock/fork services when there was nowt wrong with them, new tyres, new headset. Also includes 2 new mechs and a wheel rebuild as I seem to be good at breaking stuff, and 4 drivechain replacements over 2 years (Peak District grit and an aversion to cleaning).

Whilst I agree some of the things listed aren’t quite right, a lot of the cost in there is just because the OP is riding a lot.
We can extrapolate his mileage to ~4000mi/yr which is a lot on a MTB.

‘Normal’ expenses for that much riding would be somewhere in the region of:
2x Full replacement of cassette/chain/front rings/jockey wheels/BB
2x additional chains
2x fork services (at least)
2x shock services
1x(?) pivot bearings/bushes
6-8x tyres
1x brake bleed
2x new inner cables
4 sets of new pads?
2x wheelset service and true
1x bottle of sealant

I’ve not done the maths on that lot as it’ll depend on the spec of the stuff being used, but it will come to quite a lot especially when adding labour charges.

Clean disc brakes and pads with halfords bike cleaner and water, it’s £6 a litre..!

You’re being taken for a ride by a dodgy mechanic.

And brakes don’t just need bleeding on a regular basis. They are sealed, nothing gets in or out. Fluid should last years and years.

We can extrapolate his mileage to ~4000mi/yr which is a lot on a MTB.

really? I do more than that sort of mileage in the summer and Autumn (jul-decemeber) but I reckon since then I’ve done about 100-150!! 😆 and then it’ll pick up in the spring again!

£686 for a 5 month period.

How often do you ride? It might be cheaper to rent or take demo bikes out. Seriously. The bike shop at Cannock Chase, for example, charge £30 to take a demo bike out, refundable on purchase. £686 is nearly 23 demo rides over 5 months; if you’re only riding once a week that easily covers it and that’s before you factor in the purchase cost of the bike.

Granted bike shops might get wise to you taking demo bikes out every weekend 😉

As soon as I saw the new rotors on the list it set alarm bells ringing.

IPA or finishline disc brake cleaner should suffice to get anything off them.

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. Granted it doesn’t solve the root problem of why they are getting contaminated, but it will save you a few quid.

OP – how are you cleaning your bike?

molgrips – Member

And brakes don’t just need bleeding on a regular basis. They are sealed, nothing gets in or out

It’s getting in and out of these, because they’re ****ed. But that should have been a warranty job, as should the fork (assuming the issues weren’t caused by neglect, which tbh they might have been)

TBF- not all mechanics are honest and some will spot a deep pocket and a malleable customer a mile off. Particularly if you mention to them how you’ve already paid a fortune.

If you ride a lot, as it seems you do, then DIY maintenance saves a fortune- it’s not just about the particular job that’s getting done, it also helps reduce major work. Frexample, a basic fork lowers service is a pretty fast and easy job, even a full fluid change is straightforward, but it tends to be expensive in a shop and more importantly it puts off major maintenance and failures. And of course it helps keep the bike on the road too- every minute your bike is in a shop is a minute you can’t ride it, plus pick up and drop off…

And the other advantage is, if you do need to visit a pro, you can do a wee bit of territorial marking and basically make yourself not a target for ripping off. (or, better still, find a good, trustworthy spanner man, ime most are… Though, I reckon that dodgy mechanics only really thrive where there’s not much choice, so that’s a nasty wee feedback loop)

(My dad insists on using a local mechanic for his car- the guy’s a known thief but dad likes him. If my dad takes it in, it’ll always come back with a bill full of bullshit. So since he won’t go elsewhere, I convinced him to let me drop it off- so I go in, in my garage clothes, smelling of oil and maybe do a wee bit of car chat and mysteriously it comes back with a clean bill of health, because they’re not stupid)

really? I do more than that sort of mileage in the summer and Autumn (jul-decemeber) but I reckon since then I’ve done about 100-150!! and then it’ll pick up in the spring again!

Yes, really.
Go dig up the mileage thread, and most people doing that number of miles or more in a year are either commuting or doing half their miles on the road bike.
Although i’m tempted in this case to invoke the ‘Strava or it didn’t happen’ rule.

DIY maintenance saves a fortune

Very true. I’ve recently resorted to getting the LBS to do some work that in the past I would have done myself, mainly due to wanting/needing to spend my time elsewhere. I’ve no complaints about the work, but labour costs don’t half add up. Maybe my time isn’t as valuable as I thought 😆

in the combined prob 6 years/3 Spesh fs bikes I’ve had, none have needed the bearings doing.

Same here. I’ve done about 3,000 miles on my 2012 Camber and all bearings are still going smooth.

£300 to change the bearings is a ridiculous price anyhow. Sounds like your mechanic has taken you for the proverbial ride.

OP – how are you cleaning your bike?

Sandblasting and mineral oil soakdowns by the sounds of it…

DrP

We can extrapolate his mileage to ~4000mi/yr which is a lot on a MTB.

really? I do more than that sort of mileage…

with a bike that seems to spend more time in the workshop than on the trail, 4k is pretty good 😉

If my tab was £600 in a 6 month period, then it’d probably include a complete new XT or 105 groupset.

Be interesting to know what kind of maintenance failure caused ride ending rides requiring a taxi. Mine so far is snapped chains, and then snapping the (rubbish) chaintool on a Spesh multitool. And friends have pringled a wheel beyond the point of rolling back to civilisation. Anything else pretty much is fixable with a multitool.

Costs can certainly add up though.

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.

Keep your bike clean. I ride in the Macc Forest region and I expect once a year to replace chain and cassette and I service fork by mojo when its required not yearly. Pads I change myself, and as for changing contaminated pads … bollocks just take them out and use a little emery cloth/file gently just file top surface off and rebed them in.

And learn to do jobs yourself like recabling, new chainset,bottom bracket etc !

It is more expensive than roadbiking from a maintenance point of view.

Good luck in finding a better mechanic who is fair !

OP: I’d be looking at going on a bike maintenance course, it will be money well spent. Then get yourself a decent set of Allen Keys and one or two other tools like cassette removal tool and chainwhip and you’ll be good to go. Tools are one off costs – once you have them then you just use them there and then, no need to head off to mechanic, etc.

Most maintenance jobs on a bike are pretty straightforward, you just need to be logical in how you approach them.

In the three years I’ve had my current bike I’ve probably spent £80 on LBS mechanics: fork service basically. The bike’s done 7000Km in that time so there’s been a few drivetrain and brake pad replacements and I replaced the original RF cheese bottom bracket with a Hope one. The wheels (Hope Pro 2 Evo with Hope rims) haven’t been touched and are still true. I was considering changing the derailleur but when I checked it for play it was fine – I’ve changed the jockey wheels once and they are due to be changed again. All these are essentially consumables as they are lightweight components exposed to dirt and grime.

A lot of people missing the point that the OP said he didn’t want to spend time doing his own maintenance as he’d rather be riding than tinkering. A motto that I can empathise with entirely.

@fifeandy – I know but he’s actually spending more time not riding by having to take his bike to a mechanic and leave it with them along with the associated costs. He could fix most of the problems in the time it takes him to just get to the mechanic.

Yeah, but he’s losing bike time to mechanicking (and taking the thing back and forward to shops, and spoiled rides) which offsets that. An hour or two on a pissing wet afternoon to win back ride time and reduce mid-ride issues is a good tradeoff. It basically becomes about uptime and downtime rather than maintenance time and ride time.

Depends from person to person doesn’t it.
Using myself as an example, I take bike to work then drop it in the shop on the way home – costs me a max of 15 mins. I then get to ride another bike and dinner is just a bit later.
And as for the wet afternoon – i’d rather be staring at a wall bored out of my skull on the turbo, taking a nap, reading a book, playing the computer, doing the hoovering – pretty much anything than cleaning/fixing bikes.

30 mins on a mid week evening to swap out brake pads or twiddle the rear mech adjustment doesn’t eat in to riding time.
Unless you’re doing training 6 days a week, with 4 mid-week night rides.

Aside from the obscene costs, I’m with the OP here. I used to love hitting the man cave of an evening to tinker with the bike, and the only jobs I didn’t do myself were wheels (building/truing) and suspension servicing. Nowadays I’m more inclined to let the LBS do stuff for me and I can conveniently drop the bike in during my lunch. Spannering involves giving up weekends or evenings which is the time that seems to be in increasingly short supply.

Fair points fifeandy, but it sounds like you have a good mechanic who’s available when you need it, competent, and not out to empty your wallet. And also a second bike. The OP lacks at least 2 of these.

I don’t have 30 minutes on evening Mon-Friday. I do train 6 days week so I’m out Mon and Thursday and looking after kids and Wednesday.

I can repair most thing on a bike and I have built them from scratch but simply don’t have the time or the inclination to do maintenance but I do have a mechanic who I can trust.

A lot of people missing the point that the OP said he didn’t want to spend time doing his own maintenance as he’d rather be riding than tinkering

I work on bikes for fun (our own collection of 13 between the 2 of us 😯 , plus for mates who pay me in beer/wine) but I accept that not everybody is of the same mind; however the fact he’s created this thread suggests that he’s re-evaluating how cash-rich and time-poor he is! 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.

oh, and

On the other hand – I’ve never been inclined to do anything on cars beyond checking water/oil/cleaner levels and tyre pressures

this for me too.