So here’s a typical derek_starship thread. Open with an obviously contentious statement, thin on detail, then walk away.

He’s good at it though isn’t he? 😀

So’s servicing cars but a lot of people are happy to pay someone else to do it and use the time on doign other things.

Not really a valid comparison. We’re talking about a number of repairs on the OP’s bike, not a routine service. I wouldn’t describe changing the clutch as easy.

Must be well knackered to need the lot doing. If your time poor / cash rich its an easy option I guess.

National bike shop tried to charge my work colleague £480 for exactly the same work on a 1 year old bike.

We ordered the parts from CRC and had them delivered to work (amazing next day delivery). We fitted the parts in under 30 minutes in the car park. Total cost for the parts was just under £100 (SLX cassette, chain, jockey wheels, middle ring and two pairs of juicy brake pads).

Forks didn’t need a service, shop just thought they needed one due to the condition of the drive train . Brakes didn’t need bleeding, they came up firm with new pads.

This appears to be a revenue generation scam.

So he wrecked a drive train inside the forks service interval – 20-30hrs ?

Not saying its not possible – ive certainly done it but its not normal.

I struggle with long sentences but these appears to be a huge amount of guff on this thread, one randomly chosen example:

You almost certainly don’t need a new rear mech – they go on for ever unless you smash them on a rock. I’m running 2007 parts and I’ve got a 2000 mech somewhere that’s still fine.

Crap! Loads of folk year them out quickly. 10s speed is more sensitive to year than 9 than 8 too.

One issue is the lack of specification on the op, nowhere near enough detail for the armchair expert lbs managers to work out the price.

Derek if you have space and time, DIY. Get a workstand, the Park tool ‘3 allen keys in a starshape’ things and a copy of the Build Your Own Mountain Bike DVD. Watch it through, it shows you how most parts go on (and therefore off).

When both my LBSs failed to sort out an issue with my M4s dragging I got sick of taking it back, rolled up my sleeves and went from there.

If you get stuck or need help on tecnical stuff, put a properly worded query here. (There are no end of knobbers on STW but there are also plenty of decent people who will help out)

You won’t regret it and you’ll enjoy your biking more.

Doing research out of curiosity now:

Leisure lakes catalogue a says:
SLX chain – £30
Cassette – £55
Rings – £50 for all 3
Bottom bracket £15 to£40 let’s say £30
Devore cables £25

Brake pads assuming SLX £15 an end so £30

Fork service – £90 from TFT

So £310 in parts and “contracted out service”

Aside for this there will be:

Pretty much strip and re-build – frame. There isn’t much left.
The wheels will have been checked and trued/tensioned if necessary. Hubs will also have been checked and possibly adjusted. Possibly with new bearings fitted if cup and cone.

Brake bleed is great and quick when it goes well but can be problematic!

The fork will have been removed and replaced. With adjustment.

So that is a fair amount of likely work for £140 assuming my guess on parts is correct. And yes I know parts are cheaper on eBay but that is a decision you make when you prefer the service of a LBS.

No one has been ripped off. Just charged retail prices for a fairly major lump of work. I may well be light
on parts but reckon that I am there give or take. As for labour – it is going to be an hour to sort the brakes front and rear, and I would guess a further 90 mins to 2 hours to sort the rest of the mess is not unreasonable!

All this talk of doing it yourself got me thinking that I should really tackle the ‘trickier’ jobs that I normally pass onto the LBS. Which led me in a roundabout way to this page
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/new-bike-maintenance-website-ideascheme-opinions-wanted
which has some really good links for DIY guides a few posts down the page. Particularly liked the Pinkbike guides.

But if anyone can recommend a day course in the Bath/Swindon area, I’d be interested. (Apologies for the post-hijack).

This is why I talk to my customers about the bike they have brought in and show them how to check things if they are interested in listening so there are less surprises in the future.

It is always worth getting to know your bike even if you don’t do the work yourself.

What is it with bikers that make them the meanest consumers on the planet at the expense of keeping your bike on the go and your lbs in existence ?

Seriously, if you think this is a rip-off get a like for like quote.

This is why I talk to my customers about the bike they have brought in and show them how to check things if they are interested in listening so there are less surprises in the future.

Yes, it also makes them appreciate more why things cost what they do. Like when I go through my tools and explain how much they cost 🙂

£66

£27.50 for the MOT
£28 filler cap (it was broken, but looks like the spanner monkey might have broken it a bit more than it already was as the fault had been there for ages and it was in several pieces when I got the car back!)
£8.50 for a new bulb and cleaning out the connectors

I have no problem spending good money on a proper service.
My time is too valueable and my attention too limited to faff with my bike for hours.
Its the booking bit that’s got me stuffed. Perhaps they should charge more IMO.

Slight sidetrack:
My LBS asked me to wait 10 days to bleed my brakes (damn avids!) as the workshop was full. I am well known in the store as I spend loads there and my bikes break frequently.
Obviously no regular rider would want to wait this long with our current weather, so I asked the manager if I could pay one of his mechanics cash to do it in his own time. I offered to pay him twice whatever his hourly rate at the shop is to do it in his own time.
I was quite abruptly and rudely refused.
I’ve now changed LBS as of yesterday.

I can’t see what his problem was really but I have no issue paying good money for quick and reliable service.

Hmm, I can see why the manager would be annoyed by that, unless you were suggesting that this mechanic could do it with your tools in your garage or something?

Absolutely – and insurance? And who keeps the shop open longer?

Oh, and the “I’ve spent lots of money here, I want special service” line never goes down well 🙂

Loyalty and special service is all an LBS has to offer and it what you pay for.
Otherwise I’d use online retailers.
It’s a free desperate market and I’m sure one of the kids would have loved the opportunity to earn a few extra quid.
I dont see the problem with paying his overtime.

But where would you expect him to do the work?

Hugor – you are a doc – would do do cash work on the side uninsured?

You said pay him cash.

What manager wants to encourage his staff to moonlight? What precedent would it set?

In a shed instead of an operating theatre 🙂

Don’t care where he does the work as long as he fixes it. He can take it home. It’s only a bleed FFS!
As for overtime and insurance I regularly work beyond the European safe hours directive which effectively means I am uninsured so yes I do!
I don’t get a penny extra though!

And he can use his own tools, and his own stock of oil? And if he messes up and your brakes fail, you won’t sue him?

hugor – Member
It’s only a bleed FFS!

If it’s that simple, do it yourself!

Don’t want to derail further from the OP but he’s got a better chance of getting it right than I have.
Litigation is not something I considered TBH.
If I spent too much time worrying about that I couldn’t do my job either. I’ll take that though.

Are people really that feeble, time poor and/or profligate to pay such stupid sums to “service” a bike? I mean I’d not begrudge the LBS the revenue it seems fair considering the whole feeding/clothing/housing their family thing for them to charge the going rate for labour and parts…

But a £450 bill to keep a bike rolling? what sort of useless **** lets it get in that sort of state and then uses the twin defenses of being too inept and too busy/important for such menial labour?

Half an hour every weekend (maybe the odd hour now and then) is about all it takes – order your spares/tools/oil & lubes online, save a packet and learn a little… Then again I suppose IT won’t manage itself now will it…

STW 🙄 FFS….

Lbs please fit my rrp parts for nowt – boo or hooray?

Bill that size? I’d buy a decent donor bike, swap over the necessary bits, sell the rest and come out smiling.

Good call cookeaa – I bet these malcontents who work in IT are just to stupid or lazy for the deep satisfaction simple folk like us get from maintaining forks, brakes and drivetrain-

..let’s toss our old pads at them: whilst we service ourselves for 30 mins each week?

Sorry to say this but your ignorance of things mechanical is clear and the LBS is treating you in the same way as a car dealer would a driver who has no idea about cars, i.e. a cash cow.

The first clue is that you even put the bike in for a service…. bikes don’t need regular services, they need constant checking and maintenance especially when used in off-road conditions.

Wow,

SLX 44/32/22 chainset
SLX 11-34 cassette & Shimano chain
X2 Shimano jockey wheels
X4 Shimano resin brake pads
Shimano mineral oil

£160.84 delivered (action sports.de)

£40-45 cashback if you sell the new crank arms on here.

Rockshox service manual – Free download
Shimano service Manual – Free download

Icetoolz Cassette removal tool – £6’ish
Chain whip – £10’ish
Reba service kit – £39 from TFtuned (includes enough oil)

So that’s £195. I think I’d be studying the service manuals long and hard.

Writing off another £50 for anything I have missed then your paying them £200 in labour costs!
I suppose it may seem daunting for a novice but there are plenty of good tutorials out there.
Jesus, the thought alone of being mugged for £200+ in labour costs would be an incentive to learn.

I think given labour costs, and the parts at RRP we can agree it works out. My concern is the need for all those parts. But OP hasn’t come back to describe the state of the bike, but in my early days I once went into a LBS thinking my mech was broke and needed replacement, and they sorted it with sensible maintenance. Could easily have sold me a new one.

I know its maybe not the done thing, but I would hope to get a discount on RRP if I was spending that much and having it fitted in house. Not down to CRC type prices no, but maybe 5 or 10%.

Comparing it all to the cost of doing it yourself with Superstar pads and bits from Ribble is daft, of course your LBS will cost more.

Litigation is not something I considered TBH.
If I spent too much time worrying about that I couldn’t do my job either. I’ll take that though.

Litigation might not be something you have considered, but this thread just goes to show how difficult customers can be even under quite fair circumstances. And inside working hours any reputable business will have insurance to cover mishaps, negating the need to worry about it. Outside of working hours they are screwed. And managers instructing employees to work under such circumstances screwed even further.

I don’t know why you’re having a go at the OP for not knowing much about the mechanical intricacies of his bike. Not everyone cares to service their own bike or learn how to service forks or set up a derailleur or whatever, there are bike shops for this sort of thing.

If a service existed where my bike was collected, fixed up and returned to me in perfect working order every month or so I would use it.

presumably he knew if it worked or not, if chain was skipping, gear selection was **** etc…

I regularly work beyond the European safe hours directive which effectively means I am uninsured so yes I do

I smell BS….

hugor in the time you’ve spent faffing trying to get your brakes bled, then add in the time to take it to the shop and pick it up and then take it back again because they likely won’t do it properly, you could easily have taught yourself and have done it.

next time you need it there is no learning curve and you’ll do it quicker, and when you went not a couple of weeks ahead

Hugor – you are a doc – would do do cash work on the side uninsured?

My doctor brother in law does cash in hand side work. Makes a fortune botoxing vain middle aged women. An absolute fortune.

I don’t know why you’re having a go at the OP for not knowing much about the mechanical intricacies of his bike. Not everyone cares to service their own bike or learn how to service forks or set up a derailleur or whatever, there are bike shops for this sort of thing.

I think the term is willful ignorance, and when your sat by the side of a track trying to repair you bike with a rock because you were too important to learn some basics on the function and maintenance of a (relatively simple) machine, the rest of us will just point and laugh* at your foolishness…

If a service existed where my bike was collected, fixed up and returned to me in perfect working order every month or so I would use it.

Such services do exist, but they ain’t free…

I have no sympathy for the OP or anyone else who is unable to operate their own opposable thumbs, and hence get an unexpectedly high bill…
Of course its more than likely that evolution will see most them off within the next couple of generations, I imagine most will starve to death when faced with a can opener…

*Most people won’t really point or laugh, they’ll offer help and/or tools, but the world would be a slightly better place if useless people were a bit less useless and bothered to learn how to maintain/fix things for themselves…