(Rant) How do you find a good mechanic...

[jack smith]

seriously! Im not trying to start an argument here but here is my background,
Ive built 5 bikes so far 2 s works, a cervelo, a scott and a boardman, im totally self taught from youtube and common sense, i bought a £25 tool kit from aldi 2 year ago and ive never needed anything else apart from my multitool with chaintool ect.

Obviously i can sort my own bikes and know how easy even a full build is, now friends of mine wont even try to learn or they try themselves and make a hash of it and they go to local mechanics. Pretty much everyone i know who has gone to one recently has had their bike returned knackered, the same as when it went in or has been rediculously overcharged.
(£80 for a gear service (no cables or anything and to replace a screw in shimano bb) had another friend today have his bike returned with the front mech cable rubbing on the front mech due to using the wrong adaptor. Ive had numerous others charged rediculous amounts for a rear mech adjustment, brake pads replaced ect. Basically 5-10 min jobs £40+ now i know they need to make a profit but come on look at the other proffessions you would have to be in to make £80 for the time it takes to adjust a barrel adjuster. And for it to come back still not working and to be skipping gears and grinding on the front mech, usually they take it back and give them MORE money to sort it, if your gullible they will have you for all they can get i guess.

Now im not knocking ALL mechanics im sure most do a cracking job and have the knowledge Personally ive only had my bike in once for hydraulics done lastweek as i didnt have the time or tools to do it and it was a great job and only cost £5 for a bleed on both brakes, ive enquired in other shops about work when i havent had time and it was £25 to replace one rear mech inner cable, £90 to replace a freehub on my shimano wheel (could buy a new PAIR for that) and £35 to screw in a bottom bracket. Also been asked what sort of mountain bike an s works tarmac is i think i may just live in a dodgy area!!

Do you need a qualification to be a bike mechanic or can you just start your own shop and call yourself one?
Does anyone else suffer this in their local area?
Do you ever take a bike in and the say, no i wont touch that its too expensive or along those lines?

 

[I like Skol]

 

[jack smith]

Thats what im thinking too lol, but seriosuly how do you find one that is honest and does good work, seems like the larger well established shops with a fixed price list are the ones to go to instead of helping the small indipendant ones round here

 

[derrick]

You need to move, we have three good bike shops locally and they all have good mechanics.
All independants. We also have a Halfords but i won't mention them.

 

[slowmotion]

I have had equally pretty dreadful and expensive work from the old-school LBS and the flashy big High Street chains alike.

If you want it done correctly, take the time to study the books, watch YouTube and ask around here.....and do the work yourself. At least you can buy the components online at discount and won't be charged top dollar by the shop.

 

[jack smith]

Was having that conversation with the mechanic lastweek he said his boss will charge more to the customer if he bought the product from another shop especially chain reaction, my argument was using my tyres as an example, £20 a tyre online 45 a tyre in the local shops... People arent going to willingly pay that when they know they could get two for that price elsehwere

 

[slowmotion]

Was having that conversation with the mechanic lastweek he said his boss will charge more to the customer if he bought the product from another shop especially chain reaction, my argument was using my tyres as an example, £20 a tyre online 45 a tyre in the local shops... People arent going to willingly pay that when they know they could get two for that price elsehwere

I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I wasn't suggesting taking out-sourced components to the LBS so that they could do the work. I was just saying that if you buy the bits on the cheap, you can afford to take a bit more time to do the work yourself, even if you are slower than "the professional" .

I'm sorry for creating a misunderstanding.

 

[Tojo]

Do you need a qualification to be a bike mechanic or can you just start your own shop and call yourself one?

Not quite sure about that, even though I have a level 2 myself. I was like yourself I always built and maintained my bikes, but went and got the piece of paper as I had to have a job change due to a motorcycle accident, I haven't really set up properly yet due to funds and am just doing my mates bikes and people they have recommended me to them.
I base every bike I do on the time it takes me even servicing, plus parts of course and I will add a couple of quid if if the components are totally gunged up and have to spend time cleaning . Looking at what you said in your OP, £25 to replace a inner rear gear cable that's just ridiculous, I would replace one for a fiver. I put in a customer supplied chainset the other week and cleaned the rest of the drivetrain, 2 new inner gear cables and I supplied the 6800 BB and only charged him £55 and also nearly forgot, stripped, cleaned and regreased the rear axle/freehub as it felt a bit gritty.... and by the way I don't give a sh*t where you bought the bike, or tyres price is the same and I will scourer the t'internet and try and get a deal on parts as I have a couple of trade accounts, but in reality they sometimes cannot match Wiggle......

 

[vickster]

I have had equally pretty dreadful and expensive work from the old-school LBS and the flashy big High Street chains alike.

If you want it done correctly, take the time to study the books, watch YouTube and ask around here.....and do the work yourself. At least you can buy the components online at discount and won't be charged top dollar by the shop.

With me, there is no guarantee of that! I also have minimal interest in learning. If it wasn't hassle to put the bike in the car, I'd get a shop to fix punctures! Indeed, I have

 

[jnrmczip]

I did previously take the bike to a local shop who were excellent although I did decide to buy tools and start doing it myself. Just makes life easier and get a good sense of accomplishment when I've managed to do something I didn't know how to before. If I was pressed for time I would drop it off at the shop but otherwise just go for it myself.

 

[BorderReiver]

Personal recommendation is obviously the best way to find a good shop or mechanic. Other than that, trial and error- I've tried a few but now have a good LBS that I stick to. I support them by buying the occasional component from them even though I know Wiggle do it a bit cheaper. I do most jobs myself but really I'd rather ride it than fix it so if something is going to take a lot of time (or I don't have the tools and it isn't worth buying them for a one off job) then off to the LBS with it. For example, wheel truing, headset replacement. The crucial thing is that I know what needs doing and roughly how long it should take so I know if I'm being ripped off. I also know enough to be able to fix most problems by the side of the road. I'm constantly amazed by people on sportives on £6,0000 bikes who have no idea how to index gears or sometimes even do up a quick release.

 

[mjr]

Do you need a qualification to be a bike mechanic or can you just start your own shop and call yourself one?

As I understand it, no qualification is required but a qualification or decent experience may make your business insurance cheaper.

Does anyone else suffer this in their local area?

Yes.

Do you ever take a bike in and the say, no i wont touch that its too expensive or along those lines?

Yes. Most often about dynamos or hub gears. Taking a bike in with one of those or some other lesser-known feature is a fairly good test of whether the mechanic is half decent.

As to the title "how do you find a good mechanic?" question, I'd talk to them to see if what they say makes sense (I'm the son of a car mechanic and while I'm not great at it myself, I've seen enough dodgy ones debunked to spot some warning signs - including the ones who won't/can't justify their intended actions) and I'd talk to others in the local bike groups to see what they think. FWIW, I think we've currently two local bike shops who are very good (and very different), two where you should beware which mechanic is actually doing the work (I can't really be bothered with that, so don't use them for anything except parts) and two which I treat with suspicion.

 

[Smurfy]

No one will look after my bikes as well as I can, same goes for my car.

Simple reason, I own them, ride them, and could get let down on the road by them, so I make sure I do a good job.

 

[jack smith]

No one will look after my bikes as well as I can, same goes for my car.

Simple reason, I own them, ride them, and could get let down on the road by them, so I make sure I do a good job.

Pretty much exactly how i think! I dont trust other peoples work no matter how good they are rated, i didnt see what they did so will never have 100 percent faith, they could have forgot something or had a bad day, atleast if i did it myself i know how it was done and can trust it.

 

[Tojo]

I always make a point of showing people what I have done on their bikes, which is pretty easy on said, but when it comes down to motor vehicles its an unknown factor as a lot of it is internal.....