Anyone else leave the fettling to the LBS ?

[Broughtonblue]

Every time you have a niggle or after a certain amount of miles ?

I will do jobs that can be done with basic home tools, spanners, screw drivers etc, but have got a really good lbs. normally they will fit free or an extra £5 whatever I buy from them. Doesn't really seem worth my time and expense buying special kit

 

[TheJDog]

When my Marin frame cracked (at almost every joint, apparently), Cycle Surgery in West Hampstead charged me £120 to rebuild the bike. They didn't clean a thing, and the front dr is not well adjusted. In retrospect I should not have bothered, but it saved me a certain amount of time and hassle. But never again.

 

[Moodyman]

If you ride lots and especially in all weathers, bikes need lots of minor attention. It isn't feasible for an LBS to do minor jobs at the drop of a hat, so you've got the hassle of taking the bike there and collecting a day or two later.

If you use your bike/s for commuting this isn't practical

 

[MontyVeda]

No, I took it in once because I ran out of time prior to a tour, picked it up with the gears all over the place, snagged cables, front wheel on back to front and both axle springs on one side on both wheels. £35 and there was nothing wrong with it when I took it in!

took mine in last year for a new headset fitting (have fitted a headset myself, but not very well). Got the bike back with back brake cable slackened off so much I had no back brake. Front brake so tight against the rim the wheel wouldn't turn. The headset was ok though.

 

[Leaway2]

Not yet, but never say never.

 

[Rob3rt]

I also don't trust other people. I don't want to be bombing down a hill at 50mph to find the shop hadn't done something. I expect all my bikes to work perfectly and be squeek and rattle free. An LBS won't do that. I have the tools and equipment to do everything. I'll even build my own wheels now.

Don't ride with me anytime in the next week then, lol, I have an unidentified squeak on my perfectly maintained, showroom condition bike and haven't had time to get rid, it is driving me nuts!

 

[mattobrien]

It depends which bike it is. On my now winter bike I have changed everything, with the exception of the frame and have done this myself. On my plastic bike the LBS have done everything with the exception of changing tyres / cleaning etc.

My LBS are very good and meticulous int heir attention to detail. They treat it better than I would.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I also don't trust other people. I don't want to be bombing down a hill at 50mph to find the shop hadn't done something. I expect all my bikes to work perfectly and be squeek and rattle free. An LBS won't do that. I have the tools and equipment to do everything. I'll even build my own wheels now.

I like to think that I take as much care getting my customers bikes right as I do my own (about which I am quite particular) With all the chains that exist and the inexpensive spares available on amazon etc, it is one of the things I can do as an independent that stands out. As I go on I invest in better tools to do the more exotic jobs and I hope that with careful work on peoples bikes and attention to detail that I will build a good reputation and hopefully make a decent fist of things.
I totally get what you and others say about not letting any body else near your bike and the need to know that a proper job has been done. I am much the same and it is the shoddy attitude I've experienced that makes me want to be better than that. I don't think I'll get rich like this but I hope I'll be able to survive. Didn't want to sound like an advert but felt all hurt and sensitive about people thinking that I wouldn't do a good job.

 

[captainhastings]

My local shop does a great job and his a real nice chap very helpful and pleasant. Trouble is its half an hour each way and most the time I have to leave it there.
So I plan to learn the basics. Been cycling on and off for a few years and ashamed to say I can't even sort my gears out yet but I intend to have a go when I next need too

 

[Cyclopathic]

My local shop does a great job and his a real nice chap very helpful and pleasant. Trouble is its half an hour each way and most the time I have to leave it there.
So I plan to learn the basics. Been cycling on and off for a few years and ashamed to say I can't even sort my gears out yet but I intend to have a go when I next need too

Learning to fix your own bike is very satisfying. I've done it ever since I first had a bike out of necessity but I was lucky enough to have a grandad on hand to show me some of the basics. Having some one show you is helpful but these days there are a lot of good (and not so good) "how to" vids on youtube. Also this site is very useful as there are many very knowledgeable people who are only too happy to share their know how. I use the know how section quite often to pick peoples brains. Not to mention just talking to other bikey people in real life.

I think there is very little to lose from learning to fix your bike yourself and so much to gain so I hope you get into it. It can be frustrating at times when you come up against an unfamiliar problem or something that is particularly stubborn but the satisfaction at sorting it out is immense (I find it so anyway). Even then if you find you are defeated by something, which happens to everybody at some point, there are always LBS's to fall back on.

 

[Deleted member 22722]

If time and money were not an issue I’d go to the LBS the majority of the time as I know they currently do a much better job than me (I’m getting better though). I’m confident in their work I just don’t have the time or money to keep going to them every time I have a small issue so I starting learning to do things myself.
It’s been a learning curve and I reckon what I’ve saved on LBS charges I’ve probably spent on tools and other bits & pieces. The real benefit of using my LBS is that they know exactly which components are required and would save me the time in having to research this and possibly buying the wrong part (which has happened on occasion)
If I do need my LBS to do anything I usually have to leave the bike with them for anything up to a week which is a pain. I don’t mind paying my LBS their labour charges if it is something I can’t do as I understand that they have to make a living out of this. What I don’t like doing is feeling like I have to buy the components that they are fitting or replacing from them as these are often inflated over the ‘Internet prices’. I wouldn’t dream of supplying my own parts and asking the LBS to fit them as I’d just feel cheeky.
I do make a point of purchasing my bikes through them in order to support them (3 in a little over 12 months) even though I can save money buying from the Internet. As a result of this I feel my relationship with them has become better and I no longer feel just like another random customer like I did at first as they now recognise me whenever I visit.

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

I always go to my LBS as I haven't got a Scooby doo what I'm doing. They're a really good LBS and definitely deserve the reputation they have. Whenever my bike has a niggle or anything like that I take it in to them and ask them to do a full service at the same time. I've always been happy with the work they've done and their prices are good; plus they look after me because I'm a pretty regular customer.

A few months back a work colleague gave me an old bike that his son no longer used; I'm customising it and plan to do as much of the work as I possibly can; I plan to use the bike as a learning curve so to say, using CC & the web in general to learn how to do things. Any and all skills I learn I will then put to good use looking after Korma & The Tank.