Bike service

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redcard

Veteran
Location
Paisley
Put my bike in for a service. They changed all gear and brake cable, fitted the front derailleur as I had to remove it, replaced 2 worn brake pads, and replaced the bar tape.

I presumed they would have carried our some basic work like cleaning and lubing my chain, but everything else was exactly the same condition.

Charged me £50 labour and £45 parts. The bar tape was £15, but appear to have charged me almost £30 for 4 bits of cable. I didn't get an itemised bill, and left without much question as I was happy to get the bike back in decent condition.

Does £95 sound like a fair deal?
 

byegad

Legendary Member
Location
NE England
The parts costs sounds high. If you look for identical parts in an online shop they'd be less. Take a look and remember they need to cover their overheads in their prices. TBH The chain cleaning is something they probably wouldn't touch merely replacing the dirty one with a new one. To be charitable they probably checked it for wear and it was OK so they left it.

Doing it all yourself isn't difficult and there are courses for you to learn the skills. The cost of a course will repay several times over a lifetimes cycling.
 

Brad

Active Member
We popped into our local bike shop yesterday to get a quote for a service on my friends 2007 spesh allez with ultegra kit. The chain needed replacing, cassette and out chain ring needed replacing, as well as some frail cables and worn pads. To replace with Tiagra kit I.E Chain rings and cassette along with a campag 10 speed chain was quoted at £95 which I thought was a bargain. That included all labour along with a full strip down and rebuild of the bike.

It just goes to show that some shops aren't there to rip you off completely.

In terms of your service, for two new brake pads you're looking at £10, cables probably £10 and bar tape @ £15 totals £35 all together. Probably slightly on the expensive side but not a major overcharge anyhow. £50 for labour seems ok as there is at least 2 hours work if not more if it has had a service including new bar tape, fitting of a mech and new cables.
 

jim55

Guru
Location
glasgow
Who done it , you could do that yourself I'd imagine , sounds a lot , personally unless I had a particular fault that I just couldn't fix , I'd rather do it myself
 
I have never had a bike serviced in a shop and when i took up cycling i was amazed that people did. I think I always considered a bike was something you dealt with yourself.
I am too hard up to pay out £90 for someone to fiddle with the bike but I also think that if a cyclist (as I do) goes off into the middle of nowhere they need to be able to deal with the odd problem that comes up (from a puncture to a bit of the bike coming adrift). Best way to be able to do that is to repair it yourself and really it is quite amazing that we can take apart a bike mostly with just a couple of tools that can be popped in a pannier.
I think I would be a bit uncomfortable if I did not have some confidence in being able to fix a bike on the roadside or at least make it rideable to get me home.
Same with my car too really.
 

HovR

Über Member
Location
Plymouth
The local Halfords sell brake pads at £5 per pair, and a cable inner and outer for £5 - So you're looking at £20 for a full cable set at those individual high street prices. On the cheaper end of the market, Asda sell a cable set including all 4 cables inner and outers for around £3 I believe.

It's all easy stuff - Learn to do it yourself and you could have saved yourself at least £50. Need to change your brake cables? Search on YouTube "How to change bicycle brake cables" and a whole plethora of tutorials will come up. Same applies for all routine bicycle maintenance.
 

biggs682

Touch it up and ride it
Location
Northamptonshire
redcard as long as you are happy with the work done that is the main thing , must admit i do my basic work then leave the rest with my lbs so far i have never felt like i have been overcharged
 

asterix

Comrade Member
Location
Limoges or York
The local Halfords sell brake pads at £5 per pair, and a cable inner and outer for £5 - So you're looking at £20 for a full cable set at those individual high street prices. On the cheaper end of the market, Asda sell a cable set including all 4 cables inner and outers for around £3 I believe.

It's all easy stuff - Learn to do it yourself and you could have saved yourself at least £50. Need to change your brake cables? Search on YouTube "How to change bicycle brake cables" and a whole plethora of tutorials will come up. Same applies for all routine bicycle maintenance.

This^
 
OP
OP
redcard

redcard

Veteran
Location
Paisley
redcard as long as you are happy with the work done that is the main thing , must admit i do my basic work then leave the rest with my lbs so far i have never felt like i have been overcharged

Yeah, I've been looking up some tutorial vids, and I could probably have saved myself a chunk if I'd had the patience to do it myself.

Think I'll buy some cables, and have a go myself next time.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
A lot depends on WHAT quality bits they put on. Shimano or campagnolo original replacements will cost considerably more than Halfords or Budget stuff...
A set of cables...shimano ? Maybe £10 to £15.
Pair of brake pads ? Did they come in their holders ? I paid nearly £10 for mine at the LBS...I think I've paid that for just replacement pads.
Bar tape...£15 ...so youre at £40 without much bother.
Forget online prices, forget Halfords prices, you didn't go there...LBS aren't generally cheap,.

£50 labour ?
Half hour to fit the FD
Half hour minimum to fit the tape..maybe an hour, they've got to remove the old stuff as well.
Half hour to fit the cables.
A tad to fit the pads.

So, maybe 2 hours labour plus maybe half an hour adjusting up..what are workshop rates nowadays ? Doesn't sound too much to me, if you're realistic.
 
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