Bike shop etiquette

[RedRider]

My LBS is one of the best and it loans tools with the proviso: 'No manners = no spanners'!

 

[slowmotion]

I won't lend any tool that won't survive being dropped six feet onto concrete.

Edit: I'm positively generous with lump hammers and wrecking bars.

 

[ayceejay]

I saw this sign in a garage once:
Hourly rate $56
With you watching $66
With you helping $156

 

[Smurfy]

I've seen shops lend a track pump, tyre levers etc. to someone with a puncture, but apart from that it's pushing it a bit to ask to borrow the tools that earn their bread and butter.

 

[Smurfy]

I saw this sign in a garage once:
Hourly rate $56
With you watching $66
With you helping $156

That's because they can't break stuff and pretend it never happened when you're watching or helping

 

[Glow worm]

Well hats off to the lbs in Haslemere, Surrey. Popped in there earlier today to buy a front light and accidentally left my wallet by the till. Realised a while later and rushed back to find they'd kept it for me safely, all in tact.

In Surrey briefly today, and went for a quick ride on the fold up when I got here. It's a nice part of the world, but blimey, the hills, how do you locals cope!

 

[Profpointy]

I saw this sign in a garage once:
Hourly rate $56
With you watching $66
With you helping $156

On a similar note, a friend's regular garage charge half the main dealer's hourly rate adding cheerfully "and we only take twice as long !"

 

[John the Monkey]

I use my LBS regularly and buy my bikes and gear from them. I know them all on first name terms and have been using them for years. I am sure if I wanted to borrow a tool they would lend me one, but I have never asked.

Similar with mine, I'd never ask to borrow tools either, as it feels, to me, like it would be imposing / taking advantage of a friendship.

As for purchases, I do buy stuff online, but tend to compare prices - if the differential between LBS and online is small (or it's a smallish item where I'd only save a few pence anyway) I buy at the LBS. They can't get near online prices for tyres, but they're competitive for spokes, brake pads, repair kits, Carradice, and all sorts of useful stuff. They also have a far too tempting selection of 2nd hand bikes. The other plus, of course, is that you have the stuff there and then.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

this thread reminds me of something said to my Dad when he bought some watch repairing tools from a trade outlet that did repairs themselves as well. He enquired whether they were worried about losing trade by selling tools. "don't worry, we get plenty of work from people who try and repair their own watches".

My LBS frequently tell me to stop screwing up my bike with attempted fettling and that it is cheaper for me to just get them to do a job from the off.

 

[Road_Runner]

I think it's rather cheeky to buy a product from one business and ask another to lend you something for free to fit the bought product. Apart from a few tools, i have all of my own tools. If i can't fix it myself with my tools, i give it to the bike shop. I'll never go in to the bike shop and ask to borrow tools. To me it's like me going to your house and asking to borrow your car for free.

 

[procel]

People seem not to be reading the OP. He clearly said he would be happy to pay £5 + deposit for the rental of a tool: seems reasonable to me. The shop would probably make more profit on that than the sale of the headset part. I've also seen bike shops who run their own bike maintenance courses, they probably make more that way in the end.

 

[Bodhbh]

Well they can't compete with the internet either on price or range of stock. So all they have to offer is their labour and expertise. If they start doling that out for free to everyone who brings in 'bits they bought off the internet' they're not left with much to make a living.

 

[zizou]

I know a mechanic / shop who when they first opened started out lending some basic tools but it didnt last simply because some customers took the piss - breaking tools or making an arse of a simple job then blaming the mechanic because it was their tool being used and they didnt tell them what to do with it (and expecting them to repair the damage done for free) and in one case outright theft too - from someone that was a a club mate of the mechanic! They still let people use a track pump if needed but even there it keeps getting broken due to people not knowing how to use it properly...it all adds up to alot of extra hassle that they shouldnt have to put up with when doing their job.

 

[steveindenmark]

If you need to do a job on the bike Nd need a tool, go to the lbs and tell them what you want to do and ask them to order the correct tool for you and buy it off them. Whichever way you go about it, I would forget about trying to get something for cheap or free.
steve

 

[Road_Runner]

People seem not to be reading the OP. He clearly said he would be happy to pay £5 + deposit for the rental of a tool:

The OP is clearly stating that he wanted to borrow tools, not rent or hire them. Which to me it comes across that he wanted to use the tools for free. I would have thought that if a person was willing to pay for the use of tools, they would have stated it whilst asking the bike shop.