Economy of repair

[mgarl10024]

I keep my chain reasonably clean (wipe down when wet, and chainbath every 6wks or so depending on conditions).
I replaced the Shimano chain originally fitted to the bike at 1680 miles as it had started to fail at 1% on about a third of the links.

 

[Jezston]

I have a £400 commuter bike which I guess must be similar spec to yours and it cost me £30 for a new chain and cassette, and for an experienced mechanic it's a 5 minute job to fit them.

Bringing that up to £90 for a 'full service' seems massively excessive. What exactly do you get for your money? A wipe down and an oil change so to speak?

Is this a branch of Evans Cycles? If it is, they charge silly money to do the smallest of things. IIRC they charge £20 to fix a puncture FFS. Find an independent shop with a decent mechanic and I expect you'll get a whole lot better job done for half the price. I'm sure someone here will be able to recommend somewhere near you.

 

[HLaB]

Why will chemicals or the roads affect the stretch of the chain?

I can't say 100% but it certainly seems to do so and the chemicals are more messy ;-)

 

[pshore]

I had a Giant City commuter for just over two years .... Quoted approx £90 to fix

This might be a lot of money to some, but putting this into context, some mugs/people are paying this for just one tank of fuel !

 

[I like Skol]

This might be a lot of money to some, but putting this into context, some mugs/people are paying this for just one tank of fuel !

OK, rub it in! I put £96 of unleaded in my 4ltr auto jeep this week and that will get me about 200 miles at the most OK it is mostly a weekend toy so only does 3k a year which means it isn't too painful and it is a hobby so what price do we put on hobby activities?

Getting back to the original posters conundrum, having reread her post it isn't quite as bleak as she is making out. Accidental damage cost £80 to repair. This isn't a consideration in the running costs of the bike (although it might not feel like that if you are paying!) and without knowing what happened this is something that could equally happen to a brand new bike just after it left the showroom?
The bike is now just over 2 years old and needs some bits and a service at £90 to keep it sweet. That’s running costs of only £45 a year. You would have to spend a lot more than that before it became financially beneficial to replace a £450 bike every two years.

And compare relative costs, £45 will get my jeep around 100 miles or perhaps a slap up 3 course curry for 2 with a bottle of wine?

 

[eddiemee]

I too used to wonder about the economy of repair/upkeep on my bike as every time I got it serviced I was looking at big bills. But then I came to accept chains, cassettes and chainrings as being 'consumables' that are expected to have a finite shelf life. Sure, you can prolong/shorten that life depending on how well you maintain it, but ultimately you have to replace them.

The advice I would give to the OP is to get that book, or follow the online guides on Bike Tutor or the Park website. Even better, go on a bike maintenance course if there is one available near you. I've done all these in the past few years, and even though I'm not especially mechanically minded I can still replace most components on my bike without the need to go to the shop (and that's mainly due to lack of specialist tools). I grab the components from Wiggle/Amazon/ebay and probably spend no more than £100 per year.

 

[summerdays]

Just to clarify, the total price includes the full service and I am not sure what else it includes. I was just stating the price to show how the costs are adding up over the life of the bike.
Yes, I know it would probably be cheaper to get the bits and do it myself, but I wouldn't have a clue where to start. By getting a book I suspect, but then I am a girl and I think repairs are a man's job.

I'm a girl and I can do the chain swap's myself... so far I've managed 7000 miles and 2 chain swaps ... and I probably need to do a third one soon (I haven't checked the chain recently). I was looking at my cassette yesterday and I "think" it is ok ... but I've never got to this point before so I don't know. I suspect I will probably post some photos on here for the experts opinions at some point. Not sure whether I would try to do it or get the bike shop ... just because I like to support the LBS occasionally anyway and I am married to one who doesn't mind doing it though it usually involves him swearing alot and cutting his hands.

I definitely reckon you can do the chain bit yourself in the future ...

 

[maggie_0]

Thanks for all the advice. The videos look very good. I guess I musn't shy wawy from things I hav never done, and just try have a go at doing it myself.

 

[MacB]

The quoted £90 does seem steep, if you are interested in learning to do it yourself then there's another option. For that price you could get a mobile bike mechanic to come round, with parts, and do the service and fitting. Make sure they're quite happy to treat it as a teaching session and watch the online videos first so that it all makes more sense. You'll also get a clear understanding of what tools you need if you decide you want to do it yourself in future. If you don't fancy the hands on teaching session I'd have thought you could get it done for about £60 all in.

I'm with the let the chain, cassette and chainrings wear together camp, or certainly for 9 speed and below, I haven't tried that new fangled 10 speed stuff. Fit new in April/May and maintain via Mickle Method - just running chain, on bike, through baby wipes once a week and adding some oil.

 

[Davidc]

I did a chain and cassette swap on a relative's bike last month. The components were £34 including VAT and it took about 45 minutes, would have been 30 minutes if the (factory original) cassette lockring hadn't been stuck. That was on an 8 speed Ridgeback using a SRAM chain and Shimano HG30 cassette.