Evans take the piss; hold the front page!

[swee'pea99]

Mate took his Specialized hybrid into Evans 'cos the back brake was rubbing on the back wheel. They said they'd take a look. Next thing he knows, they're giving him a quote of £530 to sort the bike, and suggesting that he'd probably be best off buying a new one.

Ok, it's tired. It needs a new chainset, chain & cassette. The back wheel needs a broken spoke replacing, and five minutes trueing. It needs new brake blocks, and new tyres wouldn't hurt, though the ones it has will be good for another thousand or two miles. I'm fixing it up for him with ebay bits: £50 + a couple of hours. £530? Me arse, as my old gran used to say.

 

[Ashtrayhead]

He needs to find a decent reliable LBS that won't rip him off.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

He needs to find a decent reliable LBS that won't rip him off.

Halfords! ........ No, wait.

 

[Globalti]

The people at Evans probably saw the neglected state of the bike and reckoned he wouldn't be bothered about repairing it so tried to convert it into a sale.

 

[mickle]

£530?!! Awesome.

 

[Nihal]

Tell him dump his bike in a lake and by a new one,NOT from that shop though

 

[subaqua]

LBS close to me tried this one. I did buy a new bike . but not from them . just glad SWMBO was there to hear them say it needed al this work doing

 

[Davidc]

Even after he's paid the ebay bill and bought swee'pea99 a couple of beers I'm sure there'll be more than enough change from £530 for a bike maintenance course up to professional standard!

There surely has to be a reasonably priced LBS somewhere around you?

 

[musa]

I would of expected that from a LBS. sales tactic really. Idiots

 

[dellzeqq]

The people at Evans probably saw the neglected state of the bike and reckoned he wouldn't be bothered about repairing it so tried to convert it into a sale.

that's it, although perhaps 'the people' might be better expressed as 'company policy'. And it's not entirely stupid - if your friend might spend some serious money on the bike (accepting that £530 is silly rather than serious) and still wind up with an out-dated bike. I suspect that's what's lacking here is the kind of conversation that you can have at an LBS

 

[MontyVeda]

Leisure Lakes tried to pull a similar trick with a friend of mine... they quoted him around £200 to 'fix' his bike which, having been sat in the garage for years... looked a bit dusty. It needed no new parts, just a bit of a wash.

 

[Globalti]

To be fair on the shops, repairing knackered old bikes seldom pays; it's hard work, frustrating and no self-respecting mechanic wants to put an effort into a bike that the owner doesn't care a feck about.

....I know because I've fixed up a few old bikes for friends and it's soul-destroying.

 

[Crankarm]

Years ago I used to go into Evans at the Cut in Waterloo before it was all re-vamped. Each visit I used to see at least one person bring some knackered old piece of shoot to them asking them to repair and make it good again for £15. I sympathise with bike shops, even Evans, but not Halfords, the large number of cheapskates with knackered old bikes which they must see, that have not been maintain at all and that were never bought from Evans or the LBS. It is just not economically viable to bring them back to life unless you do it yourself or get a friend to do it for free. If you shot blasted an old frame to prepare for new paint it would probably disintegrate. So totally not worth it. Evans were trying to tell this guy something, but he is one of the "I want my jallopy bike fixed with brand new components and new tyres which will run into ££££££££££ but which I only want to pay you £20 to do brigade". Cheapskate.

 

[MrJamie]

As horrible as old and/or cheap bikes are to service, its entirely possible that they could be owned by new cyclists who once putting in the miles might get properly into cycling. I started by digging out my 15 year old MTB and trying to repair things on the cheap. As i posted on another thread recently the disinterest in advising me is the reason the LBS lost my future custom.

 

[Peteaud]

I dont see the problem in fixing older bikes, Yes some want it done for £20 and we know that wont happen.