My take on bike shop servicing

[PurpleAtom]

Hi,

I wondered what other people thought about the propensity of bike shops to give you a massive quote about all the new components you 'need' on your bike when you take it in for a simple servcice.

I am very happy to pay to have the cables replaced along with new brake pads and I accept that some components do need replacing after a while, such as the chain, cassette, crankset etc, depending on what your mileage is. What I object to is the way bike shops make you think that these components are 'necessary' for your bike to work again. For my last 3 services (over about 2 and half years) i apparently have 'needed' a new chain, cassette, jockey wheel and crankset. After insisting that I cannot afford such replacements, I have been able to miraculously pedal my bike as before with minimal chain slippage. Yes, a slipping chain is frustrating, but one can easily adapt and it is hardly anything that would necessitate stopping riding the thing. The shifting I am sure isn't as smooth as it would be given new components, but they are fine for my commuting and semi-regular saturday and sunday rides.

It would be nice to take my bike into a shop and not be told I need to spend £200 on replacement parts (I have even been told once that I need a new bike!) and then to not have an argument with the mechanic about why I am not going to spend that much money. It would be very nice if I could affort to have new cassettes and cranksets regularly - I am sure my bike would be much nicer to ride for it, but 'necessary'? I don't think so....



What do others think?

(Sorry if this is the wrong section)

 

[BSRU]

That stuff is easy enough to do yourself, if you have the time.
There's nothing really difficult on a bicycle, it's generally down to have the correct tools and time.
The only thing I wouldn't attempt is building a wheel, I'd rather pay the extra and have someone with lots of experience do it.

 

[Dave Davenport]

Why take it to a shop in the first place? A bike is a very simple machine, a basic tool kit would cost less than one shop service and there's loads of info on the web to help you learn to do it yourself.

 

[Dan B]

In my eyes, any chain slippage at all is too much - especially when you're standing on the pedals and giving it some welly to make a speedy start from the lights. If a bike shop serviced someone's bike and left it in a condition where they could do painful and possibly permanent damage to themselves in normal use of it, I would have no compunction in recommending they take legal action against the shop.

That said, I don't take my bike to a shop for servicing anyway, I'd rather do it myself.

 

[Dave Davenport]

That stuff is easy enough to do yourself, if you have the time.
There's nothing really difficult on a bicycle, it's generally down to have the correct tools and time.
The only thing I wouldn't attempt is building a wheel, I'd rather pay the extra and have someone with lots of experience do it.

Beat me to the same reply by 46 seconds!

 

[mickle]

That's the beauty of advice - you can take it or leave it. As for getting into an argument with a mechanic? Well, there are dicks in every field of endevour.

Other people might have different/higher standards to you. The kind of folk who are in to cycling enough to work in bike shops are likely to fall in to this category.

And bike shops spend an awful lot of time assessing bikes for people only to discover that the client has no intention of spending any money. Which can get frustrating as I'm sure you can imagine.

So you go ahead and ride around until your chain fails, just cross you fingers that it doesn't happen in front of a bus...

 

[PurpleAtom]

Yes, it is easy enough to do these things yourself. My point is, I don't want to be told to spend £100s unnessesarily each time I take my bike to a shop. I wouldn't say chain slipping could cause you serious injury??

Anyone else feel this way

 

[RecordAceFromNew]

by the way and good questions too!

What you said is largely true, except perhaps that a very worn chain will accelerate the wear of the cassette, and so it is worth keeping an eye on chain wear (all you need is a ruler) and replace when necessary, which incidentally while needing a couple of special tools is not particularly difficult to diy.

Nowadays there are such amazing guides and forums on the internet such as this, that if you want to and if you are prepared to invest say £60 or so on some tools (e.g. this and a good cable cutter and a couple of other bits) you could do the vast majority of maintenance and indeed component replacement all by yourself, with the added bonus of not only able to keep your bike in tip-top condition all the time for very little, with knowledge and experience you could help friends and family too.

Good luck!

 

[John the Monkey]

The only thing I wouldn't attempt is building a wheel, I'd rather pay the extra and have someone with lots of experience do it.

It's a process, really - nothing magical or particularly tricky (assuming you're building a wheel with normal spoke count, 3 cross &c). Roger Musson's eBook is really good on the subject, and will walk you through it step by step, even providing plans to build the truing jig and dishing guage.

 

[BSRU]

Yes, it is easy enough to do these things yourself. My point is, I don't want to be told to spend £100s unnessesarily each time I take my bike to a shop. I wouldn't say chain slipping could cause you serious injury??

Anyone else feel this way

Maybe, your slipping chain is a damaging everything it comes into contact with and the new parts suggested really should be changed.
A simple cheap chain wear tool would tell when to change the chain before it's starts to damage other components.
I would have thought it is the bike shops duty to tell what they think needs changing to make the bike safe to ride, then it is your right as a consumer to ignore this advice.
Take it to another bike shop and see if they give the same advice.

 

[mickle]

I wouldn't say chain slipping could cause you serious injury??

Do you have testicles??

 

[PurpleAtom]

Thanks for the welcome!

Its interesting to get varying opinions about this topic. When i tell my non-cycling friends or people who ride their bike very rarely, or who ride an old banger - they can't understand that I spend the amount of money that I do on maintaining my bike.

I can do some bike maintenance myself, such as adjusting breaks and indexing gears (although sometimes I just can't get the gears right) but its just easier sometimes to take it into a shop and let a professional do it, who can do it far better than I can anyway.

I suppose I am just venting frustration. All I have to do is thank the mechanic for their for advice and walk away!

 

[ianrauk]

If you look after the bike in the first place then the bike will look after you. I also do a lot of my own servicing and like to think I know a little way around my bikes. But seeing as I do so much mileage on my commute and leisure rides I am happy for my lbs to do a twice yearly service. Just to have a professional mechanic look the bikes over, to obtain their opinion and for my piece of mind. This way I have been forewarned as to any future issues that may arise from components and parts.

If you run the bike into the ground without so much as a little tinkering then you are asking for trouble. A slipping chain will cause untold wear and tear on other components whitch will make things more expensive in the long run.

 

[PurpleAtom]

I do need a new cassette and crankset. I've had my bike for about 5 years and have probably had 3 new cassettes and 1 new outer chain ring in that time. I'm just saying that I can still ride my bike the way it is quite happily and my lbs (evanscycles) would have me believe that I can't.

 

[2Loose]

Do you have testicles??

+1

Chain slip has resulted me making rapid contact with the top tube, feet trailing on the floor after slipping off of the pedals and wobbling into the middle of the lane. That is when I learnt that a cassette should really be changed at the same time as a chain!

It was a long time ago, but I remember it all too eye wateringly clearly.