How long does it take ?
- depends on what you actually mean by that question.
If it's not that far out and doesn't require that much work, it's a few minutes' job.
But if the bike shop's up to their eyeballs, you might have to wait a week.
I went into Edinburgh Bike Co-Op in Manchester a couple of months ago, just after they'd opened.
The guy in front of me in the queue said he had a puncture.
OK, said the assistant, do you just want a new tube or do you want us to repair it - the tube's £3 or the repair's £5 but because we're very busy it'll take a week.
To my astonishment, the guy left them the wheel to fix.
When he'd left, I said to the assistant that I was amused that someone didn't know how to fix a puncture and so was willing to pay them to do it, but that I was amazed that they'd wait a week for it.
He said that they were right next to the university, got lots of students in, who didn't really use their bikes that much and so they would happily wait a week.
He said a week wasn't really reasonable, not the standard of service they wanted to offer, but that they'd only just opened and had been overwhelmed the demand they'd got, so they were recruiting more mechanics.