LBS bike service options – Is it worth it?

hampstead_bandit wrote:tricky

hampstead_bandit wrote:

tricky question to answer as the bike industry has made few concessions to retain quality bicycle mechanics as a long term career choice – for most, its simply not worth the poor conditions and low pay as a long term career choice.

That’s changing, a lot of bike shops are subcontracting top self employed mechanics now on a 50% of labour charge basis.

tricky question to answer as
tricky question to answer as the bike industry has made few concessions to retain quality bicycle mechanics as a long term career choice – for most, its simply not worth the poor conditions and low pay as a long term career choice.

a true, professional bike mechanic can fix your bike in a third of the time it will take you, and the bike will be truly fixed. they will also offer solutions and save you money with timely input; its not rocket science, but time served leading to real world experience, they will face problems you may never see.

faced with that quandary, whether your Lbs employs time served professional bike mechanics is a matter of luck, one you may discover through word of mouth recommendations or after putting a bike in for a service

the chain stores have few, if any, or these mechanics left in their employment.

It also depends how much your time is worth (try calculating your hourly rate), the cost of tooling up your home workshop, and how much time you are prepared to spend maintaining your bikes.

I’d strongly recommend all riders understand basic maintenance like punctures, cleaning, lubing, brake and gear adjustment.

to clarify my position in this discussion I’ve managed workshops for Lbs including Freeborn and Sigma Sport, flagship stores for the big 2 chains, and 3 different workshops in flagship ‘brand stores’ and have seen too many good mechanics come into the industry, and then go….

I think all of the above are
I think all of the above are correct in some way or another, purely your choice I think, I prefer doing all servicing myself as its not rocket science and for me, therapeutic. Best thing in my mind is when you make your own tools, even a headset press is easy to do using threaded bar and lots of correct size washers and a bit of imagination, good luck

rogerlevy wrote:I own a store

rogerlevy wrote:

I own a store and have always thought that folk need to know how to do the basics themselves. I drop everything and show people how to do things almost whenever they ask. I give all bike purchasers free tuneups for life.

Riders who do their own are 90% likely to do it all right, but sometimes we see that over lubing chains, letting brake pads get shiny or filled with metal chips, rim brake surfaces that are etched or covered with dirt and rubber, or forgetting to lube the spoke nipples can be a problem. Weekend fair weather mileage masters are more likely to be OK, but we have to look out for commuters who are plagued by drivetrain wear and seized nipples in the bad weather.

I agree that it is easy but we have some tricks that not everyone knows. We put corn starch baby powder inside the tires for one example. Tire talc (corn starch baby powder is now used) is an old standby but some stores do not tell you about it. I never see tires that are powdered when I change a flat. Also anti-seize on all threaded parts. Never have seen that used on bikes from other stores. Cleaning chains and measuring for wear is a great policy. Saves big.

Nobody talcs a tire as there isn’t any need as the Sheldon Brown article shows.
http://sheldonbrown.com/brandt/talcum.html

I think no one here can
I think no one here can really answer this question for you. It largely depends how much you value the work of your LBS, as well as how valuable your own time is to you.

For me, I find a balance between some tasks myself and some in the LBS works best. For example, press fit bottom bracket replacements, like BB30, I prefer to have done at the shop as to be done well really need a bearing press, an expensive tool that I will rarely need. If it’s just brake adjustments or gear indexing I would do it myself etc. If I’m busy at work sometimes Its easier just to drop it at the shop. Just do what ever is easiest or makes the most sense for your own circumstances.

I’m a big fan of doing most
I’m a big fan of doing most stuff myself, and you don’t need a massive investment in tools to be able to do most of it (with the exception of things like headset presses).

That said, as someone said above whether it’s ‘worth it’ depends on your view of your time and money. Some people like tinkering on their bikes, other people have better things to do with their time. Personally I find one big advantage of doing my own work is that I know what’s been done and the standard it was done to.

I don’t think it’s necessarily fair to call bike shop service charges a rip off though. If you do it yourself your time is being valued at nothing whereas the LBS mechanic’s isn’t, and likewise they obviously won’t be hunting down cheap bits from CRC or wherever like you can- it’ll all be RRP. That doesn’t make them a rip off. On the other hand they might well, for example, be a bit quicker to decide bits need replacing than you would be yourself, and stuff like that can lead to disgruntled customers.

Lastly there’s the quality of work. Personally I’ve been disappointed a few too many times so will always do it myself where I can. Maybe you have a good mechanic though.

I actually enjoy being left
I actually enjoy being left alone to fix my bike/computer/whatever else – I find it therapeutic. It helps that I’m firmly of the opinion that most things are pretty easy to fix, the only thing I won’t mess with around the house is gas. Everything else is fair game 🙂

(of course there’s always a huge argument with the missus when she wants to pay someone to do it “properly”)

Bikes are pretty simple things really, the only thing you may lack is the correct tools for the job. If you are reasonably mechanically minded, careful and test your work (i.e. don’t go bombing down a large hill 30 seconds after stripping and refitting your brakes), I’d say it’s pretty hard to do anything too dangerous.

One tip from personal experience, get a good clean space on work on where you won’t loose any bits. I managed to loose a tiny o-ring washer from the hydraulic brakes on my MTB without noticing when servicing them. Queue dot-4 fluid leaking out of the housing every time I pressed the brake lever. I now do my maintenance on a plastic sheet (still in the garden as I’ve no garage and the bikes aren’t allowed in the house) so I don’t get oil everywhere and don’t loose anything.

Buy *good* Allen/hex keys.
Buy *good* Allen/hex keys. Rounding off bolts is a nightmare. Bahco or Wera makes very good ones, and especially the former are a bargain on Amazon. The cheapie jobs are made of cheese (possibly hardened mascarpone).

Park Tools or Pedros for cable cutters and chain tools. Expensive, but would last a lifetime in a shop. More importantly, work extremely well every time.

I also find that good needlenose pliers and a decent small flashlight get used much more often than I expected.

Oh, and coppaslip for every bolt except those you want threadlock for.