Bike servicing

David Lund

This may seem on obvious question to those who regulaly service their steeds but iv only sent in my bike once and i was pretty confuzed, all that they seemed to do for £40 was tell me what was wrong. What should i expect for a good service at a bike shop?
Gears indexed and set up?
cranks / bb / pedals tightened?
brakes bled?
bolts and nuts tightened?
cones tightened?
All there things were listed on a bit of paper and i was told to come back and they would have a look and tell me how much each thing would cost.
A bit of paper, a quick attempt at adjusting the mech and a quick lube cost me £40!!
What should i realy expect for my money?
Thanks for any help
David

nicklouse

depends on the shop.

but what i would call normal.

is grease headset, lube chain, set gears check spoke tension and adjust if needed.

then check that nothing is dangerous.

brakes would only be bled if requested.

cables would only be replaced if requested.

bike would not be cleaned unless requested unless the bike was too dirty to work on and then a cleaning charge would be added.

very general but you should always ask or tell them what problems you need fixing.

stumpyjon

Time to have a crack at doing it all yourself, just strip everything, clean regrease. Replace chepish bits like cables, best way of learning is doing. If anything goes wrong be prepared to go to your LBS and spend your money on stuff you can't do. If you're lucky you can spend the cash on new parts rather than labour costs.

johnsav

yeah do it all yourself, its not hard...

just dont get wd40 on your fuc**** brakes. :x :x [/quote]

Anonymous

you should learn to service your bike yourself,

in my opinion, there is no need to send a bike to be serviced unless there is something wrong, as you end up paying for nothing.

suspension is a different matter, sometimes servicing is required to ensure the warrnty is maintained.

-liam-

sheepsteeth wrote:

you should learn to service your bike yourself,

in my opinion, there is no need to send a bike to be serviced unless there is something wrong, as you end up paying for nothing.

suspension is a different matter, sometimes servicing is required to ensure the warrnty is maintained.

I'd agree with that completely.

What you have paid for, most would do at the end of a long ride anyhoo. Chain lube ? Gimmie a break !...I think you've been ripped off to be perfectly honest chap ...but I think you already know that.

My bike has been to the shop the other day to have a new bottom bracket and a new rear mech (I supplied) fitted. They also re tightened the cassette as that was loose and re set the gears. Didn't cost as much as your service and they supplied the bottom bracket.

David Lund

I can service my bike fairly thoroughly but theres the odd things i cant get quite perfect. Thanks for the help and i wasnt realy intending on going back as iv had enough of that lbs. I do need to get a bb remover but im learning to true wheels at the moment so i may buy a stand too. The main jist of the topic was to just ask how angry i should be with the lbs
I recently got the 'Zinn and the art of bike maintenence and its just brilliant, everything you could possibly want to know about fixing bikes.
Thanks for the help
Dave

skyliner

We charge £80 for a total strip down of all servicable parts, clean, lube, and rebuild with a set of XTR cables. (parts excluded) but we ring the customer and inform them if parts are necessary, and how much they'll cost.
And for £30 extra, you get a fork service (minus parts) and a shock air sleeve service carried out by a Mojo/Rockshox/Maverick/Marzocchi/Manitou trained technician (AKA me).
IMHO, the service you've received is like someone using your watch to tell you the time.
I inspect bikes before a service to assess costs FOC.

gthang

This looks like better value for money

http://www.cyclezoneuk.com/workshop.htm

Though I have not used them myself for service work