Should I get my Bike serviced? how much should it cost?

Phil S 83

I've just bought a second hand Kona Bolt. It's an ex hire bike and not even a year old. It came in what seems like good condition and I took it out for a good ride at the weekend, and nothing fell off.

However, I did notice a knocking noise in my crank and I seem to have a bit of play in my headset, or fork can't tell which. I've tinkered with the gears and they seem to be shifting pretty well but can't help thinking they could be smoother and quicker.

Would it be prudent to get a profesional to look over, service and check all's tight etc...?
and how much would I expect to pay for this kind of service?

I'm keen to learn how to look after my bike myself, but would like to know that i'm starting from an already sound bike.

RIKO

As its an ex hire bike it may well be worth having it in for a check over I'd guess about £30 but it can vary. It well worth getting into your own maintenance though I do most of mine and it can save you time and money satisfying to boot. Sounds like the headsets a bit loose and you might need a new bottom bracket

p44cmb

My 2 pence worth....If I were you, I would probably get it done by a pro to start off with as that way you know how it should feel when everything is done properly. After that then anything that needs doing it would have a crack myself and save some money.

Only last week the fairly scary prospect of tightening up my bottom bracket turned out to be a piece of cake and saved myself £35 by doing it myself rather than my LBS.

Saying that though it's worth bearing in mind you may need to invest in some specific bike tools in order to ensure you always have the right bits to hand. I ended up going into the local Halfords and buying one of their "Essential Bike Tool Kits" for £29.99 (£23.99 when I got it as I used a voucher code I found online giving 20% off)

There are also tonnes of FAQs around the web on bike maintenance so as long as you know what you want to do there are plenty of instrcutions around on how to do it.

Good luck

t0pc4t

I'd get it serviced by a trustrworthy LBS as then you know the bike starts off from a known good position.

For a basic service I'd reckon you'd be looking at about £30 but then you have to account for any parts and labour if they find anything that needs replacing on top of that.

But I would expect that they'd phone you to discuss that before they did it, or at least my LBS does.

diy

remove the pedals, clean them up re-grease the threads and tighten again. That might fix the knocking noise. To remove and service the BB you will need some specialist tools - halfords/lidl/argos etc all do nice starter kits at the 25 quid mark.

headset - lif the front up hold the bars and pull back and forth while looking at the headset/frame cups - it could just need tightenning or it might need a strip and clean - no special tools required for this just care and a "system" for making sure everything goes back in the right order.

headset can be tightened by loosening the top cap, loosening the stem bolts, tightening the top cap but not so tight that it makes the bars stiff, tightening the stem bolts and then loosening the top cap.

gears - remove the cables if its notchy replace it, clean and lube the cable outer (spray chain lube, wd40 or similar down the cable outers, put back together and then adjust the tension. cables get clogged and that is the first check before making adjustments.

See if your LBS will let you watch.

D4V1D

Phil S 83 wrote:

I've just bought a second hand Kona Bolt.

How much would I expect to pay for this kind of service?

This is a good point to start from, It's my local bike racing shop.

http://www.davemellorcycles.com/workshop.asp

Phil S 83

Thanks for all your replys guys. You've been really usefull.

I've decided I will take my bike in for a service by a profesional.
I just think if I know how it should feel when serviced correctly it will be a benchmark for future home maintanence.

I guess the next obvious question would be, does anybody know of a good LBS in the Leeds/Wakefield area?