Cost of repairs and other rising cycling costs

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

Rjsterry,

Personally I think shoes are getting cheaper, not sure why. I just think more deals are there to be found and (maybe its because I aspired) buying £110 - £130 Nike (comes with an air bubble) just isn't cool with the kids anymore.

You don't want Nike, you want a pair of these. Worth every penny. I thoroughly recommend a visit.

EDIT: They would be rubbish for walking to work in, though.

DonDaddyD

What the hell are those!

I where these in the bar: http://www.getthelabel.com/pws/images/c ... _black.jpg

And these at wor: http://www.samuel-windsor.co.uk/shoppin ... 1_Main.jpg

I need a new pair of brogues.

rhext

So cycle mechanics should work for peanuts out of the goodness of their hearts and because of the huge benefit that their services provide to society....?

Your services/repairs only cost £250 because you're going for a high-end service and fitting top-quality replacement parts! I had to do a similar overhaul on my drivetrain recently: I costed what I'd like to do at £350. Then I checked the bank balance and spent the price of a tank of diesel on what I needed to do.

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

What the hell are those!

:oops:

They, sir, are a pair of boots from the amusingly-named R. Soles. Seriously, you should treat yourself one day.

CiB

We're in a recession, so I'm told. It's everybody's duty to spend money to get the economy moving again and if that means spending top dollar to get the bike up to spec that's what has to be done. Go out, spend your money and be satisified that you're helping to get UK PLC back on its feet.

I had mine done just two years ago - total cost was about £400 by the time the complete new drive train, front brake assy, BB, new bearings & various other bits were totalled up. Add the couple of hours or so labour on top and it's not hard to get to that sort of cost. Trouble is, we're all used to the idea of a bike being a cheap form of transport and brand new bikes costing £70 from Tesco. Luckily there's a world of difference between one of those and a proper commute bike, aka a carbon road rocket.

DonDaddyD

rhext wrote:

So cycle mechanics should work for peanuts out of the goodness of their hearts and because of the huge benefit that their services provide to society....?

No, I didn't say that. What I'm saying is that the cost of repairs is expensive and as such to those entering the cycling world it may act as limiting factor should they want to get involved in cycling.

it would be to me.

Your services/repairs only cost £250 because you're going for a high-end service and fitting top-quality replacement parts!

Can you prove that "I'm fitting top quality replacement parts!" Or are you making an assumption? Remember the bike the repairs are being made to cost £350 2 years ago (todays money that would be £700+ - that's off putting as well).

rjsterry wrote:

They, sir, are a pair of boots from the amusingly-named R. Soles. Seriously, you should treat yourself one day.

Do they come with a copy of Brokeback Mountain?

CIB wrote:

We're in a recession, so I'm told. It's everybody's duty to spend money to get the economy moving again and if that means spending top dollar to get the bike up to spec that's what has to be done. Go out, spend your money and be satisified that you're helping to get UK PLC back on its feet.

Save, save save. Or in my case pay every last Man, Woman and Child you owe money to. Then save, then appreciate the next boom in all its glory.

CIB wrote:

I had mine done just two years ago - total cost was about £400 by the time the complete new drive train, front brake assy, BB, new bearings & various other bits were totalled up. Add the couple of hours or so labour on top and it's not hard to get to that sort of cost. Trouble is, we're all used to the idea of a bike being a cheap form of transport and brand new bikes costing £70 from Tesco. Luckily there's a world of difference between one of those and a proper commute bike, aka a carbon road rocket.

Point taken. Truth be told I wouldn't even mind if it was my Kharma and it would likely cost more. But the Giant, being ridden more, is proving to be more costly. It would. I guess I may start having to see it as the bike not just costing £350 (originally).

It just makes me regret not buying the 105 groupset for £300 and putting those parts on myself... could have been a hobby. Won't make that mistake again. When Tiagra gets replaced I'll be all over the older stuff.

rhext

Why would I waste time and effort trying to prove it? At that price, you're obviously not going for budget parts from a back-street LBS. Did you try shopping around? Did you ask them if there were options to fit cheaper parts? If you take one price point and draw conclusions for the whole of the industry, don't expect people not to argue a bit!

Clever Pun

if you don't want to sort out problems yourself, you have to pay someone else to do it

you're paying for a service.. which is in high demand. Suck it up and stop whining, or like it's been suggested save a few quid by bothering to fix it yourself.

I'm really not sure what the issue is here.

spasypaddy

guy came in and asked to be booked into a repair at my shop this week, ive not noticed the prices before as i only work one day a week and never get asked this stuff. i was shocked and slightly embarrassed to tell him the prices.

rolf_f

CiB wrote:

We're in a recession, so I'm told. It's everybody's duty to spend money to get the economy moving again and if that means spending top dollar to get the bike up to spec that's what has to be done.

I think our economy has expanded to a point where it is dependant on people spending what they don't have. Trying to keep something unsustainable going isn't really going to help. If we only made stuff, and bought the stuff we made with money we'd earned, we wouldn't be in this mess.

As to DDDs theory of the costs; I'm not so sure. These days people seem to expect to pay a fortune for maintenance. The original purchase price is ludicrously cheap but the maintenance is always exhorbitant. In the case of electrical goods, they achieve this by buying idiotic extended guarantees. In the case of cars, they manage it by accepting preposterous component prices. Car forums seem to be full of people happily accepting four figure repair bills. To me, a service costs less than £200 inc parts and a four figure sum is what I expect to pay for a replacement engine, fitted; not a printed circuit board of an engine management system. Same probably applies to bikes.

Witness the rarity of old style bikes that are cheap to maintain and run - nothing at all to even maintain in a downtube shifter but who fancies tinkering with a modern brake/shifter mech?

DonDaddyD

rhext wrote:

Why would I waste time and effort trying to prove it? At that price, you're obviously not going for budget parts from a back-street LBS. Did you try shopping around? Did you ask them if there were options to fit cheaper parts? If you take one price point and draw conclusions for the whole of the industry, don't expect people not to argue a bit!

So to clarify.

1). You can't prove your claim that I've chosen "high end parts".

2). Your best defence for this is to claim that trying to prove it so would be a waste of time. :roll: How about being a man and admitting you assumed too much?

3). You then continue to defend your position by spouting more ill-thought out assumptions about my choice of LBS. :roll: If you ran into a wall and it hurt would you run into it again?

In answer to your questions Yes, yes and no. In fact in my first post I indicated that the original quote was £250 and the quote I left with was £150.

But I'll tell you what, how about I don't waste my time responding to you anymore.

Pathetic.

you're paying for a service.. which is in high demand. Suck it up and stop whining

I'm really not sure what the issue is here.

The issue is the rising cost in bike repairs appearing to make the past time less cost effective. £250 or even albeit a one month outlay is a lot of money.

You are right I will have to at some point suck it up (probably when I leave this computer) and by the end of the week I'm sure I'll be circa £150 lighter.

But come on give me a break. I actually make a commuting by bike related thread (albeit a rant) and you're still gonna give me a hard time?

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

Do they come with a copy of Brokeback Mountain?

No. They're biker rather than cowboy boots, although R. Soles do some pretty OTT cowboy boots if that's what you fancy. The shop on New Kings Road is staffed by two middle aged geezers, who are more Phil and Grant than Heath and Jake, in fact they could not be less Brokeback Mountain. If you want something a little more suitable for work, there's this

I take your point that the relatively large lump sums might put people off, when PT, although ultimately more expensive, is easier on the cash flow especially on PAYG.

DonDaddyD

Rolf F wrote:

CiB wrote:

We're in a recession, so I'm told. It's everybody's duty to spend money to get the economy moving again and if that means spending top dollar to get the bike up to spec that's what has to be done.

I think our economy has expanded to a point where it is dependant on people spending what they don't have. Trying to keep something unsustainable going isn't really going to help. If we only made stuff, and bought the stuff we made with money we'd earned, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Thing is we do still make stuff and there are some brilliant British products just a large portion of society is conditioned to believe everything from America/Japan/etc is better.

As to DDDs theory of the costs; I'm not so sure. These days people seem to expect to pay a fortune for maintenance. The original purchase price is ludicrously cheap but the maintenance is always exhorbitant. In the case of electrical goods, they achieve this by buying idiotic extended guarantees. In the case of cars, they manage it by accepting preposterous component prices. Car forums seem to be full of people happily accepting four figure repair bills. To me, a service costs less than £200 inc parts and a four figure sum is what I expect to pay for a replacement engine, fitted; not a printed circuit board of an engine management system. Same probably applies to bikes.

I knida agree in that, that is the accepted culture. (Clever Puns post) I however, must be counter culture because I expect maintenance to be cheap until the parts are discontinued and then repair costs start rising. I always fear repair/maintenance costs that are just extortionate.

Witness the rarity of old style bikes that are cheap to maintain and run - nothing at all to even maintain in a downtube shifter but who fancies tinkering with a modern brake/shifter mech?

Yep.

tailwindhome

Did you get a breakdown of the price?

mudcovered

DonDaddyD wrote:

No, I didn't say that. What I'm saying is that the cost of repairs is expensive and as such to those entering the cycling world it may act as limiting factor should they want to get involved in cycling.

Anyone on a budget won't spend as much as you did on the bike so their servicing/parts cost will also be a lot cheaper. Most people truly on a budget will spend less on a bike (less than £100) and either end up with a supermarket BSO or a 10-15 year old second hand bike from ebay.

Assuming they don't end up with a BSO the cheaper components on these older bikes are often less fiddly to setup and are tolerate wear better which means they require less servicing. My bikes with 9speed MTB transmissions require a lot less ongoing maintenance than the 10spd road bike does as they are more tolerant of dirt and crud build up on the chain. The 7/8spd stuff is even more tolerant.

Bike shops will tell you that you should always service your bike every year and do things like worry about chain wear/cable replacement. In reality people on a budget won't do anything on the bike until it gets to the point that riding is really difficult. Many people I know ride bikes with one working brake that are stuck in one gear. Fixing that would cost them more than the value of the bike. Doesn't stop the bike being useful to them even though it would scare the hell out of me to ride a bike that broken.

At the point the bike finally can't be ridden any more they don't go to an LBS and get it fixed. They either hack it back to a working state themselves or look on ebay for another cheap second hand bike and take the old one to the tip.

Mike

Monkeypump

Clever Pun wrote:

if you don't want to sort out problems yourself, you have to pay someone else to do it

you're paying for a service.. which is in high demand. Suck it up and stop whining, or like it's been suggested save a few quid by bothering to fix it yourself.

I'm really not sure what the issue is here.

This.

DDD - you could have done most of the work in the time you've taken to moan/rant about it! (Or at least used some of the time online to source cheap parts).

rjsterry

DonDaddyD wrote:

rhext wrote:

Why would I waste time and effort trying to prove it? At that price, you're obviously not going for budget parts from a back-street LBS. Did you try shopping around? Did you ask them if there were options to fit cheaper parts? If you take one price point and draw conclusions for the whole of the industry, don't expect people not to argue a bit!

So to clarify.

1). You can't prove your claim that I've chosen "high end parts".

2). Your best defence for this is to claim that trying to prove it so would be a waste of time. :roll: How about being a man and admitting you assumed too much?

3). You then continue to defend your position by spouting more ill-thought out assumptions about my choice of LBS. :roll: If you ran into a wall and it hurt would you run into it again?

In answer to your questions Yes, yes and no. In fact in my first post I indicated that the original quote was £250 and the quote I left with was £150.

But I'll tell you what, how about I don't waste my time responding to you anymore.

Pathetic.

you're paying for a service.. which is in high demand. Suck it up and stop whining

I'm really not sure what the issue is here.

The issue is the rising cost in bike repairs appearing to make the past time less cost effective. £250 or even albeit a one month outlay is a lot of money.

You are right I will have to at some point suck it up (probably when I leave this computer) and by the end of the week I'm sure I'll be circa £150 lighter.

But come on give me a break. I actually make a commuting by bike related thread (albeit a rant) and you're still gonna give me a hard time?

Easy there! You did admit to putting an Ultegra Triple on the Giant, whereas you could have opted for a much cheaper chainset. FWIW, I think most have missed your point - that high quotes for servicing a bike might put people off, but it's also a fair comment that if you are really short of cash, you will just make do with a squeaky knackered bike.

baser

Have to say I dont think the cost of running my bike has been that bad, Bought a Boardman Pro about 2 1/2 years ago and I have spent about £300 keeping it going all in. Didn't do anything to it until it was a year an a half old, then replaced the drivetrain (with upgrades), brakes etc. Got my own tool kit and did it all myself with the help of youtube.

I did the work in the kitchen at home, misses wasn't pleased but it only took a day.

I think £300 for 2 1/2 years and about 7,000 miles is a bit of a bargin??

dilemna

Seems to me the OP doth protest too much. Either he can't afford to get his bike serviced in which case he rides it into the ground and then buys another when it actually cannot be ridden and falls apart. Has he not taken it elsewhere to get other quotes? If he can afford it he is just bragging that he can afford to pay some one £30 an hour to service or fix his bike. Isn't he a lucky b*stard.

Alternatively he gets wise and starts doing his own maintenance and servicing thus saving a small fortune as he won't get ripped off. Hopefully he'll then stop whinging.

Bikes really are simple to maintain.

SimonAH

I've a bit of an advantage in that I'm a very hands on practical type of guy (and I know we're not all that way inclined) but the one thing I have never regretted is money spent on good tools. I'm now 40 and I reckon that there is probably £10k of tooling i'n my workshop - seems a lot, but apart from a plasterer I hired i'n 2005 I don't think I've paid for labour in my life (OK, car tyre fitting). For the cost of your full service I reckon you could get all the bike specific tools you need - then it's just a case of scouring t'internet for the how-toos.Next year your service is free.......

dilemna

baser wrote:

Have to say I dont think the cost of running my bike has been that bad, Bought a Boardman Pro about 2 1/2 years ago and I have spent about £300 keeping it going all in. Didn't do anything to it until it was a year an a half old, then replaced the drivetrain (with upgrades), brakes etc. Got my own tool kit and did it all myself with the help of youtube.

I did the work in the kitchen at home, misses wasn't pleased but it only took a day.

I think £300 for 2 1/2 years and about 7,000 miles is a bit of a bargin??

A stitch in time saves nine ..................

Doing nothing to your bike for 18 months, crikey!!! Think what you could have saved if you had maintained it properly in this time? ie drivetrain and wheel rims not prematurely worn out. Did you not even check the chain for stretch or clean and relube it?

baser

Doing nothing to your bike for 18 months, crikey!!! Think what you could have saved if you had maintained it properly in this time? ie a drivetrain not prematurely worn out and rims not worn out. Did you not even check the chain for stretch or clean and relube it?

Sorry should have mentioned its a MTB and spends most of its time up to the axles in mud, shes always cleaned and lubed although this is the first time I have taken a wrench to a bike and didn't realise changing chains saves the drive train from wear, I did get some nice carbon cranks and light cassette upgrades in with the rebuild still £300 for;

Brake pads
Cranks
Chain rings
Cassette
Chain
Wheel bearings
Brake discs

Quite happy to pay this TBH dont want to think what I have spent on the car in the last couple of years and it has a lot easier life than the bike.

singlespeedexplosif

My advice is to take up Mountain Biking. Given how badly a single muddy ride can screw up your bike, you have to find out out to maintain it or it'll bankrupt you.

Singlespeeds FTW. Get bike out of garage. Bounce it a few times to shake off excess dried mud. Ride. Smile. Repeat.

thecremeegg

Took my bike into my LBS today for them to sort the gears out as the cables are frayed, sluggish shifting and completely out of index. My chain was rusty and the bike filthy so hardly in a good state to be worked on.

When I come back later for the bill, the bike had been cleaned up, chain completely lubed, new cable inners put in, the cable outer shortened, all the bolts torqued up, stiff headset fixed, gear indexed, pedals greased and all for £17. If you ask me thats fantastic value, so for me the costs of cycling havent increased when it comes to maintainence at least.

desweller

If enough people are prepared to spend that sort of money on bicycle maintenance, then that's what the market rate will be. If everyone baulks at the cost and elects to carry out basic tasks themselves (and let's face it, most maintenance jobs on a bike are pretty basic) then the suppliers will have to lower their rates to attract customers. Supply and demand innit.

Have you tried contacting your local LCC group? They will provide friendly maintenance classes, and probably somewhere to do the work and the tools to do it with.

flateric

True bike shops are getting pricey but worth it, i paid 15 quid to true a wheel last year, i would have been happy to pay more, last time i tried to true a wheel i ended up with an oval shape.

Over the years though i have gathered enough tools to strip any bike to its components.

andy83

simple solution, get a good mate who is a bike mechanic like I did

On a serious note, servicing and fitting parts is expensive but sometimes you just havent the time. I know general stuff around a bike but certain things are just easier time wise to take it to a bike shop.

Also helps having good relationship with bike shop staff, found out today the manager has put a 10% discount on my account, whoops!!

Specialized Needs

flateric wrote:

Over the years though i have gathered enough tools to strip any bike to its components.

Some might say that stripping the bike is the easy bit. It's putting it back together, particularly without ending up with a spare couple of screws, that is the clever bit

itboffin

There comes a point when it makes sense to start doing your own repairs, I'm always amazed at the amount of sportif riders on super bling bikes who struggle with the most basic maintenance tasks.

Clearly there are some who dont want to, or dont have the space / time / money for the tools you need and you do need the right tools, but still if you can, then try it.

You'll be surprised how easy most stuff actually is, this forum is usually worth it's weight in gold when it comes to fettling advice.

Oh and MTFU it's just a bike :roll:

EKE_38BPM

I ride ~100/week (not a massive milage).
I started riding the Vitamin in mid November (about 6 weeks).
The Vitamin cost £69.99 (cheap)
I rode through the snow (it coped quite well).
The bike sleeps indoors and is in a bike shed when I'm at work (so it only gets wet when in use).

I took the Vitamin for its free 3 month service about six weeks early as I knew it needed some loving after going through the snow and salty slush, and as the service would be free, I let Decathlon do it.
The bloke in the shop took one look at the bike and said "Thats had a hard life." He looked it over and immediately said the back brake bloke was finished, the front isn't too far behind (I knew this already). He measured the FILTHY chain and said it had stretched and would need replacing soon as would the freewheel.
He priced this up and the brake blocks, chain and freewheel (plus labour) would have costed about £45.

I told him to do the free service and nothing else, I'd get the parts and do it myself.

The next day I spent about 4 hours degreasing the chain, cleaning the frame and wheels and generally giving the bike a service. Getting the salt off was a priority to me, especially the rims and spokes and getting the drive train clean.

The original brakes blocks were rubbish (even perfectly fettled you couldn't lock the back wheel) and only lasted about 500 miles. Now I've put slightly better ones it has highlighted how rubbish the tyres are!


If I was a fair weather cyclist I would have baulked at paying well over 50% of the cost of the bike for a service. I would have then left the bike to rot fully and moaned that bikes are expensive.
I spent about £25 on the brakes and a chain. I didn't use the chain, so that is being stored for the next service and I already have a freewheel to use if the current one starts playing up.
A little home servicing and wise buys goes a long way. The bike now rides better than new.

And talking about Decathlon servicing, other than fettling the rubbish brakes back to as good as they will ever be, I can't spot what was done. It was still filthy and I know I can't work on something unless it is relatively clean.
I think they may have had a play with and then pressurised my Airzound as I'm sure it was nearly flat when I took the bike in but was fully pressurised when I got it back. One of the staffers asked me where I got it and gave one of his colleagues a blast before giving me the bike back. I think he liked it (as do I).