full service

ashley7

When you take your bike to a bike shop
for a full service, what do they do or check in the service?

sungod

depends on the shop

for a "full" service, some define that as a complete strip down, check and rebuild, others might do far less, example definitions here...

http://www.cyclesurgery.com/workshops/c ... cp-content

but i've taken a new bike into a shop for the free 6-month service, it came back out of adjustment and things that were supposed to be checked had clearly been missed

unless you are really useless at mechanical things, in the long run it's better+cheaper to learn to diy, the "standard general service" on the above site is fairly straightforward, sites like...

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

...are a good source of how-to info (and you don't really need all of the tools that park suggest!)

if you don't fancy it, then you are really at the mercy of the shop, long established local shops may be more reliable, but try to get recommendations, or if you know someone who does their own, see if they'll give it a look over after the service as a quality check

desweller

I do all my own maintenance, since a bicycle is about as complicated as an ironing board, for me a major service is likely to be (not necessarily in this order):

Replace all cables and bar tape
Drop a little light oil into the shifters
Clean mechs and dob a little oil onto the pivot points
Check brake blocks and replace if necessary
Check chain & cassette and replace if necessary, otherwise remove and clean
Strip and regrease wheel bearings, replace balls if necessary
Check bottom bracket condition - if it's a cup-and-cone type (not many of these about any more!) I'll strip and regrease it, possibly replace the balls
Check tyre condition
Check brake caliper condition (they're vulnerable to contamination of the pivots), strip and regrease if necessary (bit of a long fiddly job)
Clean frame and check for cracks
Remove, grease and replace seatpost
Check chainring bolts

It's a solid half day's work. I don't do a major service very often, maybe 12 to 18 months interval I'd guess, depending on how the bike is looking.

P_Tucker

ashley7 wrote:

When you take your bike to a bike shop
for a full service, what do they do or check in the service?

They check the weight of your wallet, before bending you over the nearest workbench and rogering you senseless.

Monty Dog

Basically, strip it all down, clean and lube - replace anything that's worn and rebuild as a new bike. Check and polish the frame too. You should probably think about a new chain too (extra cost). Bike shops like to change cables too - not because they're worn or anything, but people don't know better - if it ain't frayed it ain't gonna break IME. I tend to give each this treatment every year. 4-6 hours depending on the condition of the bike.

P_Tucker

Also, even if you put a new cassette and chain on 3 minutes before dropping it off at the shop, you'll be informed that you need a new cassette and chain.

rubbernekker

They check the weight of your wallet, before bending you over the nearest workbench and rogering you senseless.

Also, even if you put a new cassette and chain on 3 minutes before dropping it off at the shop, you'll be informed that you need a new cassette and chain.

I wonder which came first, the bad attitude or the crap service.

In general, you can tell how good a bike shop is by talking to the boss and the mechanic for a few minutes- if your bike is nice and clean and of reasonable quality, say 600 quid plus then you can expect to gain a lot from a good service.

As MD points out, some bike shops replace cables as part of the service because they are cheap and why not? The downside for the customer is that they will stretch and mean another trip back to the bike shop for a gear& brake tune. Hardly a issue for the bikeshop- although good ones will do if for free. esp if you have formed a relationship. but you can see the moral hazard. Another reason to replace a cable is because of drag- if they are full of clag they won't allow the calipers to return and the mech to shift well, no commercial mechanic is going clean the existing cables out, so in a new one will go. If you ask about the cable policy- you'll get a fairly good impression of how sensible the mechanic is.
Other leading questions you can ask are about how long he thinks a chain and cassette will last in miles/kms and how much the cost of an average service is- ie the cost of labour plus the parts he normally fits. Finally if you ask what you can do to keep the cost of your replacement parts down, I'd hope he'd mention the early replacement of your chain to preserve your cassette- With Shimano you can do three chains per cassette, Campag maybe four. If your bike is 10speed or above this can save you a fortune.

I now live in New Zealand, a 105 cassette is $160 or over eighty quid and there are no CRC or wiggles to overnight stuff to you, its very apparent here that relationships with bike shops are very important. Blokes who buy their stuff in the US and then bring it in to get it fitted get very short shrift. It's okay to buy stuff online- if you can fit it yourself.
Eventually, if you are going to stick riding your bike then you should learn to do most of it yourself.
One thing- never get a bike shop to repair your punctures. It says ' I'm too rich/ busy/ important to do this myself, so i'm going to get you to do it'. A sure fire way to always pay full whack for everything - because if you can pay for someone to fix your punctures- you clearly can afford to.-A bitter impression formed in the bikeshops of London I'm afraid.
Finally- Bike shops aren't full of young men (cos it mostly is) who want to rip you off- they just like bikes. They might even find the selling bit rather tedious but they do it so they can talk about and play with bikes all day. If you demonstrate a similar enthusiasm then there is a good chance you will get along fine. Ignore posts that say all bike shops are going to shaft you, generalisations like that say more about the poster than the truth about the service.