Would you pay to have your bike cleaned?

Armyofangels

Would you pay to have your bike cleaned? If so, how much?

I'm considering offering my excellent bike cleaning services out but have no idea what people would expect to pay for a clean that would bring the bike back to as perfect a state as can be.

Think silver sprockets ("but I thought they were black?!"), thoroughly degreased braking surfaces, non-dusty hubs, white bar tape and so on...

All opinions welcome!

djm501

Probably not but I can see it having an attractions for some. No more than a fiver would work though I would think.
A car wash doesn't cost much more than that (although a full Valet does of course)

smoggysteve

I enjoy cleaning my bikes. Why would I want someone else to do it?

ashleydwsmith

I personally wouldnt, its part of the thing! But I think there is a potential market there. People in flats with no space, people with limited time.
But I wouldnt pay too much, depending on the level of clean, fiver would be the most and would probably have some loyalty scheme going on as well.

bianchimoon

Armyofangels wrote:

Would you pay to have your bike cleaned? If so, how much?

I'm considering offering my excellent bike cleaning services out but have no idea what people would expect to pay for a clean that would bring the bike back to as perfect a state as can be.

Think silver sprockets ("but I thought they were black?!"), thoroughly degreased braking surfaces, non-dusty hubs, white bar tape and so on...

All opinions welcome!

anyone who cares enough about their bike would want to clean it themselves, anyone who doesn't care about their bike would not have it cleaned... that's why i'm out!

rolf_f

Can't see how such a service could be economic. To clean a bike either takes moments for a quick wipe down (in which case easy enough to do it yourself) or a proper job takes a long time and more than many would I think pay. Getting a bike back to a perfect state needs wheels off, chain and cassette degreasing, chainrings cleaning (down to tooth level), spokes cleaning, re-lubricating where appropriate and a water resistant polish to the frame paintwork. That takes long enough with a bike that is already kept clean. If it is properly dirty then I reckon you'd be talking quite a bit of money for it to be economically viable.

Gizmodo

No.

smoggysteve

Half of the cleaning process is checking for wear and damage. If you pay someone to clean it, they either don't pay attention to these things, or they do and they fix them, that is what I would call a service so you may as well take it in for a service in the first place. As mentioned. Once things are cleaned, you need to relube and if things like cassettes are taken apart, possible indexing. Again, this is more of a service thing so how far exactly are you intending to go with a cleaning service?

Barteos

bianchimoon wrote:

Armyofangels wrote:

Would you pay to have your bike cleaned? If so, how much?

I'm considering offering my excellent bike cleaning services out but have no idea what people would expect to pay for a clean that would bring the bike back to as perfect a state as can be.

Think silver sprockets ("but I thought they were black?!"), thoroughly degreased braking surfaces, non-dusty hubs, white bar tape and so on...

All opinions welcome!

anyone who cares enough about their bike would want to clean it themselves, anyone who doesn't care about their bike would not have it cleaned... that's why i'm out!

My road bike/commuter is in use almost every day for 10-15 hours a week all year round.
I care about how it works (it works perfectly), not whether it's clean or not.

I wouldn't mind paying someone for cleaning it from time to time, though.
Doing it thoroughly takes more than 5 minutes and it's worth more than a fiver IMO.

buckles

I absolutely hate cleaning my bike. I am a bike rider, not a cleaner. Therefore I want to ride the thing not fu*king clean it.

I love the fact that people are making generalisations / character judgements about the kind of person who would have someone else clean their bike. "I wouldn't do this, so other people who would do it must be <insert generalisation/character judgement here>". By that logic, well, I grow my own vegetables because I care about what I'm eating, therefore anyone who doesn't grow their own vegetables doesn't care about what they're eating.

Not exactly surprising to see that kind of ugly judgemental mentality, but still ugly and very ignorant nonetheless.

Having someone to come to my house and clean my bike thoroughly would be great... I would pay £5-£10 plus whatever they charge to clean my house and do the weeding etc. so I can spend my time doing things I enjoy.

bianchimoon

Buckles wrote:

Not exactly surprising to see that kind of ugly judgemental mentality, but still ugly and very ignorant nonetheless.

oh the irony, BTW the OP asked for opinions, that's what he got

Bozman

Yes.... If it was done Cool Hand Luke style.

sloppyschleckonds

bianchimoon wrote:

Buckles wrote:

Not exactly surprising to see that kind of ugly judgemental mentality, but still ugly and very ignorant nonetheless.

oh the irony, BTW the OP asked for opinions, that's what he got

But where does Buckles stand?

Russell160

Interesting idea. Probably yes. £5 max. I think people will compare it with car clean. I can see some logistical problems for you though: would you do it a peoples homes, place of work, cycle cafe? You could tie it in with a shop thats doing servicing, but that would beg the question: why don't they offer the service themselves\?
I have sometimes pondered the option of a straightforward chain cleaning and quick lube service: this could be done quickly and cheaply, outside a cycle cafe while people are having a coffee. Use park tool chain scrubber or similar.I would probbably pay £2 to £3 for a chain clean. People would have less psychological resistance to this than a full clean. You could test it out easily. This price perception is obviously 'illogical'' compared to a full clean price but thats my gut feeling.. Maybe this could be more profitable than the full valet idea you are proposing....10 chain cleans an hour at £2 a throw...

Grill

My LBS does all bikes for free, but I do give them a lot of my hard-earned coin and referral business. If they decided to charge me I'd happily pay as I have neither the time nor the inclination to do it myself.

markhewitt1978

To have it fully clean and looking as new £20

GiantMike

markhewitt1978 wrote:

To have it fully clean and looking as new £20

Bring it round here and I'll jet wash the f*ck out of it for you. £10.

BrandonA

I personally like cleaning my bikes. It would probably take me just as long to go to someone's house as it would to clean it. I think there are different types of cyclist though. I have one expensive bike and another cheaper carbon fibre bike, I therefore look after these and wipe them down after most rides and give the gears/chain a good clean quite frequently.

You might have more joy with woman, lazy people or people with cheaper bikes who don't really know what they are doing.

I doubt you'd make a living out of it but you might get a few takers. I'd advertise locally and see what happens.

I doubt you'd be able to charge a a lot though. Think about it, car washes are quite cheap and unless you are going to strip the bike down and clean individual components (which I doubt you would) not many people would want to pay more to have their cheap bike cleaned than they would their car.

alihisgreat

When I'm at Uni and don't have access to a hose, I sometimes go down to the hand car wash and the nice chaps down there let me use their pressure washer to give the bike a quick spray down (Don't worry.. from a distance! Don't want my bearings getting ruined!)

Maybe I should see if I can pay them to do it for me next time

Grill

I live at the top of a tall building so there is nowhere for me to wash my bikes (if I could be bothered). I'd happily pay a tenner to support a small business as I can't imagine it taking more than half an hour.

rolf_f

Grill wrote:

I live at the top of a tall building so there is nowhere for me to wash my bikes (if I could be bothered). I'd happily pay a tenner to support a small business as I can't imagine it taking more than half an hour.

But it will take more than half an hour. He might spend half an hour in your flat cleaning your bike but he also has to get from your place to the next place, buy his cleaning materials, pay for his transport and parking and cover for the fact that he might not have enough bookings to cover a whole day. Your tenner probably means he'll earn about £50 a day gross. Fine if you don't mind employing illegal immigrants living in a squat but if you want to pay someone the minimum legal wage you'll probably need to triple that tenner at least.

A tenner isn't supporting a small business - it is exploitation.

Grill

I have six bikes for him to clean. I think a tenner a bike is pretty reasonable. :P

rolf_f

Grill wrote:

I have six bikes for him to clean. I think a tenner a bike is pretty reasonable. :P

Well in that case.... as long as you mucky them up regularly! And make sure you call in at his home regularly as he might starve to death in summer unless he has another occupation available!

mechanism

I could see this working at a really convenient location e.g. the car park where people meet up for group rides, events, or possibly something like a bike café - you'd need to be pretty busy for £5 - £10 to be viable. There's a video from Pedro's showing something like that.

andrewwaite

You might have more joy with woman, lazy people or people with cheaper bikes who don't really know what they are doing.

How do you come to the conclusion that people with cheaper bikes or woman dont know what they are doing

Barbarossa

Where does cleaning stop and servicing start?

I can take the wheels off, wash down the frame and wheels in 15 minutes. Probably wouldn't pay more than a fiver for that.

To clean the bike 'properly' I would need to take off the chain, derailleurs, crankset, calipers.... Degrease and re-lubricate, re-assemble and set-up - I imagine that that would take a couple of hours. At that point, you should be offering servicing rather than just cleaning to justify the £100 or so that you would need to charge for your time.

goonz

I never paid anyone to wash my car, why on earth would i pay someone to wash my bike?

drlodge

Would never occur to me to pay someone to wash my bike. Heck, I wouldn't pay someone to service my bike! Keepin my bike clean, well serviced etc is all part of the cycling enjoyment for me. I'd rather pay someone to tidy and clean my flat, which then allows for more time fettling with my bike

iPete

Could work at the end of big events, if you pray for bad weather and mucky roads anyway

Otherwise you really need to be looking at offering a basic service on top (index gears, check brakes and maybe re-tape bars).

junglist_matty

No, I would not pay someone to do it for me, nor would I pay someone to wash my car, to do both would take me less than an hour and do a far better job and know it's been done well.

tomlockbart

Grill wrote:

I live at the top of a tall building so there is nowhere for me to wash my bikes (if I could be bothered). I'd happily pay a tenner to support a small business as I can't imagine it taking more than half an hour.

Yup, this.

I Live in a flat, plus don't go out to work to then spend my time cleaning. Would pay £20 max for a full clean every couple of months or so.