I have a number of different bike shops that I like to use. My MTB is currently in for a fork and shock service at a tiny shop with an owner who does all the work himself. He knows my bike, knows how I ride, knows my expectations and backs up his service if there are any issues. Aside from parts, servicing my MTB costs pretty much the same as servicing our car. I am happy to pay it. In fact I normally keep a positive balance with him, which I add to by PayPal when I have a few bucks spare, and he just deducts whatever he does off the balance. When I have something big that needs to be bought and he can’t source the part at a competitive price, he sends me up the road to chain reaction to get the part and he fits it. Normally I source parts from him if I can though and pay a wee bit more than from CRC etc, but that’s fair. 100 yards or so away is another bike shop that builds high end custom bikes and is also a trek dealer. Any work that needs doing on my road bike, they do. They also charge a fair whack per hour, which I pay with a smile, although my road bike doesn’t usually need a lot of work. The flip side of paying a decent hourly rate is that I know that my bikes are well looked after and I have a good relationship with the guys who work on them. As an example, when I ordered my new trek bike this week, the guys booked me in for a full rethul bike for, free of charge, when the bike arrives. Swings and roundabouts
