How much are you prepared to pay for a service?

[DieselnDust]

Wash and Lube = R00.00 ( i do this myself)

 

Wash, Lube, Set gears = R00.00 ( i do this myself)

 

SO you get a clean bike if I drop it off and the chain is lubed.

 

Where I will enlist the shop or distributor is Suspension service or bearing service where proprietary tools are involved.

then I expect R350 to R450 an hour to be reasonable. (DEPENDS ON EXPERIENCE OF MECH)

 

Wheel Builders are another notch. I'm happy to pay a good wheelbuilder R600-R1000per wheel (depends on number of spokes, internal or external nipples, spoke prep and destressing.

 

But it seems many people don't want to pay for this service anymore

[droo]

Who are you billing for this post?

 

Your bike's not here, otherwise you'd be funding a portion... This gets filed in the admin and marketing bit of the overhead.

 

others apply different values to their time and may have zero interest in diy jobs.

 

Bang on. If you can do it yourself, and have the interest, then go for it. A grand for tooling is well optimistic though - I did a tool audit at the end of last year and I'm well into the hundreds of thousands. And my collection is nowhere near complete.

 

The main things are admitting where you run out of talent and stopping yourself before you try a bodge on an expensive component because you don't have the tool. The first you can often solve with a visit or call to a friendly mechanic, the second is an investment either in the tool or the time of the guy who's got the right thing.

[Goodbadugly]

Also consider that tools won't last invariably. Ever a pair of pliers won't last.

Who has to pay for that? And who pays for the power washer?

[Puncture Kid]

I find the costs with basic services absolutely absurd, often times more than a minor service on a car. Suspension service cost I can stomach purely because it takes a bit more technical know-how.

A grand for a wash and lube....

 

To be honest, what actually gets lubed? Really only the chain and maybe derailleur pivots. Apart from that there is nothing much to lube if you don't take things apart e.g. pivots / shocks etc. I doubt that a lube service will include hubs, shocks, BB, derailleur wheels, etc. If that what the LBS tell you they are doing then you are taken for a ride. Just lubing those components without proper disassembly / lube and reassembly is not going to make a difference. The lubing of chain you can (and should) be doing yourself regularly anyway to prolong chain life.

 

Far more people should service their own bikes it is not rocket science and the benefits are manifold.

Absolutely agree, except for the 'manifold' part..

 

If that wash and lube takes 3 hours @ 350 per hour, to check all the bearings, interfaces, gears, tolerances and such? Even if nothing's wrong, the guy's time is still worth something. 

Correct... but as above, I wonder what kind of lube they do to take 3 hrs.

When I service my drivetrain, I take the chain off, wash it properly, and then clean each link from gunk by brushing with a wire brush. Then lay the chain out in the sun to warm up and then lube each link, roller pin and plate twice. Then take off cassette, break it apart and brush each cog clean & wash. Then reassemble. Even that does not take 3 hours. If I also do a full rear derailleur stripdown and clean then it takes about 3 hours, but no way the LBS does that, or even close.

 

An expensive thing is not always a good thing, but in terms of labour if it's too cheap it's either not done right or it's undervalued and therefore unsustainable.

 

Labour is one of those commodities that isn't easily scaleable, so if you're not charging correctly for your time there are only two ways of compensating - work yourself to death or take shortcuts.

^^ Someone that knows....

 

 

I do not believe that it's that difficult to service your own bike and only pay for the parts. I must admit that I'm not 100% on a fork and shock service along with a brake bleed - everything else I first try it myself and if I mess it up then I'll concede defeat and pay the lbs 

I also don't do my shocks, but I do bleed brakes. All you need is a bleed kit and youtube....

 

correct. The guy doing the work needs to get paid.

 

And if you want a skilled guy to be checking gears, tolerances etc. then you need to pay for skilled labour.

Agreed, that is the whole point. Pay peanuts, get monkeys...

 

@puncture kid, did you do a search for previous threads asking the same question? There are some, I remember reading them. It was quite interesting for the most part.

 

As for your actual question, so far there are (like previous threads) various opinions, motivations and experiences. In my own account, I'd much rather spend R1000 on the tools and diy for the rest of my life than spend R100-1000 everytime something goes wrong. I find the knowledge being priceless and the self sufficiency fulfilling, but others apply different values to their time and may have zero interest in diy jobs.

Apologies, no I did not do a search....

As for the 2nd part, absolutely agree. I also taught my son to change brake pads etc. It also serves as bonding time and teaching him a useful skill. Also teaches him to have an appreciation for his bike and the complexities thereof, as well as how things work.

 

[porqui]

Also consider that tools won't last invariably. Ever a pair of pliers won't last.

Who has to pay for that? And who pays for the power washer?

 

What do you do with your tools - chew on them?

 

A good tool cared for lasts a lifetime.

[Yo-Yo]

WASH & LUBE – R240.00

This entails a wash and lube by the legendary Percy

 

 And I got flamed once to mention I'd paid R100 for a wash and a lube (on a bike). That's nuts. 

 

As for what I'd pay? Depends what kind of service and how much I'm prepared to shell out to know the job is done right. The guys I use are excellent and I've been going to them for 5+ years so we have an good relationship I trust them and don't need to second guess their work or that they will get everything done that needs to be done and not rip me off. 

[porqui]

 

 

Absolutely agree, except for the 'manifold' part..

 

 

 

Maybe you should Google the manifold part then.

 

The meaning could be manifold.

[Edge_Design]

 And I got flamed once to mention I'd paid R100 for a wash and a lube (on a bike). That's nuts. 

 

As for what I'd pay? Depends what kind of service and how much I'm prepared to shell out to know the job is done right. The guys I use are excellent and I've been going to them for 5+ years so we have an good relationship I trust them and don't need to second guess their work or that they will get everything done that needs to be done and not rip me off. 

 

 

To wash and lube a bike shouldn't take more than 15 minutes if you work efficiently so R1k per hour for a bicycle cleaner is quite impressive! There are bicycle mechanics with many years of experience who wish they could charge that much (R160k per month if you have enough work coming in). Well done to them if they can make that work.

[Puncture Kid]

Maybe you should Google the manifold part then.

 

The meaning could be manifold.

TIL

[porqui]

TIL

 

Now you made me look up TIL !!!

 

What is the past tense of TIL?

[Puncture Kid]

Now you made me look up TIL !!!

 

What is the past tense of TIL?

it's already past tense... 

 

"Today I Learned"

[DieselnDust]

Your bike's not here, otherwise you'd be funding a portion... This gets filed in the admin and marketing bit of the overhead.

 

 

 

Bang on. If you can do it yourself, and have the interest, then go for it. A grand for tooling is well optimistic though - I did a tool audit at the end of last year and I'm well into the hundreds of thousands. And my collection is nowhere near complete.

 

The main things are admitting where you run out of talent and stopping yourself before you try a bodge on an expensive component because you don't have the tool. The first you can often solve with a visit or call to a friendly mechanic, the second is an investment either in the tool or the time of the guy who's got the right thing.

My investment in tools is already close to R15k. That’s a lot of services...

[JScottP]

My investment in tools is already close to R15k. That’s a lot of services..

Seems to be about 15 washes and lubes

[Patchelicious]

Oh yay, somebody caught feelings this morning.

 

We have choices in this world.

 

Either we do things ourselves, or we pay people to do things for us.

Free market dictates how much their services costs.

 

Ps: Lets stop this hyperbole of R1000 for a wash and lube. If you think all you got for your R1000 service was a wash and lube, thats a different discussion.

[Hamstring]

a wash and lube to my my knowledge is +- R150. i keep my bike clean and probably have my bike in at my LBS 4 times a year at a cost of +- R1800 each time including sum parts, and that's doing 8000km a year give or take. 

[Slowbee]

I will gladly pay the R250 for a wash and lube if it means I can pop into the shop for an emergency repair or just a chat to pass the time or haggle a bit for an installation of a second hand part. I will also pay R250 for a wash when I know I can pop into said shop while on a ride and something is not lekker and they sort it out then and there. I will also gladly pay R250 for an urgent  repair (cannot wait for delivery of spare part) when I know the part is going to come off a shop floor bike, and my repair is going to be pushed in front of the que, or done after hours just so they can make sure the bike is ready in time. Worth the R250 every time.