Bike Shops Undercharge...

[KiNgL]

About half a kilo of biltong plus a half a kilo of dry wors, plus some Ferrero Rocher's (had to give those to the wife...).

 

Not complaining that I was underpaid, just think that people sometimes baulk at the price of a bike service, without understanding the time involved...

Sweet so can i book my bike in with you ill take 2kgs worth of service please!!!

[mix]

not donkey meat they are suppliers and it is fantastic went there about 3 weeks ago, i used to go there every week and get R100 biltong for the week ah those were the days, i think there biltong is amazing i ask for medium fat and wet and it is seriously good, also they have cheap ribs like R58 a kilo and they are brilliant to do in the oven. hmmm i think i may go there tomorrow.

[mix]

R90??? SH!T where??? the cheapest i get is for R135p/kg.

PnP by us charges R169p/kg

 

Jay Jays, on the edge of lombardy close to Edenvale and Lyndhurst.

[Cassie]

not donkey meat they are suppliers and it is fantastic went there about 3 weeks ago, i used to go there every week and get R100 biltong for the week ah those were the days, i think there biltong is amazing i ask for medium fat and wet and it is seriously good, also they have cheap ribs like R58 a kilo and they are brilliant to do in the oven. hmmm i think i may go there tomorrow.

 

As an aside...What's wrong with eating donkey meat?

It's a herbivore just like a zebra afterall???

 

So, if the biltong tastes really lekker - will you guys actually eat donkey (or horse far that matter) meat?

[mix]

I ate horse meat in when i lived in Portugal, its not fantastic!

[Stretched@Birth]

Sweet so can i book my bike in with you ill take 2kgs worth of service please!!!

Depends, 2kg's of Jay Jay's or PnP...? Also may need to add some Ferrero Rocher's in (VAT, or should that read FAT)

[Velouria]

Couldn't agree more. I don't mind paying for good service. When the mechanic at my LBS is the only guy in the country who can service my fork (and my odd MTB), and do a good job, I expect to pay for that. I have even told him that his service prices are too low.

 

I just don't expect to pay twice as much for a bike part that I can get from a certain online bike shop near TygerValley (let alone another online bike shop in Ireland).

[doris]

mmm agree with the others - your rate is out

 

Ok so you wrench yourself - however have a guy clean and polish the bike - he is not paid more than R10 an hour - so you really cannot even it out and calculate the hourage really - similiarly - lets say hey you come cut my grass and I pay R150 a day - your call out rate is R350 an hour and it takes you 4 hrs - our man - @ R1400 to cut my grass ? Dude you can get a team, in here in here for R140 and they done in an hour....

 

Servicing etc - 4 hrs to do a bike - lets call that a major service @ my LBS that is R700 - parts extra...ok they throw in new cables and a few squirts of juice however over all it is for rent and labour - 3 hrs work? - R250 an hour - that is a liveable wage - even if you need to pay rent.

 

You got paid did a favour enjoy the biltong - not eveything in life is calculated in hrs

[Cois]

Well I did a IT job, took me 4 hours, and got R200-00. So much for thinking a "almoes" would be cool.

[29pgc10]

You have to look at the quality of the labour and the infrastructure you need to support before you fix a price stretched.

 

Audi charges R450.00 an hour to service my car, but the mechanic has undergone an approved internationally recognised apprenticeship (lets say around 3 years) written an approved trade test and passed, and undergone extensive training in house by the factory on that car and engine.

 

Then lets look at the infrastructure that R450.00 an hour upholds, massive workshops, extensive parts, a heavy investment in specialised equipment and a huge labour force, go price a few 4 post car hoists, two engine diagnostic computers, the specialised tools required by the factory, the parts inventory needed to carry and you will see the comparison is not there.

 

please come down to earth, and dont let me start on audi (mercedes, volvo, mazda, and most probably all the others) service. PM me and I will give you my own case studies.

 

I too believe LBS undercharge, that is why we dont get bicycle shops as clean and presentable as automotive workshops. But, they also (should) have specialised equipment and tools (did you price tourque wrench recently? Remember it has to be calibrated once a year.). It scares me when a youngster tightens anything on my bike with multitool intended to be used in the race in emergency. I would like to take my bicycle to a shop with clean floor and tools, with work area station dedicated for one job at the time. I would like to collect my machine knowing all will work fine, my position has not been changed, all parts on the bicycle are actually mine, that I have not been charged for things I do not need and that all those things on the invoice actually have been fitted. To much to ask for? For R150 an hour probably yes.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

please come down to earth, and dont let me start on audi (mercedes, volvo, mazda, and most probably all the others) service. PM me and I will give you my own case studies.

 

I too believe LBS undercharge, that is why we dont get bicycle shops as clean and presentable as automotive workshops. But, they also (should) have specialised equipment and tools (did you price tourque wrench recently? Remember it has to be calibrated once a year.). It scares me when a youngster tightens anything on my bike with multitool intended to be used in the race in emergency. I would like to take my bicycle to a shop with clean floor and tools, with work area station dedicated for one job at the time. I would like to collect my machine knowing all will work fine, my position has not been changed, all parts on the bicycle are actually mine, that I have not been charged for things I do not need and that all those things on the invoice actually have been fitted. To much to ask for? For R150 an hour probably yes.

 

Hmmm, come down to earth.........!!

 

Bud, you dont know me or my backround,..... your case studies, Hmmm.............post them here, I dont PM - I have nothing to hide and besides I am sure many others will be interested.

 

Nowhere did I say charge R150.00 an hour, so thats irrelevant - what I said was look at your start up costs for a motor franchise workshop and a bicycle workshop - then lets chat - believe me I know a bit about it.

 

Price of a torque wrench........ - yeah huge, an engine diagnostic unit pales in comparison to a torque wrench, but motor workshops dont use em I guess, or have them calibrated.

[bradjackson]

i get biltong at R90 a kg and its amazing.

 

Hmm, at that price it must be a grey import

[29pgc10]

GrumpyOldGuy: we don’t discuss here cost of ESTABLISHING (including all the fancy diagnostic tools without which the highly trained technicians will not be able to find a burnt globe) a workshop but a labour charge for service delivered. The example of torque wrench was obvious one: how many LBS shops do actually use/own them? After all it should be the most important tool in their workshop. Especially nowadays, when exotic/rare materials/metals are used in bicycles. Would you like a bolt to rattle loose or break while you doing a ride/race? I don’t think so. I (want to) believe, if they would charge more they will invest more in their shops, bringing us better service.

 

Coming back to cars: I am looking for a little run-around for the business and the Caddy is something I fancy. The AutoMotion maintenance Plan to 90k km will cost me 25% extra on top of the value of the car. All things being equal, if bicycles would be sold with maintenance plans build into them, shops would have funds to have fancy tools and workshops (and captured market: you service at home you loose your warranty and service plan). I guess your next Raleigh will cost you R50k.

Edited January 30, 2011 by 29pgc10

[eggsovereasywithteandtoast]

Is this simply not the result of competition?

I think there must be 8 bike shops in a 10km radius from my place

 

(edit sorry I just thought of another one)

Edited January 30, 2011 by eggsovereasywithteandtoast

[scotty]

 

Coming back to cars: I am looking for a little run-around for the business and the Caddy is something I fancy. The AutoMotion maintenance Plan to 90k km will cost me 25% extra on top of the value of the car. All things being equal, if bicycles would be sold with maintenance plans build into them, shops would have funds to have fancy tools and workshops (and captured market: you service at home you loose your warranty and service plan). I guess your next Raleigh will cost you R50k.

 

A few years back Cyclelab used to include lifetime service on any Trek bike bought from them.

[GrumpyOldGuy]

GrumpyOldGuy: we don’t discuss here cost of ESTABLISHING (including all the fancy diagnostic tools without which the highly trained technicians will not be able to find a burnt globe) a workshop but a labour charge for service delivered. The example of torque wrench was obvious one: how many LBS shops do actually use/own them? After all it should be the most important tool in their workshop. Especially nowadays, when exotic/rare materials/metals are used in bicycles. Would you like a bolt to rattle loose or break while you doing a ride/race? I don’t think so. I (want to) believe, if they would charge more they will invest more in their shops, bringing us better service.

 

Coming back to cars: I am looking for a little run-around for the business and the Caddy is something I fancy. The AutoMotion maintenance Plan to 90k km will cost me 25% extra on top of the value of the car. All things being equal, if bicycles would be sold with maintenance plans build into them, shops would have funds to have fancy tools and workshops (and captured market: you service at home you loose your warranty and service plan). I guess your next Raleigh will cost you R50k.

 

Sure, I hear you, maybe we are talking at tangents, but remember the labour charge you see on your bill IS inclusive of all the costs related to doing the job, excluding parts and consumables of course (eg) rent, lights, water, use of the lifts, the engine diagnostics, special tools, car wash, and so on and so on.

 

If you pull just labour out of the equation a franchise dealer will charge out at roughly 200-250 bucks for experienced trade certified labour. Its not that expensive really.

 

My argument was simply it costs in the region of 3 bar to set up a medium sized factory approved workshop, those costs have to be recouped on a per car basis, hense the cost you see of R450.00 labour is inclusive of these hefty start up and running costs.

 

I dont know but I would guess a bicycle workshop cant cost more than say 200 K?? to start, probably less, hense your amortisation of both start up and running costs is much lower, and should reflect in your charge out to consumers.

 

I tend to agree that in a perfect world a higher cost should relate to a better service, but in reality its not always so, - price and service unfortunately, are not always symbiotic, as I am sure you and I have experienced.

 

Actually a lot of products are following the maintenance plan the automative market has made so popular, I recently bought a new Scuba regulator and it came with a two year "Free Parts Service" included. I only pay for the labour portion, the manufacturer covers the parts, and this was not a retailer initative, it was underwritten by the manufacturer, and as far as I could tell there was no inbuilt extra cost.

 

So yeah, I agree, a bicycle could easily come with say a two or three year free parts service plan included.