New bike shop: This seems like an insane amount of maintenance. Bike is a 2017 that got a lot of tune ups every year. How legit is this quote?
It's currently on the trainer but plan to take it out in April.
by Unique-Assistance686
New bike shop: This seems like an insane amount of maintenance. Bike is a 2017 that got a lot of tune ups every year. How legit is this quote?
It's currently on the trainer but plan to take it out in April.
by Unique-Assistance686
28 Comments
I should report that I don’t have any issues with it
Is everything a la carte at that place? Dang. Seems steep.
You got fleeced.
At my local shop this would be 75, 100 tops. Disclaimer, living in Athens, Greece
pricey, but fair for quality work in a major city with high cost of living
At those prices you may as well just throw it away and get a new bike every couple of years.
Also most of these things are pretty easy to do yourself. I bought a bike stand on amazon and do my drivetrain, shifting, and brake maintenance myself.
This is 3 Michelin star service. The hydraulic fluid is only the best imported organic mineral oil. Shifter cables were installed by a gold-toothed mechanic. Internal routing performed by an adult film star.
The prices are high but nothing criminal at least compared to jobs by me in the NY Tri-State area. The things that would bug me are these ticky tack charges like a $50 drive chain inspection? Granted without seeing the bike or knowing what a drive chain inspections entails, it’s hard to say definitively it’s a scam, but in my head it would see like a drive chain inspection is just wiping down the parts, checking the chain for stretch, checking the chainring teeth, and maybe wiping down the jockey wheels? I just find that BS for $50 is that is the truth.
$35 for tape is somewhat reasonable if that includes the cost of tape
The bleeding of the brakes at $50 each seems high, since most shops by me are $35 per line.
The $17 sealant per wheel seems insane. Top of the line Silca Sealant Ultimate is $6 per 65ml. I understand there is some labor involved, but $22 over the MSRP of the sealant is just out there.
Cable housing charge seems high, but the $50 internal cable surcharge is criminal
$150 tune up isn’t crazy, but it sure looks like you’re either converting to tubeless on top of it + getting new bar tape. Also dirty drivetrain
Damm you we just other fool walking though the door. Ripe for the plucking!
I have questions: Like why is there ‘Essential Service’ that adjusts the drive train and then another $50 charge for drive train inspection? Seems like the same thing?
$100 to recable with new housing, even internal, seems like a lot to me. Maybe that’s that the going rate in your area?
I never get the brakes bled unless I have a braking issue. Maybe that’s a bad call on my part…
This is why I do my own work.
$100 just to change a couple gear cables gtfo lol
this is a fancy dancy mechanic that will always have your bike running 100% no matter the cost. Triathletes in particular love these guys.
You need someone who can just make it work well enough for a decent rate. I’ll be honest, they are taking you on a run for your money, but it’s not completely unreasonable if you do everything by the book, most shops just don’t. A good shop can sus this out in a customer and meet them where they are.
Maybe try a shop with a more commuter bikes / clientele if you want more value focused service.
Is this a Trek owned shop?
I used to manage the service department in a shop that was being “evaluated” for takeover by Trek and they hated that we would charge reduced labor for components that were being replaced as part of the tune up. If I’m going to be replacing shift cable and housing, part of that adjustment in the tune up is going to be done during the install of the new cable and housing. Double dipping like that just felt super scummy to me. The internal routing surcharge is legitimate if the cables and housing are fully internally routed through bars, stem, and headset. I wouldn’t charge that much extra if they just go into the down tube and pop out by the bottom bracket.
You can buy a quart of sealant, valve core remover and the injector thingy to refresh sealant yourself for a few years for what they’re charging. It’s really easy. Don’t even need a compressor if the tire is already mounted (and there’s some tricks if you don’t have one or can’t borrow).
Brake bleeds are more fiddly to do yourself, that’s something I’m willing to pay for, but those rates seem really high. Most shops around me (HCOL major metro) charge $25-30ish/bleed.
Is anything wrong with the shifting? Then no need to pay $127 for new cables/housing. Not that bad to do yourself (but internal routing is annoying, so I understand that surcharge).
Park tool has a really good YT video on how to wrap your bars. Super easy and no special tools required other than scissors and electrical tape. Save yourself $35 there.
Cleaning your drivetrain only requires a small amount of solvent ($10?), a dollar store toilet brush, and a place to do it. Taking off the cassette is a nice thing to do if it’s really bad, but not always necessary. Get a FR-5.2 lock ring tool and chain whip for the cost of this.
$150 for the basic tuneup actually seems fine, that’s about going rate or even slightly below.
In summary, if you want white glove service and not to do anything yourself, then yeah, expect to pay these prices, but a lot of maintenance is really easy to do yourself for way cheaper.
$17 per tyre for tubeless sealant?!
$35 to wrap some new tape?!
$50 per break for bleeding?!?!
Double surcharge for internal cables.
Man, these guys absolutely wanted to fuck you over lmao
the repair industry has high overhead which is passed by consumers, you could cut costs by 50-80% if you did the work yourself
127 bucks to change two cable outers and new shift cable sheesh. It might be worth learning to do bike maintenance your self unless you have the money to spend for this and don’t mind
Were the bars double wrapped? Or did they charge 30 for each roll for a single side of the bar?
That’s bonkers. Brutal
I always ask a shop what brake bleed costs. $35 is pretty standard for both. $100 is bonkers. But it’s a good way to judge the service department.
cheaper to service my 20 year old car
Did you ask what hourly rate is? I could accomplish all this in two hours at my shop which would be 200 labor for me. A lot of add on labor charges look suspect. Also, the tune up cost is outrageous considering he charged 50$ extra for drivetrain inspection and cleaning, so unless it’s a parts removal and thourougb cleaning I’m not sure why the extra charge. To be fair, you haven’t said what bike it is and some take longer than others, but it should still be time based. In my experience a really nice bike might need less time to get a great tune out of it than a cheaper bike. Also, if you haven’t touched your bike in years then I could also see the price making more sense, but this seems high…even at a high line shop in an expensive city.
Most shops I’ve worked in would bundle those add’l labor line items into a higher tier “deluxe tune-up”
Charging you for the valve cores and power lock is a choice, lmao.
Drivetrain clean should be included in that essential cost, and it looks like they’re double charging for the cable install. Internal cables should cost more for the labor but they shouldn’t charge a regular cable install and an internal cable install on top of it. I might take that somewhere else
A 1000 mL bottle of Stan’s is $34, which will fill eight tires if you use a generous 125 mL per tire.
What city is this in?
In general, somewhat reasonable assuming it all needs done…but here’s what I would probably say.
We don’t know how dirty the drivetrain is, so hard to comment if $50 for the clean and inspection reasonable or not. I assume the mechanic that quoted didn’t measure for chain wear, so be prepared for a new chain.
I would skip the sealant refill and valve cores….you need to do that every 6 months so it should wait until the spring, and do it yourself.
$65 to replace bar tape isn’t unheard of, but its also something that you can do at home. Just watch the Park Tool video and you can get it done for $20-25.
The internal cable surcharge is a bit questionable, assuming its just through the downtube (not through the headset). You are essentially getting charged $100 to install two housings and cables. The indexing is part of the $150 charge. I’d see if they can take out the internal cable surcharges; If the housings are in good shape, you can ask for just cable replacements. For mechanical shifting, I swap cables every year, housing every 2-3 years.
I am surprised there is no mention of new brake pads.