I recently was gifted a 2013 road bike propel, and upon servicing originally just needed a new chain and some simple maintenance. The previous owner, who I work with, used it, but had crashed it, but had it checked out and said the frame was good. But on this the spokes are damaged and the bike shop recommended new wheels the wheels that are on there are bontrager I believe.
As someone trying to get into cycling and being gifted a pretty decent bike, I am wondering if it is still a good bike and I should pay the quote to fix it, or would I be better just buying a new bike for now and fixing it later if I get into cycling?
Thank you for your advice and help!
by Athleteofbaseball
21 Comments
For 890, you can get a better bike than a propel
Yes, seems like the “gift horse” with bad teeth.
That’s the price of a decent used rim brake road bike that doesn’t need new wheels. Also, you can probably find decent alloy used wheels for a lot less. And a road bike that can only handle 25 tires is not as useful as one that can take 28 size. (I assume 25 since that’s what they want to put on the new wheels)
Are the wheels themselves actually damaged, or is this more of a “since your bike is already getting worked on” kind of suggestion? If they can just do new spokes+nipples and cut ~$350 off the bill, it may be easier to justify.
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I would have walked after seeing a $42 chain. The rates that these shops are charging for the most basic shit is unbelievable! If I were you, I’d buy my own new (or used) wheelset and never return.
I’m not paying nearly $900 to get a 13 year old road bike in questionable condition back on the road
You could search facebook marketplace and find a pair of road wheels for $100 and probably talk em down to $70. I’d get a second opinion on whether those rims can be salvaged.
None of this maintenance is difficult. Get some used wheels or a superteam wheelset off Amazon.
$900 for a working bike would be a lot of money and I’m talking about this bike, I owned a top of the range 2016 Giant Propel a few years ago, carbon everything with di2…this bike is only worth something to the original owner or someone who can do the work themselves…if that isn’t you, go and buy something else, do not spend any money fixing this…it’s a gift and a curse.
Find a community co op where you can wrench on your own bike or pay someone to do it for you. Itll be a lot cheaper.
Could be pricing it super high so the customer either buys a new bike or takes this one somewhere else
The bike shop is fair with its pricing. But its a lot. If I spend that kind of money, ill ride it a lot to get my money s worth
service cost is worth more than your bike….. Worth it ONLY if you want/need to keep it and ride for the next 10 years…..
100USD for those two Maxxis tires, oh my. 30USD here in Taiwan for two.
This is why bike shops are dying… Good riddance!
What a ripoff..
The price for the parts is all reasonable, the service fee is adding a good chunk of it but then you aren’t doing g the work yourself, so it’s not unexpected that there is a service fee. You could probably ask them to rebuild the wheels rather than replace them, I have no idea if it NEEDS a new saddle / peddles or if you asked for them.
Generally it’s a totally reasonable quote, of course there are ways it could be made cheaper, primarily by doing g the work yourself.
Lots of good used stuff.
Ils specialized Tarmac SL5 frames are nice. Older aluminum bikes like specialized Allez sprint. You can look up a trek domane alr 4 or 5 from 2019-2022 for a good price often. Felt and argon 18 have some nicer old bikes from 2018-2022 that don’t have the bigger branding and get cheaper on used markets.
If you are in the US, x-labs has just come into the market. They are insanely well priced
1399$ for this is nuts!
https://xds.co/en-intl/products/rs5
Trek sells a domane alr 5 with worse wheels, non-integraded headset, no power meter, and 1/2 lbs heavier for $2099.
Some food for thought.
All was reasonable… $4.50 per cable and install OS cheap
Pedals were a little expensive… clipless?
Wheels are confusing. Why are they selling you a whole new inexpensive wheel set when you have high quality wheels that can be relaced?
At full MSRP for the parts + 225 labour this will not be a good deal for $ 900.
Someone who can do just a tiny bit of wrenching and know hows to shop online, on CL or FB marketplace can get this bike up and running for $250 tops.
For example those e13 flat pedals are serious mountain bike pedals.
Way overkill for a first time road bike rider who’s just not ready for clipless pedals yet. You could perfectly get away with a $30 pair of pedals.