Why so bleeding expensive......

[ishaw]

..... my lbs charges £25 per end to bleed brakes. Why is it so expensive when it is so easy, as I discovered last night?

After deciding to have a go (needed to replace a front hose as was too short), I bought the hose and fluid and after a bit of research and probably 25 min of effort, job done.

Now I'm not knocking bike shops and glad they exist, but a seasoned pro could do both ends in 10 mins, which unless my maths skills are failing me, works out at £300 an hour.

I'm glad I gave it a go and now have a new skill to add to the collection, just thought I'd share, and try and dispel the myth that like servicing suspension forks, it really isn't a dark art if you have a few tools and the inclination.

 

[The History Man]

Share then?

I have a cable to shorten.

Ta.

 

[ishaw]

I was replacing a cable on a hope xc race brake. After cutting the hose (Stanley knife) to the right length, fitted the new parts over each end of the hose and tightened it all up, I had to fill with fluid/bleed. A bit of plastic tube over the bleed nipple and a catch tray at the calliper, at the master cylinder end, simply remove top cap and bladder and fill reservoir with fluid. Open bleed nipped, pump and hold down lever, tighten bleed nipple and release lever. See the fluid get sucked towards the calliper. Top up fluid, repeat as many times as necessary until you see the fluid coming out of the plastic tube and without air bubbles. (A tip I read was to also tap the calliper occasionally to release any trapped air, as well as pumping the lever with the bleed nipped closed.

Finally top up the resevoir with fluid, then roll the rubber diaphragm over the reservoir to try and ensure you don't trap air. Fit top cap and the job is done.

Make sure you clean up any fluid spill to prevent damage. I also wore gloves as it was advised due to the caustic nature of the fluid.

Simples.

 

[brocklanders023]

Re:

My lbs, Riders Cycle Center in Skipton shortened one hose, replaced the insert + olive, bled both and set them up correctly for £15 on our lasses bike.

 

[Barneyballbags]

Re:

Brake bleeding is one of those 'dark arts'. It's very very simple to do (mostly), but the majority of riders don't realise this, and would rather their LBS did it. Obviously the bike shops aren't about to let on that it's probably one of the simplest procedures to do if they can get £50 per bike for doing it!

 

[ishaw]

Re: Re:

My lbs, Riders Cycle Center in Skipton shortened one hose, replaced the insert + olive, bled both and set them up correctly for £15 on our lasses bike.

That's a good price. It would actually work out almost cheaper for me to post my bike to them? Have them do it and send it back to me than use my lbs.

 

[The History Man]

Thank you, I shall paste this.

Much appreciated.

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

£25 an end is a piss take i think, unless it's one of those high end shops that charge alot for their time because they are trying to aim themselves at the rich bikers in the area, some shops charge alot to give the impression they are in some way better and therefore more high end, it's rubbish but that's what some do.

i think £15 and end is fine personally, but bleeding is not always simple, sometimes pistons get seized etc. i found recently i was bleeding a brake that just wouldn't stay sorted when i test rode it, turned out to be a crack in the thread of the caliper, i bled that thing 4 times thinking i was doing something wrong before i discovered the issue, that was way more than an hour of faffing, then had to fit a new caliper and then re-bleed for a 5th time, can i charge for an hour plus of labour for that? not really as the customer would say "you should have found the crack earlier" it's swings and roundabouts sometimes, sometimes it's perfectly easy other times it's a pig!

i recently stripped a fox fork for a lower service, removed and refitted the BB, greased the headset, removed the removable drop outs and greased every bolt on a bike to get rid of a nasty creaking sound, all for £40 labour (and yes the creak was gone, customer confirmed to me after a long ride) and that was way longer than an hour and a bits labour, but then the owner is a mate and a fellow retrobiker

 

[rp16v]

Our shop only charges £15 per end for a straight forward bleed you have to remember most shops have a box of bleed kits as some have odd fitments eg avid need a syringe kit
once u take in the cost of fluid,materials(rags/tissue/clean up fluids),use of kit and then the labour to the mechanic
also it really can open a tin of worms if seals are worn or coroded it wont bleed correctly and knowing what to look for when it all goes wrong

 

[secret_squirrel]

It can also be a pain in the backside, and if multiple bleeds are required it can turn into a much longer job than 10 mins.

Bear in mind your LBS has to price the same for bleeding the newest hopes all the way to a 20yr old Magura where they probably have to google how to do it!

Personally I find bleeding a pain in the hole and there's many a time I have been tempted just to run it down to the LBS. One of my bikes is off the road purely because I haven't worked up the masochistic desire to bleed my Mono's.