Why so bleeding expensive......

[Rod_Saetan]

Re: Re:

I've also been surprised quite recently at just how expensive it can be to take a bike to your LBS for a servcie or work done to it.... no wonder people are always asking me to have a look at their bikes! (I only charge a notional 4-pack of beer fee ).
Last trip to the LBS I calculated their labour costs at £30 per hour, and the parts used were double the price that I could find them available online. :facepalm:
Needless to say I avoid Bike shops at all costs now, and to be honest if you have the time and the inclination, there's very little on bikes that can't be done at home, its just a case of having the right tools for the job.

I think it's a little naive to think that a small Business should only be charging a very small amount for their expertise, and then match internet prices for the goods they stock.

£30 p/h is not £30 p/h when you consider the mechanic will be getting @ £7.50 per hour, they have to pay Business rates, rent, lighting, for the rubbish to be collected, copious amounts of tea bags, blah, blah, blah. I think most would also be surprised at just how cheap Merlin/CRC/Wiggle are - for instance, there are a great deal of Shimano parts that an LBS can only buy from the UK distributor, that will be cheaper online than they pay at trade - how can you run a Business selling things for less than you pay for them? Answers on a postcard please.

 

[secret_squirrel]

Re: Re:

Needless to say I avoid Bike shops at all costs now

Only trouble is if we all do that when we need one we'll at best have Halfords and Evans to choose from. And whilst I can get a discount at Halfrauds the rest of you are screwed bwahhahah.

More seriously my LBS seems to tend to expensive, and whilst I dont buy much there I go there for headset pressing and consumables, and a good old natter with the Head Mechanic who loves a bit of retro.

I also bought my youngest kids last bike from there after a horror show from the internet for my eldest.

Support your LBS - if only in case they have a secret back room full of retro stock you might get to see one day....

 

[mattr]

Re: Re:

I think most would also be surprised at just how cheap Merlin/CRC/Wiggle are - for instance, there are a great deal of Shimano parts that an LBS can only buy from the UK distributor, that will be cheaper online than they pay at trade - how can you run a Business selling things for less than you pay for them? Answers on a postcard please.

By using Wiggle/CRC/Merlin/BikeDiscount/Bike24 as your supplier.

It's been done.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Re: Re:

I think most would also be surprised at just how cheap Merlin/CRC/Wiggle are - for instance, there are a great deal of Shimano parts that an LBS can only buy from the UK distributor, that will be cheaper online than they pay at trade - how can you run a Business selling things for less than you pay for them? Answers on a postcard please.

By using Wiggle/CRC/Merlin/BikeDiscount/Bike24 as your supplier.

It's been done.

I know, I've sourced stuff for people like that before, and whilst it is better to be able to sell someone something for the same amount of money you bought it for (ignoring time, fixed costs, yada-blah) than selling it for less than you paid for it I still feel there is a better Business model out there.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

I think the point is thus: We here are a collection of people who are into bikes, and are therefore we are more likely to take the time/effort to learn how to fix those bikes. But there are a lot of people who use the bicycle as a tool, or who frankly don't have the time and inclination to learn how to fix something themselves. For them the ability to be able to take their bike to a professional workshop, which has invested a great deal of money in both training and tooling, and have it done in a short amount of time and to a high standard but pay for the privilege is a necessity, and that is partly where the pricing structure stems from. Also, there is a widely varying price structure in labour costs between a man down the arches in Herefordshire and a team of City based Cytech 3 qualified mechanics, for fairly obvious reasons.

Lastly, as the Secret Squirrel pointed out, use your LBS* or it won't be there in the future.




*and corner shop, and greengrocers, and local cinema, and MOT place, and massage parlour etc.

 

[highlandsflyer]

Point is you don't always get quality work done at your LBS, despite paying the going rates. People who use their bike as a 'tool' are the very people who need to know how to fix things themselves. Not much use commuting by bike if a simple job is going to mean you are off the road to have it repaired.

The fact a service exists locally is no argument for using it, if the service is sub par.

 

[Rod_Saetan]

Then people won't go back and they will close - I am not advocating using someone purely based on the fact that they are local - just that 'use your LBS, assuming you are sufficiently happy with the quality of the work, attitude of the staff and they are open at convenient times for you to be able to visit' doesn't quite have the same snappy timbre does it.

In my experience, the people who use their bike as a tool are the very least likely to learn how to do anything whatsoever themselves*, including punctures, but this is a London perspective, and you are never more than 4 feet from a bike shop (or a couple of miles from a Rat) at any time, so getting a puncture means a bit of a walk and £17 to get someone else to sort it.




*except Couriers, natch.

 

[dbmtb]

Also bear in mind this thread started with a bloke bleeding Hope brakes which are some of the easiest out there to bleed.

Come back when you've tried Magura MT series, Avid and Formula - and then tell me who's having a laugh.

 

[jimo746]

Re:

True ^^^.

First time I needed to do this I used the tutorials on the Hope website, stupidly simple process.
I think many people get "The Fear" when it comes to fixing their bikes, unbeleivable the number of people I know who can't (or won't) fix a punture, one of the simplest of all jobs.

I'm stuck in that my LBS is the only one for miles & miles around, they do good work, but you pay a premium for that work. I suppose that as I know how simple most of that work can be I just begrudge paying out my hard earned when I could do most things myself.
For those that don't know, or don't want to know, then the LBS is still a damn sight better than the local Hellfrauds.

 

[reanimation]

I'm fairly good building and tinkering to the point I've considered shop work, infact I did work experience in 1992! However I've been slightly scared off the mess and breakage potential of faffing with suss forks and disc brakes, especially as mine are odd stuff; Diatech anchor (Hayes design?) and White bros forks, Have also got some Z1's to build now and some Avids pre fixed and bled though they are a little tight.

I think I'm going to have a go with my NOS front Diatech as it lost some fluid in storage and transit, in theory this sounds very straight forward...