Bike services...What do they do?

[funnymummy]

If you took your bike into your LBS, the one where you bought it from a couple of months earlier, for it's first proper service which they told you was free (or included in the purchase price) what would you expect them to do to it..?
If they asked you if you had any probs with it & you told them at least 2, would you expect them to be fixed, or at least checked..?
Would you expect the bike, or chain at least to be cleaned/relubed as a bare minimum..?

 

[terry_gardener]

this might answer the question, this is for evans cycles

Stage 1 service

stage 2 service

the free 6 week service might be just basic checks and anything you ask them to check, for example cable tension, tyre pressures etc.

 

[Dora]

I'd expect them to check the bike for faults and make sure all the cables are properly tensioned and the bike is still safe to ride. If they cleaned the chain I'd be delighted! (Although, if I'd paid for a service, I'd expect the chain cleaned and more.)

If I brought it in pointing out problems, I'd expect them to let me know there and then wether they were going to take a look at them, and if they weren't my fault/general wear and tear, then on a first service, I'd expect them fixed. If they were my fault (and let's face it, most problems on my bikes are a result of my poking around with a screwdriver) I'd hope they'd let me know, at least by phone, before they fixed them and charged me for it. In truth, most have just fixed it unless it needs parts.

One bike shop I used to frequent in my uni days would add an extra fiver on to the service price if the bike was dirty when you brought it in. One I frequent now put the bike on a work stand for me and tells me to get on with it. (...but shhhhhh!) Can't bloody spend any money in there no matter how hard I try!!

As an aside - I'd love to find and LBS (which isn't Evans) where I can actually book my bike in for a service, rather than them saying "no space this week, try again next week"

 

[rusky]

If you took your bike into your LBS, the one where you bought it from a couple of months earlier, for it's first proper service which they told you was free (or included in the purchase price) what would you expect them to do to it..?
If they asked you if you had any probs with it & you told them at least 2, would you expect them to be fixed, or at least checked..?
Would you expect the bike, or chain at least to be cleaned/relubed as a bare minimum..?

I've always had excellent service from here http://www.questadventure.co.uk/index.asp?pageID=54

For the first service, it's usually just checking nuts & bolts along with indexing & putting right anything you bring to their attention.

 

[david1701]

cables, checking everything's tight still and any faults you point out, specialised retrue'd my back wheel after I took my tricross too off road

 

[Cyclopathic]

this might answer the question, this is for evans cycles

Stage 1 service

stage 2 service

the free 6 week service might be just basic checks and anything you ask them to check, for example cable tension, tyre pressures etc.

Barring replacement parts roughly how much would be a reasonable price to pay for the part 1 and part 2 services respectively? Give or take.

 

[smokeysmoo]

I've always presumed they do the absolute bare minimum, so that coupled with the fact I've not bought a bike locally for a long long time means I've never bothered TBH. Anything they were going to do I can do myself, (and know it's done right ) and all without a 2 hour round trip and £20 worth of diesel.

If I ever buy a bike from my LBS I would exploit any such service, (as he's very good), and of course distance would be negated. I'll have to wait and see as far as that one goes.

Of course, if they do far more than I'm presuming then perhaps I've missed out on the last few 'free' services that I've been entitled too but never bothered with, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[lulubel]

If you've found a good LBS, they'll make sure the bike is in the same condition (in terms of being fit to ride) as it was when you bought it, so you won't have to worry about things needing adjusting.

If your LBS is anything like mine, they'll do eff-all, make a total mess of anything extra you've asked them to do, and give it back covered in grease.

 

[funnymummy]

Cheers for your replies

I took my bike back the LBS for a service, i'd been told it was 'free' & a complete service.
I drooped it off before my holiday in August, told them there were probelsm with the front gears - not chnaging,sticking & skipping, and of course the obvious cables needed tightening etc.
I picked it up the afternoon on the FNRttC (martlets) on my way home from work, I noticed as putting on the rcak the chain was filthy & the frame seemed to have some sort of sticky residue all over it. I had time to hose it down, quick spray with MucOff then relube, but didb't have chance to test ride until on the way to the station, where I found the back brake was actulay worse then when i dropped it off.. As in when needed due to stupid car driver nothing happened! I adjusted them on the train.
Once into the the ride I found that the gears where just as bad as before, sticking on 2, wouldn't go bcak up to 3 on the front, then skipping down to 1 instaed of 2 - On Ditchling this caused my chain to jam & ended up with me hiting the deck pretty sharpish!
After the ride my bike hung in the garage for week, before I managed to go back to the LBS, they insisted they had carried out a full & proper service. TBH I couldn't be bothered to argue with them.
I volunteer at a local community bike project so the Spesh was riden in & between myself & one of the other chaps we got it all running smooth, all cables stripped cleaned, lubed & rethread, the bcak wheel retrued, & replaceing the large ring as Adam declared it a pile of inferior crap!!
So why didn't I just do the work myself to start with..? Well I was told that any work carried out on the bike should be done by the LBS or it could invaildate any warranty on the bike.
Up until this I couldn't parsie my LBS enough, but they certainly won't be getting my custom anymore

 

[Black Sheep]

I would expect it to be a checking and tightening of bolts and adjusting cables and checking wheels are true.

 

[smokeysmoo]

So why didn't I just do the work myself to start with..?

I duuno? You are obviously able and it sounds like you have access to a great facility, but I guess it can be hard to resist when something is 'free'

 

[XmisterIS]

So why didn't I just do the work myself to start with..? Well I was told that any work carried out on the bike should be done by the LBS or it could invaildate any warranty on the bike.

When LBSs make statements like that, I find it irritating - they're just trying to give themselves a licence to print money, IMHO!

I only take my bikes to the LBS to [a] get the wheels re-trued and check the frame and forks if I've had a major stack (I think they have some kind of machine which does an integrity test on the frame, but I dunno precisely).

Other than that, I maintain that there's nothing on a bike which can't be done relatively easily at home - except that every so often the manufacturers completely change the design of components so that you need to by "specialist" tools to work on them - and the tools are often prohibitively expensive. That pisses me right off!

Nevertheless, I have rebuilt pretty much everything on a bike at one time or another, it's not all that hard when you get to it!

On my current MTB, I've changed the forks; I needed a couple of new head races from the LBS, I went in and told them what I was doing, their first response was to suck through their teeth and say, "Oo, that's a big job, you'd better let us do it!" They eventually sold the required parts to me after I effectively said, "Just sell me the damn parts, they're only £2.50 each!" Money grubbing sods!

 

[Simba]

I bought my bike from Evans and the free 6 week thing was top notch. The only problems I had with the bike "breaking in" was the front derailuer needed adjusting and my headset was squeaking. They sorted both out for me.

 

[twobiker]

I took my bike in for its second free service ,the LBS, said it needed new chain and cassette as the gears jumped on the front from 3 down to 1, missing out 2, due to wear, 500mls approx, from over lubrication, fitted new parts, still does it. seems like cable is under massive tension when in three .

 

[fossyant]

DIY always.