Varying lbs charges!

[punkypossum]

Just had my bike serviced before Amsterdame, chain and cassette needed changing as well plus new brake blocks & cables back and front (Yes, I should be able to do this myself before anybody points it out ).

Rang my usual lbs and asked for a quote - good job I did. The price for a basic service had gone up from £25 last year to £49, the quoted another £40 for a new cassette and £10 for a chain plus about £10 pounds for the brake blocks...Overall, this would have come to about £120 pounds.

After nearly dying from shock, I rang another lbs (had heard good comments about them), they quoted £50 quid for the whole thing provided they found no hidden horrors - guess where the bike went???

He is home now and indeed the whole thing came to £50! Is it just me or is that a ridiculous difference for the same job??? One shop is admittedly in the posh part of town, the other one in the more scummy bit, but surely a postcode should not make that much difference using the same components (shimano cassette, chain, etc)??? The guys were really nice as well, had a long bikey chat with them - they said they really enjoyed my bike as due to were they are a lot of the bikes they get in for repairs are BSOs that are badly maintained and almost impossible to work on, but the people that bring them in just don't understand what the problem is.

Anyway, I think maybe it's time to switch lbs...

 

[summerdays]

It certainly sounds like it could be worth supporting this second LBS...

 

[fossyant]

That's a very good price for labour, cassette, chain, blocks and cables.......

Cassette £15 say for a HG50, chain £10-£15, Blocks £10, cables £10......that's your £50 in parts alone.....

 

[punkypossum]

I know, I was impressed!!! It wasn't all the cables that needed changing, but still...

 

[bonj2]

check they've done everything they say they've done.

 

[punkypossum]

They have, I did! It's a well established family run shops that's been going for donkeys years.

 

[Tynan]

indeed, parts alone and then some, one wonders what price they get their parts for

 

[Jim_Noir]

Rent will pay a factor in the posh side of town, and they know most folks living in that area will part with their cash. Where I live there are 4 LBS and all charge diffrent prices... so they don't have the rent argument there. The one I use, West End Cycles, doesn't charge for a punture repair for eg (well just the inner tube) but one 1/4 of a mile up the road will charge you 7 quid plus inner tube! effers should have flintlocks and tricorn hats

 

[punkypossum]

Well, my friend took her son's bike in there last week for a checkover as he has to do his cycling proficiency at school... £15 for a checkover including a new back tyre (which was £8.50 by itself). They admit they are not making much money out of running the shop, but like doing it...

 

[PK99]

indeed, parts alone and then some, one wonders what price they get their parts for

....or the quality of the parts they use as comared to the more expensive shop

 

[punkypossum]

Well, the cassette for example is an Shimano HG40 superglide cassette - which appears to be slightly more expensive than the HG50 on the web anyway. It's not a top end bike and I'm not going racing on it, so as long as the parts are decent, I don't really mind. Can't see the other shop fitting anything better - the prices they quoted for parts were only slightly higher, the main difference lay in them wanting £50 for the service in the first place, plus the parts.

 

[bonj2]

Rent will pay a factor in the posh side of town, and they know most folks living in that area will part with their cash. Where I live there are 4 LBS and all charge diffrent prices... so they don't have the rent argument there. The one I use, West End Cycles, doesn't charge for a punture repair for eg (well just the inner tube) but one 1/4 of a mile up the road will charge you 7 quid plus inner tube! effers should have flintlocks and tricorn hats

People SHOULD be charged through the nose for taking their bike to a shop just because it's got a puncture - it should be considered a tax on the stupid!

 

[tyred]

Many businesses will start off doing work very cheap for a new customer only to jack the price up in future when they have you on board as a customer.

 

[Jim_Noir]

People SHOULD be charged through the nose for taking their bike to a shop just because it's got a puncture - it should be considered a tax on the stupid!

I have used my LBS for this, yes maybe it was stupid going out without a spare innertube/PRK/Pump... but hey everyday is a school day

 

[Randochap]

Better take advantage of the second shop ... before they go out of business!

At those prices, they're working for free and cutting markup on parts to the bone.

While it's encouraging to hear of a shop that's run for the love of it, in the end they have to pay the rent.