Bicycle Mechanics - Pros/cons fixing friends bikes

Hi everyone,

just wondering where you all stand on fixing friends bikes. several of my friends have recently had me do some work on their bikes and i've successfully replaced some f'd up bottom brackets, brake cables and such. The bikes in question are always beat up old motobecanes, centurions, or panasonics. Bikes that if taken care of will last, but aren't necessarily built with the best care and components. Anyways, after i finish and give the bike back to a happy owner they always find more problems (of course) and I am no longer able to have a non-bike conversation with them, or even worse they blame me for something malfunctioning that I didn't touch in the first place. So, is it worth all the grief? Is there a way around this? should I write out receipts showing what I did work on even though no money is changing hands? Should I just recommend a good bike shop to them even though they know that I rebuild my own bikes and have a full toolkit? Hell, if it was up to me I'd just tell them to spend a little cash, get a GOOD bike and take care of it! (i.e. don't leave it out in the rain!)

Thanks for any insights or comments.

I thought this was going to be a question about possible legal issues.

But it seems you simply have some friends who are not very good friends. I would think any friend would simply take your word that you fixed what you fixed, and that any further issue was not related. You are doing them a favor, as a friend; what could they possibly complain about?

jim

I work on my family's cars and bikes. The pro's are definitely a sense of satisfaction for helping someone out and ocassionally, they return the favor by helping me out.

There are many con's, one of which you have experienced with your friends, and that is sometimes people aren't very grateful. I can't count the number of times I've been asked "Are you done yet?" when I'm outside in the freezing cold on a weekend night fixing one of my sisters' cars. It makes me want to stop working and tell them to tow their car to a shop and have it fixed on Monday like they would otherwise be doing if I wasn't willing to help. After I calm back down, I continue finishing the job anyway and remind myself that they are family.

If it really gets to you that they are ungrateful, just say you are too busy to help. Letting it eat at you won't help the situation. If they are too childish to appreciate your help, perhaps a few $50-100 repair bills plus being without their bike for a week will help. I know it's helped with my sisters a few times :) (really helped that the repair bills were much more than $50-100 since we're talking cars not bikes)

Fixing some friends bikes is a good way to end up feeling used. They are saving money, letting you do a lot of stuff they should do themselves, like cleaning up the mess, and often 'want more' for free by blaming you for something else that was already wrong with their ride. They are cheapskates, and taking advantage of you works well for them. Use the potential legal issues to dodge the work. bk

Hi everyone,

The bikes in question are always beat up old motobecanes, centurions, or panasonics. Bikes that if taken care of will last, but aren't necessarily built with the best care and components.QUOTE][QUOTE]



Not necessarily built with the best care and components?? I think you're wrong on that. The bikes you mentioned are built pretty damn good from the ones I've seen. All those three have a certain collector value as evident by the many posts on the C&V forum asking about them. The componentry are almost always at least mid range, with the majority of them having up-scale components like Shimano 600, Sugino, and Dia-comp (Gran-comp). The same can be said for the frames too, with double butted cro-moly tubes that rivaled anything from Columbus or Reynolds.

Dont get me wrong, I'm not necessarily chastising you. Just trying to "enlighten" you about the brands you mentioned. :D

That said, tell your friends to get another mechanic if they want to gripe.

my friend had an old bike with a busted left shifter. i bought a 99cent nashbar friction right shifter (along with some of my stuff) and flipped it around and stuck it on the left side. it worked and it felt good. I didnt even bother asking for the $1 back. Another time i greased a girl's kickstand and she was like "omg lube is awesome!" *snicker.

I always figure its a karma type thing. I do something nice for my friends and they help me out somewhere else. Besides, it makes me feel somewhat useful which is nice. I had an interesting occurance recently though. My friends bike wasn't shifting right so I rode it and managed to throw the derailleur into the spokes and it screwed up his hanger and derailleur. Luckily though, he wasn't to mad and realized it could have happened to him. But now I need to help him fix the bigger problem. Oh well....

Hi everyone,

just wondering where you all stand on fixing friends bikes. several of my friends have recently had me do some work on their bikes and i've successfully replaced some f'd up bottom brackets, brake cables and such. The bikes in question are always beat up old motobecanes, centurions, or panasonics. Bikes that if taken care of will last, but aren't necessarily built with the best care and components. Anyways, after i finish and give the bike back to a happy owner they always find more problems (of course) and I am no longer able to have a non-bike conversation with them, or even worse they blame me for something malfunctioning that I didn't touch in the first place. So, is it worth all the grief? Is there a way around this? should I write out receipts showing what I did work on even though no money is changing hands? Should I just recommend a good bike shop to them even though they know that I rebuild my own bikes and have a full toolkit? Hell, if it was up to me I'd just tell them to spend a little cash, get a GOOD bike and take care of it! (i.e. don't leave it out in the rain!)

Thanks for any insights or comments.


I'm a computer guy and THIS is why I dont fix friends computers... BEacsue then I'm responsible for everything.

Your best response "emmm It sounds familiar but I'm not completely sure, the LBS will definitely be able to take care of it"

They will appreciate the advice and you will avoid the headache.

I've begun offering to fix friends' bikes..

Hopefully shouldn't have any problems, but you never know..

Fixed up a few family member's bikes though, no issues there.

I helped a coworker get a bike running once. Well, more like I did the work, and showed him everything that I was doing and why. Cleaned the chain, lubed a bunch of parts, adjusted the shifters, adjusted the saddle, etc. I've lent him a book about bike maintenance, too.

But no, I don't think that I'll offer to fix bikes by just taking them home and working on them on my own time. If they want the help, they're also going to stand there and watch. I say something like, "Sure, bring it over and I'll show you what to do." They're going to start learning about what to do, and -- to put it rudely ;) -- I'm going to waste as much of their time as they are of mine.

I guess I've been lucky with my friends and family since I've not had the complaints and hassles you apparently have gone through. If I did, that person would have been directed to the LBS for all future work.

What I have done is point out what else should be done in the future and what the parts will cost before completing the job at hand.

I'm a computer guy and THIS is why I dont fix friends computers... BEacsue then I'm responsible for everything.

Your best response "emmm It sounds familiar but I'm not completely sure, the LBS will definitely be able to take care of it"

They will appreciate the advice and you will avoid the headache.

I've learned that no good deed goes unpunished.

You are completely right. People think that once you touch their bike, you are now guaranteeing that their bike will never have any problems in the future and if so, you are responsible for it.

I learned this with fixing folk's computers who repeatedly do the same things to screw them up "Oh, shiny! Must click! It'll make my PC faster and safer!"... I no longer fix their PCs.

I like helping folks, but if someone doesn't have any inkling of learning how to fish, I'll quit tossing them fish. **** it...

somegeek

Hi everyone,

just wondering where you all stand on fixing friends bikes. several of my friends have recently had me do some work on their bikes and i've successfully replaced some f'd up bottom brackets, brake cables and such. The bikes in question are always beat up old motobecanes, centurions, or panasonics. Bikes that if taken care of will last, but aren't necessarily built with the best care and components. Anyways, after i finish and give the bike back to a happy owner they always find more problems (of course) and I am no longer able to have a non-bike conversation with them, or even worse they blame me for something malfunctioning that I didn't touch in the first place. So, is it worth all the grief? Is there a way around this? should I write out receipts showing what I did work on even though no money is changing hands? Should I just recommend a good bike shop to them even though they know that I rebuild my own bikes and have a full toolkit? Hell, if it was up to me I'd just tell them to spend a little cash, get a GOOD bike and take care of it! (i.e. don't leave it out in the rain!)

Thanks for any insights or comments.

The solution is simple.

Don't fix their bikes.

I do only minor repairs for those not capable. For all others, I teach them to do it or suggest a good repair shop. This goes for Bikes, Cars, Computers etc. I really don't mind helping but wont get pulled into a position of taking responsibility for someone else's problem. I have my own family and responsibilities and they come first.

BarracksSi- you are right.
I have a buddy whose wife used to give him a big honey do list every weekend. A real PIA.
Soooo he made sure that she was there to "hand" him tools, hold the measuring tape whether needed or not. Go get me this and go get me that. He would stop, take a break, have a brewski and continue. Just waisting time. You get the idea. After a few of those weekends she was "cured"
It's nice to do people favors but don't spoil them and don't let them take advantage.
.

I have gotten burned too by helping friends out before. After the last time, I decided that if anyone wanted help, that they would need to come by on my schedule and be prepared to get dirty. I show them how to diagnosis the problem and when we find it, let them do all of the work to fix it with guidance. If they don't like this approach, I tell them to pay someone to do it for them because I don't have time to do free work, but only have time to teach others to help themselves. Seems to be working so far.

No freebies,if your out on the road I'll help you,otherwise pay me or do it yourself.

I love fixing my friends' bikes. It helps me pay them back for the stuff they do for me.

As long as someone pays for parts if the're needed, I'll do anything for anyone.

I like to help out but have no problem advising a shop repair if it becomes too often or they want to cut corners. The work is free but complaints are $5 each :).

I love fixing my friends' bikes. It helps me pay them back for the stuff they do for me.
Congratulations on you choice of friends. We should all be so lucky.

BarracksSi- you are right.
I have a buddy whose wife used to give him a big honey do list every weekend. A real PIA.
Soooo he made sure that she was there to "hand" him tools, hold the measuring tape whether needed or not. Go get me this and go get me that. He would stop, take a break, have a brewski and continue. Just waisting time. You get the idea. After a few of those weekends she was "cured"
It's nice to do people favors but don't spoil them and don't let them take advantage.
.

Yeah; I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't do it this way to actually waste their time -- I just want them to see what kind of effort is involved, and not simply walk away and expect some sort of magic on my part.

Usually, it's not actually difficult, it's just something they didn't know how to do. So, once they see it in person, they start to figure it out and can probably take care of it when it happens again. It usually ends up like a short lesson.

I fix all my friends bikes. I know their mechanical capabilities and would rather fix them in the comfort of my shop while watching tv instead of on the side of the road. Most of my friends would do anything for me if I needed help. If someone is not thankful for your gratis help, kick them square in the as* and tell them to go to a LBS and leave you alone. They sound awful petty. I usually get a hearty "Thank You" and the offer of payment no matter how many times I work on them.

If your having those sorts of trouble, then try a different approach. Instead of taking their bike and making them wait while you repair it, use it as an invitation to teach them how to repair the problem by themselves. Sure you might be there giving a guiding hand, and providing tools, but let them do the work.

that way when something gets messed up in the future, they come to you asking 'can you help me with this repair that I might have messed up, not 'you messed up the repair that you did'

I've worked on friends bikes before, but the only time I've actually taken a bike and fixed it was with a really good friend who does stuff for me all the time and isn't particularly interested in fixing it herself. The rest of the time, I use it as a learning tool for both my friend and myself. (If you teach something, you really do learn it so much better)

If they are still griping. Tell them something like "with all the work I'm doing, I've decided to charge a shop rate" and see how they deal with that. :D

Dale Carnegie quote: "expect ingratitude". Unfortunately, if you expect people to be thankful and appreciative, you will be often disappointed.

I like the idea of showing them what to do rather than doing it for them.

i always love these threads. ido alot of work for my friends, coworkers and such and guess i have always been lucky too. when i work on something, i visually go over the entire bike, and as i fix what is broken, i also let the owner of the bike know exactly what i did and why i did it to the bike, and if i found anything else wrong or going bad, id tell them about it and what would need to be done to fix the potential problem. my service comes with a thourall explanation, a little bike mech. 101 lecture and a good client/bike follow up a few days later.

if someone was to want to take legal actions against someone who worked on their bike, the law would not be on OUR side. i don't let that scare me away from helping people, and if something is beyond my skill level, i am not afraid to admitt it to the client and recomend them to a good LBS for the propor repairs. obviously a mistake fixing someones gears or shifters will not be as grave as messing up someones braking system which could fail catastrophiclly if the work done was poor. and as far as being blamed on screwing someone on new parts, i tell the clients what parts they need and then they go and get it for me to fix their bike with. i take them to the LBS for what is needed and this gets them familur with what is going to be done and where i got the pats, or if they order off-line, we sit down together as we shop for the parts.

this is what i am/we are good at doing, so lets just enjoy that.

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose.

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose.

And you can't wipe your friends under the couch.

I have'nt had the problem of friends being ungrateful, it has been the opposite for me. I have fixed a few bikes and they have sent others to me to fix as well. You have to decide if you are doing it to make money or doing it to be a helpful person. I don't expect anything but to see them enjoying the ride of a safe and properly functioning bike..

Tell them that you won't do it for them but you will teach them. People seem to appreciate education more than service.

You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends nose.

You need better friends.


;)

I think in cases like this, I do the same as when I loan money to friends. I don't loan money to friends unless I can afford to never see the money again, and I never ask about it.

In similar manner, if I do work for friends, I treat it as if it never happened. The next repair request that comes along is like the very first request. Of course, I don't have a lot of friends that live locally, so it is easy to say, but it is my attitude in life.

The real question you need to ask yourself is why you are doing it. If you are doing it to help your friends, then as soon as you have completed the task, you have received your reward. If you are doing it to receive gratitude, then as soon as they have thanked you, you have received your reward.

However, if your friends are complaining, then perhaps there is an issue. I will assume that you are wise enough not to have only friends that are so selfish and short sighted that they are negative in all aspects of their lives, and they are friends worth keeping.

So, you can put a positive spin on it and figure out how to grow through this situaiton... Whether your objective is to help your friends or to receive gratitude, maybe you need to take the extra steps needed to achieve your goal. When you fix a specific part of a bike, go ahead and do a quick examination of the rest of the bike to see if something else needs a quick adjustment or repair. ;)

And maybe if the above doesn't work it would be time to use the ungrateful attitudes to thin your Christmas card list and figure out who your real friends are.

Tell them that you won't do it for them but you will teach them. People seem to appreciate education more than service.

This has not been my experience. I fix all my friends bikes and have done so for years. I've also run bike maintenance for club members with little response. People do want their bikes fixed but despite my efforts to teach them, are not interested. They want the job done period, and will stand and watch me trying to adjust something to my satisfaction, while saying "That'll do" when to me it won't. The difference is that I care and believe in doing things right while they just want it over.
I do object also when I'm given a bike to fix and have to spend forty minutes cleaning it up before I start.
People are different. Some have an interest in how things work and want to feel that they can fix things without having to resort to a LBS. Others have no interest in how the bike works but just want it to work.