General Cycling Discussion - free lifetime adjustments at LBS worth it?

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adjustments=twisting thingies....no it's not worth it

How good are you at mechanical type things? What's considered "adjustments?" PLanning on moving?

hmm...a quick 20 minutes crash course reading a basic mechanics book could teach you all you'll need to know...seriously...you don't even need tools to do that stuff, there are adjusters on the cables themselves.

Something could get REALLY screwed up and need a wrench :). All depends on if you want to get your hands dirty or not. After gluing my fingers together enough from previous hobbies a little grease was nothing to me, but I see people at the LBS in suits dropping off their precious road bike for a tune up after work.

Oh, and PWRD, he will need a wrench to put the thing together to begin with! If you pay the LBS to put it together that will be a pretty significant portion of your savings.

Depends on how much time you have on your hands and how inclined you are mechanically plus how much you're willing to spend on your own tools.

After gluing my fingers together enough from previous hobbies .

You gave up ship building then? :D

i mean by adjusting brake line tension, deraillers, lubing, etc. I'm not good at bike mechanics eitherAdjusting barrel connectors is easy stuff. It's certainly not a bargaining chip if you ask me.

Oh, and PWRD, he will need a wrench to put the thing together to begin with! If you pay the LBS to put it together that will be a pretty significant portion of your savings.Nah. Should be about $25 to $30.

He should be able to save a couple hundred on ebay because he's not getting a warranty. I bought a 2004 Raleigh Supercourse for $655 shipped insured on ebay. The MSRP was $1100. My favorite LBS sold them for between $900 - $1000, i.e. considerable savings.


andru0617, you'll need to be careful with ebay if you're new to this stuff. Caveat Emptor!! You may be best served by going to the LBS.

Lauren...that wasn't the question he asked ;)

Something could get REALLY screwed up and need a wrench :). All depends on if you want to get your hands dirty or not. After gluing my fingers together enough from previous hobbies a little grease was nothing to me, but I see people at the LBS in suits dropping off their precious road bike for a tune up after work.

Hmmm... been there... done that... got the solder burns to prove it. :) I personally think that the lifetime service should be the tiebreaker and not necessarily a compensation for pricing. I think the shop should still try and remain competitive with other shops in the area in terms of pricing and then seal the deal with the lifetime adjustment. An LBS near me does exactly that and they've been doing extremely well for themselves.

You have to ask yourself a few questions first.

How much do I ride? The more you ride, the more adjustments that will be needed.

Am I a good mechanic? Some of us are, some of us should ask for help when screwing in a light bulb.

Do I need to buy tools? If you buy them will you use them? Really?

Do I have a place to do repairs? I do mine in the livivng room. My wife is a lovely woman!

Will I take it in to the shop for adjustments? Are you the type of person to do these things, or will it sit in the garage on your "to do" list for months on end?

And lastly what are free lifetime adjustments?

Good luck and happy riding!

EDIT: If you buy E-bay you might have to give it a tune up, tweek saddle height and angle, stem height, etc. Can you do this yourself? If not, it's off to the LBS, where as you didn't buy the bike from them, you will have to pay for these services.

For me the lifetime tuneups are worth every penny... lets see in the last 6 months

2 major checks and overhauls after bad accidents
No charge on swapping in all new drivetrain, twice.
Check up every two weeks for minor adjustments.
Training wheelset trued twice no charge.

All under the "free lifetime tuneups"... that is worth the money that I spend more (very little I may add)

Paying ... for free adjustments?? What am I missing here?

But no, it's not worth it to pay for anything "lifetime" from any place of business. Ever. What if the place folds. What if you move?

Paying ... for free adjustments?? What am I missing here?

But no, it's not worth it to pay for anything "lifetime" from any place of business. Ever. What if the place folds. What if you move?
I think he is talking about paying sticker price for a new bike and getting lifetime adjustments as opposed to buying a bike at a discount on e-bay and being left to his own devices.

Ide go with the LBS. Free adjustments is quite nice. Saves you from buying tools in the future

I love when people that have clearly never worked in an LBS describe exactly what goes on at every LBS. While this varies from shop to shop, and regrettably there are a few wrenches that do the barrel adjuster thing, making such baseless generalizations does no one any favors.
Any wrench worth half his salt doesn't do a tuneup with the barrel adjusters. That is not the point of them being there-they're for adjustments on the fly. If you do so, the customer has much less adjustability when out on the bike. At each of the shops I've worked at, this process was emphatically frowned upon. Truing the wheels, checking and adjusting hubs, bb, headset, etc. is also included. No barrel adjusters there.
To the OP, is it worth it to you to have no warranty whatsoever on the bike/any of its parts? Factor in shipping which is likely to be around $50-$60. How about initial assembly and the adjustments that will be necessary after the bike is shipped? Do you know how to true wheels, because I'll pretty much guarantee you'll need to upon receipt of the bike.
Oh, and Trek doesn't allow their bikes to be sold online...so either you are not getting a new bike, or you're dealing with a shady dealer that is risking termination of their dealer agreement. That auction might even disappear-part of the sales rep's job description involves hunting down dealers selling their product on ebay.

Trek does not honor their warranty on bikes purchased via the internet. I can attest to this personally, as I have dealt with customers that were denied warranty claims for this very reason.
The seller can claim that all he wants, but I've seen Trek in action on this one. What do I know, though, I just turn barrel adjusters at the LBS...

Well I would honestly have to say that about 80% of the people who I have sold bikes to do not know how to perform a basic tume up much less true their own wheels. Therefore lifetime, 30 days or whatever free adjustments is useful to them. When you consider that tune ups can be from say $20 and up if they have it done say 3 times a year over a five year period, that is $300 they have saved. To them it is worth it.

You gave up ship building then? :D

Never tried that. Leather glue is pretty strong though, and of course the superglue I used to make jewelry (I have some pretty severe metal allergies, so only silver for me and it is much cheaper to make my own) and fix whatever else needed it.

Is paying MSRP for free lifetime adjustments worth it? Is it really valuable? I'm trying to decide on buyng ebay or lbs. ..

People take their bike to an LBS to service for one of three reasons: They don't feel they have the knowledge to do it themself, they lack the tools to do it themself, or they don't want to take the time to do it themself. If you fall into one of those three categories, lifetime free adjustments sounds like a good deal to me.

I can tell you that bike shop owners that I have talked with say that it's a very good sale closing tool and their cost is minimal because very few buyers take advantage of the benefit.

There are a couple repairs that I cannot do myself, like truing the wheels, that I would prefer the LBS do. At least if something goes wrong, I'll have someone other than myself to blame... ;)

One thing not mentioned yet-

andru0617, you said you wanted to get into a cycling 'lifestyle'...
A large part of my cycling lifestyle is the relationship I have established with my friendly LBS.
If your LBS is a first-class operation, with an intelligent and cooperative staff, like mine is-
I say forget about economics for a minute, and think about that 'lifestyle' you want to attain.

There may come a time when you may not need your LBS anymore, but until then,
my suggestion is to treat them as the asset and resource they are...
you might learn a thing or two about bikes in the process.
- and heck, you might even make a friend (and get some deals that way!)

Something could get REALLY screwed up and need a wrench :). All depends on if you want to get your hands dirty or not. After gluing my fingers together enough from previous hobbies a little grease was nothing to me, but I see people at the LBS in suits dropping off their precious road bike for a tune up after work.


That's me! For me it's a question of the value of my time versus money. With a full time job/house/family/ and all of the attendant responsibilities it's hard enough to find the time to do the things I enjoy. The last thing I want to do is spend time wrenching when I could be riding or spending some quality time with my family. I don't mind spending a little more at the LBS if it means less time spent wrenching. There are many things I could do myself that I would rather pay someone else to do just for the convenience of it, and bike maintenance is one of them.

If you enjoy wrenching and have the time, then by all means, have at it, but it's just not for me.

Is paying MSRP for free lifetime adjustments worth it? Is it really valuable? I'm trying to decide on buyng ebay or lbs. ..

Its like buying a car. Get a lease, and most car dealers will offer free tuneups. To me, thats a deal because I hate cars and hate working on them, so paying the extra makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing the car will be kept up to speed.

However, for me, fixing a bike is so utterly simple (let alone simple tuneups), I could never justify paying more for someone else to do it. If you dont care to do the work, then thats a good deal for you.

For me the lifetime tuneups are worth every penny... lets see in the last 6 months

2 major checks and overhauls after bad accidents
No charge on swapping in all new drivetrain, twice.
Check up every two weeks for minor adjustments.
Training wheelset trued twice no charge.

All under the "free lifetime tuneups"... that is worth the money that I spend more (very little I may add)

Thats a good deal. I might even consider something like that. But shops here would never offer that much value. Drive trains get wrecked almost constantly. Its the shops bread and butter when they convince someone xtr on a downhill bike is actually worth it haha

support your local bike shop if you buy a bike on line you will still need to assemble it I also recomend learning to work on your bike itself kill your tv your car and dont trust the government
bob454

Holy runon sentence batman. :)

Is paying MSRP for free lifetime adjustments worth it? Is it really valuable? I'm trying to decide on buyng ebay or lbs. ..


One of my LBS's charges an extra $100 on top of MSRP for lifetime adjustments. (this is a yearly adjustment by the way). WHY?!!! I like the brands they carry and would love to buy from them, but just can't justify it.

Well, I would go for the LBS, I have the tools, grease, and know how, but I don't have the time to do so.

TrikeMan

LOL Bob.

I bought my bike at an LBS, didn't even hear "free lifetime tune-up" until I was leaving the shop with it. I was like "what? oh ok, thanks" and I think I've used it once. I was there pickin up something one day and the mechanic was bored or something and actually asked me if I needed anything done to my bike. Just so happens I was noticed my rear derailleur wasn't as smooth as I liked and mentally marked it down to fix when I got home. But I was there, so what the hell right? Go for it. So there was the only time I thought that the lifetime tune-up thing was at all useful for me... so far.

I'm by no means skilled with bike repair or tune-ups but I know enough so that if something minor (and more common) ever went wrong on a longer ride, I wouldn't be stuck there holding my... bike. I think that is the biggest reason for me personally to know how to do my own basic adjustments, it gives a bit more sense of confidence.

It is only worth it if the bike shop performs repairs up to your satisfaction. When I got my new bike from a local shop they didn't even put it together right as the steering was crooked out of the shop. I have free adjustments for life there but don't use them for the following reasons:

1. I don't have time to go back and re-adjust anything they mis-adjust.
2. I don't have time to wait for them to fix my bike. If I fix it I am first in line.
3. It benefits me to know how to fix just about anything that can go wrong with my bike on a ride and keep in practice at it.
4. I love tinkering with my bike and the feeling of being self sufficient.

For me the lifetime tuneups are worth every penny... lets see in the last 6 months

2 major checks and overhauls after bad accidents
No charge on swapping in all new drivetrain, twice.
Check up every two weeks for minor adjustments.
Training wheelset trued twice no charge.

All under the "free lifetime tuneups"... that is worth the money that I spend more (very little I may add)

Wow, I'm surprised your bike shop can do all of that and stay financially solvent. The business failure rate is very high for local bike shops.

Depends what is meant by 'adjustments'.

I paid nearly MSRP on a 2005 Lemond.
Whenever I bring it for even minor issues, they tune it up. Things they have done beyond the tune up (i.e. derailer and brake adjustments and general lubing) when needed done every time:
Tightened cranks and both hubs (loosened as part of break-in period)
Trued front wheel once, back wheel twice
Replaced chain that had a sticky link that couldn't be loosened
Replaced brake pads front and back
Re-wrapped handlebar tape
Repacked rear hub

Most important they make me totally comfortable and happy to bring the bike in even for minor issues.

Totally worth it.

Al

in concur that the free adjustments do have their benefit. I have a corporate trek store near me and I've brought my bike it a number of times for minor things. When I first bought my bike, my gearing was a little off and I tried to fix it myself and made it much worse (then again, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person ever). The only problem is I am moving this summer --so I'll have a 2 hr drive to get a "free" adjustment.

I had discussion today with a master bike mechanic who works for me part-time. He said that most bike mechanics simply hate it when store owners and managers implement their marketing gimmic of lifetime tune-up adjustments. He said it seriously devalues the services of mechanics and bikers come to think the LBS mechanics as simple peons. He said in his experience it's been this type of policy that plays a big role in finanical crippling and subsequent failure of many stores.