acorn54

just curious if anyone knows the hourly rate a lbs charges for fixing bikes
i just had derailleur cables replaced and new shifters put on my bike as well as an adustment to my rear hub. i was charged 35 dollars for labor and 16 dollars for parts. my bike is a 1982 fuji del rey.

helicomatic

You need to ask your LBS what they charge for an hourly rate. It differs dramatically from shop to shop and market to market.

jroth

you got a bargain. $51 and your bike is like new.

reptilezs

shop rate varies. i have seen it as low as 36/hr at a non profit or up to 80/hr

KDC1956

You got a good deal.Stay with them if you can.

CCrew

Hourly rate may vary based on the complexity of the job. Many shops charge a flat rate for a given repair.

That said, you got a good price. If the work was satisfactory sounds like a great deal.

cachehiker

+1.

I generally trade bike repair for dinner or other odd jobs instead of getting paid directly though.

What do you think the mechanic, if he were just an employee, would be earning per hour? Double that amount. Then add some more if it's more complicated than shifters, cables, and subsequent tuning of a 25-30 year old bike.

There are a few shops around here with relative noobs that charge less than $30/hour. There are a few others with experienced wrenches that charge $40-$45. I take my nicer rides to the latter and the simple stuff to the former.

the beef

shops around here (manhattan) charge about $60, i believe.

(the actual mechanics make way less though.)

mkane77g

Buck a minute

wrk101

+10 You got a deal.

+3 Shops around here charge $60/hr. You have to consider the overhead, cost of doing business, taxes, etc. They are not getting rich doing it.

operator

+1

The average shop rate is going to be about $60/hour. It takes into account many factors - go find a copy of barnetts service manager system if you want to calculate this yourself with all the variables.

acorn54

yeah the lbs i go to seems to give a square deal. i got a redline 520 there for 300 as i told them that's all i could spend and they told me the redline sells for 429 dollars retail but they let me have it for 300

kmcrawford111

My lbs charged me $40 to replace a rim and rebuild the wheel, and that included the rim and tape. That seemed well beyond fair to me - what do you think? I'm still curious as to why they reused the spokes, though.

operator

That is very fair, an even better deal if that includes swapping tyre/tube and gear adjustment (brake if rim width changed).

TLCFORBIKES

kmcrawford111 -- The repair work that you received was a "lace over". Less time , easier build and less cost. If the LBS had used new spokes then the cost would have been higher.

kmcrawford111

Ahh... does that mean they probably left the hub laced? Is this common practice? Most of the advice I've read suggests using new spokes.

TLCFORBIKES

Lace -over means that a wheel is rebuilt by aligning a new rim with a old/bad rim then loosening the spokes from old/bad rim and re-attaching them to the new rim. The spokes never come off the hub and this method allows the builder to rebuild the new wheel faster and cheaper. New nipples would be nice to work with but again parts cost money and you only paid $40. If you wanted new spokes -- you would have had asked for new spokes. So if you received a new rim and rim tape along with a lace over for $40 --you got a good deal (as long as the rim is in good/new condition). If your new wheel was re-installed and brakes/derailleur adjusted as well -- you got a very good deal. I also may want to check out the reason you got all that work for only $40. Labor alone should be around $40.

kmcrawford111

Thank you. From now on I'll remember to ask for new laces if I want them. I'm thinking about getting a truing stand and building my own wheels now, though. The closest LBS to me just closed up (4 miles), and now the closest is about 7 miles... that's quite a walk, so I'm thinking about doing more of my own work now, and even working on bikes for others here and there.