Darth Lefty 

If you don't want to work on it yourself then you gotta pay their labor and their markup. That's just how it goes. It's not a ripoff unless you can find someone else to charge you a lot less.

wphamilton

That's probably not an option given what you said about knowing that the chain is shot, and the shop wanting to replace the freewheel cogs. With a new chain and the worn freewheel it will probably skip so bad as to be unrideable.

I am mechanically confident so I'd order the freewheel, chain and tools and do the swap out. Brake pads are consumables and you could do those yourself regardless.

If doing at least some of the work is out, then you have to live with whatever the shops charge, but I'd at least shop around. These are really some basic sorts of maintenance so I can't really see chucking the bike as a economic alternative. If you want the new bike, go for it but I hope not as a way of skipping maintenance, because that's just going to come up again eventually on the new bike.

noglider 

On top of all the other advice about learning to do this yourself, I made two trips to my LBS today and bought a tool on each trip. I never regret buying tools. I've been collecting them for over 30 years.

krobinson103

All of that is simple to replace. The prices aren't bad. The freewheel and chain require specific tools. If it was me I'd go and buy the tools, look at you tube and do it myself.

modernjess

I agree with the general sentiment here that learning to do some of your own maintenance is very rewarding to your long term enjoyment of cycling. You admit that you bought the bike to dip your toe in the water and have found that you really like it, well that's fantastic! I really believe that part of the evolution in this sport should involve getting an understanding how your machine works and being able to keep it up on a regular basis. You don't have to become master mechanic but knowing how to adjust, troubleshoot, and do a variety of regular maintenance and repairs means that in the long run you will have more time on the bike, enjoy it more, spend less time and money in the shop, and have more in your pocket to buy more bikes!

This might not be your style, which is totally fine, but then budget yourself accordingly.

randomgear

While you are putting some decent mileage on your bike, I'd be surprised if you have actually worn out your seven speed freewheel.

acidfast7

Agree.

Having a selection of tools at ones disposal is great.

noglider 

It happens, especially if you use the small cogs a lot, and even more if you favor one heavily.

FenderTL5

I was in the same situation 3 weeks ago, except my bike was an even cheaper ($250 Diamondback hybrid) box store bike with 5000 miles on it. I opted to get a new bike and save toward getting the older bike repaired without a crisis/crunch for transportation.
I bought a Trek 7.3 FX and the three year extended warranty protection from my LBS.

I want to get the Diamondback back in riding condition and use it as a rainy day commuter. I could leave my fenders, rack/panniers, on it for the wet weather and keep the Trek light and nimble for every day use.

That's what worked for me, your mileage may vary, tax, tag and title separate.

locolobo13 

The total sounds high to me at first. But looking at each individual item they aren't out of line for what I would pay here.

I have a Trek 7.1 Hybrid too. I purchased it for less than $400 four years ago. Since then 50-100 dollars at a time, once or twice a year, I have probably spent another $500+ on maintenance at the LBS. When the mechanic tells me it's going to cost fifty bucks or so I think, well it's cheaper than any visit to the mechanic with my car. Haven't had a $200+ bill yet.

Sixty Fiver

The 7.1 is a nice bicycle and it does not matter if it is a $450.00 bike or a $2000.000 bike... ride it and you will wear out the consumables.

Shop labour runs about $1.00 / minute in most places and this is an hour job, but the parts prices are a little steep.

Freewheel and chain: $30.00
Brake pads: $15.00
Pedals: $30.00 should get you something nice.
Service: $70.00

Should be in the $145.00 range unless your bike is getting more done to it beyond the basic work and it looks like your shop really has a high markup on parts.

fietsbob

Compare costs for an FAA certified Mechanic to keep your Cessna airworthy..

PaulRivers

The question would more be whether it's worn or, or it's broken. That's the kind of thing where especially on cheaper bikes, it can need to be replaced because it's gone bad, rather than just part of usual maintenance. (It's a good point to find out though)

byrd48

I've never heard of a cost per mile estimate for bikes, that is really interesting. Wrenching your own bike is good and can save you a lot of $$, but it's not for everyone, and you do need to be prepared for the learning curve. I've been riding seriously for almost 2 years now, building bikes all along. Just yesterday, I bought a brake cable and housing kit from REI ($18 us) and went to install it on my bike. I hooked up the front brake first, then when it came time for the rear brake, guess what? The cable wasn't long enough! I didn't know they had different length brake cables (even though the lengths are stated on the packaging. So that resulted in another trip to the store to get a brake cable. A shop mechanic would not have made that mistake, they do it all day every day, and I don't. I'll surely not make that mistake again, but if I depended on my bike every day, it could have cost me a day of downtime (or a day without a rear brake).

Tundra_Man 

+1. I tend to wear out my cassette/freewheels about every other chain. I ride about 70% of the time in one gear, and it's that one gear that wears out. The rest of the cogs are in great shape, but I have to replace the whole cluster because my new chain will skip in my main gear.

noglider 

I didn't know you could buy a front brake cable, either. When changing brake cables, I move the rear to the front, of course cutting it to size. Only rarely is it too rusted to reuse. So to change both cables, I only have to buy one, for the rear.

joeyduck

I opted to pay for service a few weeks ago. It cost me $210 Canadian. But they came to my work and did the work, so there was that premium of not having downtime, which I was more than happy to pay.

I justified it (with the help of my wife) since it is my main commuter, it is four years old. Though only two of the years were commuting (the other two were stay at home dad riding). But it still had about 8,500 km on it and they were hard miles, a lot of weight and any weather. Well what is two hundred dollars to get a pro to look it over, I can hardly get my car serviced for that (exaggerated).

Anywho, I had needed to get the BB and headset checked, both of which I do not have proper tools for. Neither were showing any signs of wear, though the headset was low on grease. Also he gave it a good clean and greasing and a chain. But in the end I was not happy, I spent too much for too little. He did alert me to some issues. A rear cone was getting worn, said it was fine, just get it replaced when I relace the wheels. He confirmed the wheels were shot, gritty wet riding ate through the Alex rims fast! Redid the chain, said the cassette was fine and did not feel skipping in his ride about the lot. I think that I did the cassette a year ago with the free hub body.

Anyway get on the bike to head home. Cassette skips before I get to the end of the street a few hundred yards, argh. I can feel the bad cone rubbing away, argh. It was an XT hub why not replace it, he must have had extra cones, I was already spending $200. He also did not put back the anti-theft washers for my pinhead skewers, I only noticed this Saturday when I changed the cassette. So I spent $210 for a BB and headset grease, hub grease, rear shifter cable, front brake cable, chain, and a few nice red crimp ends (one of which has already fallen off).

My own fault, I know I can do everything except the BB and headset (tools being the limiting factor). I should have spent that money on the tools, pizza and beer for myself. But I did get a nice deal on a new set of mavic a719 laced to lx hubs online this weekend. I can relace my hubs with new rims and replace the cone and sell them or make them my "race" wheels with skinny tires.

Would I recommend this service to someone? Yes, if they are not inclined to able to do it themselves. Would I pay again? No, maybe just a BB grease and clean.

Tekcor1

As kind of a side note, how many miles before you should change a chain?

katsrevenge

I lack a lot of workspace outside so I work in my kitchen. Got an indoor spot that you could use?

jyl

Those prices are not out of line, being that you are in Australia and pay VAT. It is your work transportation, so it needs to be safe and reliable. Even after you get the cyclocross bike, you may want to keep this bike as a grocery hauler, rain bike (if you ever get rain again), or simply spare. If you sell it, it will fetch more in good running condition. I'd get all the work done, then clean/lube the chain regularly so it and your freewheel will last longer.

Sixty Fiver

Chain wear is dependent on so many factors that their lifespan can range widely, on my own derailleur equipped bicycles I expect 3500 - 4000 km for a chain and a decent cassette can last through 2 chains as long as I am keeping things reasonably clean.

Road bikes tend to see less crap than my mountain bikes or commuters so chain life is usually better... my main commuter has an internal gear hub and I expect it to see a long chain life.

On single speed bicycles (coaster, internal hub, fixed gear) one can usually expect a longer lifespan that could be as high as 12,000 km or even more with some set ups as the chain is heavier and there is no deflection.

Put a full chain case on a bicycle and chain life might extend well beyond 25,000 km as it is not exposed to moisture or dirt, lubrication also becomes a bi-annual affair.

When you measure a chain it should be 12 inches between 12 pairs of links, when that measurement becomes 12 1/16 it is time to change the chain as after this point it will greatly accelerate on the freewheel / cassette, and chain wheels.

Of course you can just keep running a chain beyond it's wear limit and it will wear out the other drive parts so that things continue to mesh... it depends on how much you value those pother drive parts and the degraded performance and higher potential for failures.

Tekcor1

Excellent. Thanks for the info. Seems an easy way to check for chain wear. Appreciate the advice!

HydroG33r 

I'm curious where you took your bike? Perhaps you don't want to slander them online; if that's the case PM me? I had a similar bad experience with an LBS out here in the 'burbs, which led to a boycott.

I'm just about a year into my 2-year free service plan on the new bike I bought last summer in Kits. Taking advice from members on this forum, I placed high priority on the relationship with the LBS (they, in fact, fixed up my bike for FREE after the other LBS I'd just paid for servicing had clearly not done a thorough job). Anyways, they are really good about teaching me the things I can/want to do myself, and they handle the rest.

Perhaps I'm still uneducated about bike maintenance, but I reckon I'll probably always take my bike in ~once a year for a pro service and inspection (which will be on the order of 2500-4000km a year, most likely, depending on how often I have been traveling for work). I figure that I don't yet know what to look for, but eventually want to be handling all the routine maintenance and relatively small repairs (e.g. spoke replacement like I had them do today) on my own.

Anyways, if you're starting to put together some tools, I'd be interested in finding out what you've got and sharing a list of what I've got in case we need to borrow one day. We're pretty close by one another, I think.

noglider 

@HydroG33r, you can learn bike maintenance bit by bit. Keep reading here and elsewhere. Once a year is not often enough for a checkup. Bikes need to lightweight to be rideable, so they need a lot more maintenance per trip than other things such as cars. Be in tune with your bike, and you can keep your bike in tune. Make sure everything is oiled and clean and rattle free. If you clean your bike often, you will become familiar with it in fine detail, and the mechanics will start to make sense to you. I've recently discovered using Endust or Pledge on bikes. It seems harmless to the lubricant, and it makes cleaning extremely easy and fast. Use rags or Bounty® paper towels. Don't use any other brand if you use paper towels.

OhioSam

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