Gibs

Ok am i just being cheap or was this expensive? broke a spoke on my back tire. took in it to my lbs where i do all my business and he charged me 10 bucks for one spoke and make it sound like it was half price. Few weeks ago when i went there to get another back spoke fixed he only charged me 2 bucks. They are just standard spokes by the way for a mountain bike. This a normal price? I mean i saw a pack of 100 nice spokes for like 60 bucks. so Im assuming standard spokes are way cheaper.

mwchandler21

did they true the wheel too? If so then that is less than half of what I would expect to pay.

dsprehe89

My riding partner has broken 3 rear spokes so far this summer and for the first two he didn't have a cassette removal tool or spokes so he just took them to our LBS, they charged him $20. they charge $2 for the spoke, $10 for the cassette removal, and $10 for changing the spoke and truing (or that is how they justified it), and they just charged him and even $20 and called it a discount lol. He decided to just buy the cassette tool for $10 and some spokes and nipples for around $20 and just start changing the spokes on his own when they break.

Also, his spokes are breaking because it is a 12 year old bike that has sat for 3 years that use to belong to his dad and now he is starting to break it back in. It probably needs all the spokes replaced and if you are in a similar situation with your bike you might wanna consider it, it's not to hard to do and there are plenty of forums on replacing your spokes on your own.

Gibs

Yea he true'd it up for me. guess it was a super discount the first time since he only charged me 2 bucks. Im assuming the cassette is the tire gears then yea he had to remove it. Guess i should be happy i only paid 10 bucks then. Gonna need to find those forums on replacing my own spokes and true the tire. Thanks for the reality check.

Drew Eckhardt 

His spokes are most likely breaking because the machines which built his wheels did a cost-efficient but substandard job.

My main wheels are fine after 13-15 years. Other people have 200,000 - 300,000 miles on sets of spokes with no breakage in that time.

Right.

Doug5150

Bike shops charge a lot for broken spokes, because they can. Most people will not fix it themselves.

I would suggest you consider having the LBS build you a custom wheel. It will cost maybe $300, but you won't likely see another broken spoke again, just from riding (and not crashing!).

If you have no idea what parts to get, tell the shop you want a Shimano XTR hub, a downhill-style wide rim out of their supplier catalog (do you use rim brakes or disks?) and any name-brand normal spokes the shop uses. They can probably switch your freewheel/cluster over from the old wheel.

DO NOT pick a wheel already built! Pick separate parts on purpose. You want the shop to hand-build it themselves, so the spokes are done properly.



You can say "but that's a lot of money for a wheel", and it is true--but good parts assembled right cost money. You are looking at poorly-assembled cheap parts break.

KD5NRH

He's fiddling with the prices because he knows you'll be back 34 more times unless you wise up and get the wheel rebuilt all at once.

stapfam

10$ for a spoke replacement seems cheap--We pay 1.59 times than that- £10 and the exchange rate.

So two broken spokes that I presume are on the same wheel. Time to get that wheel detensioned and retrued before you replace each spoke individually. $360 and I can buy a hand built set from a good builder over here.

contango 

If he trued the wheel then you got yourself a good deal. My LBS charges around £1 for a spoke (depending on exactly what kind of spoke, aero bladed spokes are obviously more) and then £12 to true the wheel. So in your money you'd be looking at slightly north of $20 to replace a spoke and true the wheel.

If you just want a spoke, in the sense that you hand over money and walk out of the shop holding a spoke that isn't attached to anything, then $2 seems heavy unless it's a fancy spoke.

Machka 

You got a really good deal there!!

dsprehe89

It doesn't have the highest end rims in the world, but it does have Bontrager Rims and Hubs which are pretty good in my book. It is a 1999 Trek Y3 that has been ridden hard through hilly trails in both Kentucky and southern Illinois, and my friend is a very large clyde.

xrayzebra 

Sounds like a honest shop with decent people who appreciate your other business and treat you right.

Gibs

Yea he is a good guy. Wish i knew how to true a wheel without a stand. Id just get the tools to put the spokes in myself.

desertdork

Most broken spokes on rear wheels occur on the drive-side. This means the mechanic will:
- put bike in stand
- remove wheel
- remove cassette
- remove tire, tube and rimstrip
- probably drop wheel in truing stand
- measure for (and locate) correct spoke
- install spoke and check tension/true
- remount rimstrip, tire/tube, cassette
- remount wheel and remove bike from stand
- put bike in storage area if customer isn't waiting

$10 is more than fair. $2 is almost pure goodwill. That's a fair amount of work.

If the new spoke was a replacement for the previously replaced spoke, then it may not have been tensioned correctly before. If it's a different spoke, and you find yourself breaking yet another spoke, you may want to have the whole wheel looked at for balanced tension or even getting a new set of driveside spokes.

iconicflux

My local shop charges $25 and the last time they charged me $12 for swapping the cassette without telling me it wasn't going to be free (or putting it on the work order with all the other things) until right as I was getting my credit card out.

That spoke cost me $38!

Seriously, $10 is a deal to me.

Dan Burkhart 

A flat repair would, or at least should cost you more than that, and they went through all the steps a flat repair would take you through, PLUS installed a spoke and trued the wheel.
I'm sorry, I just don't get this.

Gibs

Ok i get it. I just had no frame of reference since the first one was only $2. Now that i know it was a fantastic price im all good. thanks.

CB HI

And I did not even get to ask if you provided your labor at your job for FREE.

Gibs

Feel better now that you got that last dig in there. Rude.

JPMacG

My LBS charges $1 for the spoke and $18 labor to replace it. I break about one per year, always on the rear drive side.

Last time I took in the rear wheel with cassette, tire, tube, and rim strip removed. He told me I had already done most of the work and I should save money and learn to replace the spoke myself.

CB HI

Now imagine how the LBS feels with customers like you who think the LBS is ripping them off. Who feel the LBS should do work for the price of a cheap spoke with no labor charge included.

Who is really being rude?

Sorry that you have no sense of humor.