When I worked at bike shops from 2001 to 2004 or 5, a Tune-up was 25-30 bucks, not including any parts.

Now I see signs for 50-70 dollars. That's outrageous.

Some ******* at Performance in Naperville, IL charged my friend 20 bucks to shorten the brake cables on her road bike! She could have bought a great cable cutter for 15 bucks and done it herslef in five minutes. She got a talking to when I heard about this... Be sure to discuss the cost of a task before letting a shop touch your bike. If the cost of the job is greater than the cost of the tools to do it yourself, it's silly not to just do it yourself.

Buy a set of allen wrenches and a tube of grease and learn how to take care of your own bikes. There is nothing scary or difficult about routine bike maintanence.

With the exception of wheel truing, and a bottom bracket adjustment, you shouldn't need any special tools. You'll know if you need your wheels trued or your Bottom bracket adjusted. At that point decide if you want to buy the necessary tools or take it to a shop for those specific tasks.