For anybody in San Diego, the guy I get tune-ups from advertises on CL, charges $25, and encourages clients to watch and discuss while he works. Here's his latest CL ad:
25 + years experience,DON'T LET THE LOW PRICE FOOL YOU,,,,,,,, YOU GET A LOT OF Professional Bicycle service for your money,no job to small or big,From low end to high end to Mountain(need air in your shocks or forks I got you covered)to Road,Will tune up your bike for $25 -100% satisfaction guaranteed ,quick turn around about an hour I'm located in Downtown La Mesa call Rick 619 589 6901(BEST TIME TO CALL IS BETWEEN 11 am @ 9 pm,you can set up a early mourning time like 6 am to 11 am 7 days a week just give me 24 hours notice ) or email to set up a time Tune Up includes:
- Clean Frame-wheels@compontents
- Brake inspection and adjustment
- service pedals
- Derailleur adjustment inspection and Adjustment
- set-up adjustments
- Lube all components necessary
- Headset adjustment and inspection.
- Bottom Bracket Adjustment
- Frame and wheel@tire safety inspection (check for cracks and weak spots)
- Wheel truing
- Tweak and fit any component you need that does not feel wright for you
- repair flat tires
- Wheel Hub inspection and adjustment
these are all included in the above and beyond $25 TUNE-UP
complete cleaning,will also repair flat tires,and if i have time will glue up tubulars. Also do repairs and parts replacements and rebuilds (high end road bikes are my specialty,so everything else is a piece of cake) will do a complete bike overhaul ,involves taking the bike apart packing bearings lubing all the parts and cleaning all the grime and old grease out of the system $75 for overhaul.(can also help you achieve a professional set-up)
So (a) if you live in San Diego, I posted that to throw my guy some publicity, and (b) this gives you some data about what kinds of things are included in a tune-up. It is to be expected that this guy charges less than a LBS because he just works out of his apartment parking lot (no costs for inventory, retail space, middle-men).
I'm pretty cheap, so I would be hesitant to spend $90 for a tune-up. But $25 is I think a steal. Note also the end of the ad, price goes up to $75 for "bike overhaul", maybe that more intensive "tune-up" is more comparable to a full-service LBS tune-up?