Originally Posted by
CraigB
Apparently I've only lived in The Land of the Stingy Bike Shops. I think a lot of it might be what constitutes a "tune-up." The free work I've seen offered is pretty much limited to checking that wheels are still true, bolts are still tight and taking up any slack cables.
Yes, this is my experience: free lifetime service consists of putting air in the tires, a little lube on the chain, then trying to up-sell the owner of the bike on more expensive paid service, component upgrades, or whatever gear the shop happens to have on sale. Most of the shops around here offer it, because it's a great ruse to keep customers coming back into the shop...