Originally Posted by
Sixty Fiver
My shop is MY shop... I only do repairs and service and don't have much in the way of overhead.
This is what I have been charging for quite some time and when I look at the time it takes and the parts cost I feel that is fair to me and to the customer.
Most shops have a $50.00 - $60.00 / hr shop rate which I think would be fair if they actually paid their mechanics a living wage.
I also volunteer at our bike co-op and the other afternoon a fellow brought in a front wheel that was not running very smoothly... I repacked and replaced the caged bearings with loose balls and charged him $5.00 for what was all of 15 minutes work.
The bearings at the co-op are also grade 25 and we use Park grease so the $5.00 more than covers the parts cost... my time here is donated but most folks are pretty generous and often donate a near market price to the co-op.
Like you I work at a Bike Co-op and I too find the public very generous. You may quote a price for a re-conditioned bike and they will say it's too low and give more.
I have to say I do get weary of working on low-end bikes all day but mostly I get weary from being on my feet all day in the workshop as I'm getting on in years.