patentcad

My LBS would charge <$75 for the work you described. If that.

conncyclist

There are alot of haters on this forum. If you can wrench yourself why not? I'm a helicopter mechanic by trade, and have never used the LBS for maintenance. They just charge way to much. I guess I'm a troll for not getting screwed by the LBS.

kevin0cr1

I work for a commercial real estate developer. We recently leased a space to a bicycle shop that had been in business for thirteen years. As we do with all tenants, we asked them to provide recent year tax returns so we could check out their financial condition. Their most recent return, for 2006, showed taxable income of $1,800 after all of their expenses, including salaries to the owner and his help of about $35k. Obviously, nobody was getting rich. My experience has been that most bike shop owners do it for the love of it rather than because it's making them rich.

bbattle

Please tell us you are not a Communist.

WHOOOSSHHH...

LBS have overhead, like taxes, salaries, rent, electricity, insurance,etc..get the picture? I can do the basic stuff and maybe even the whole thing..but as far as the fine tuning, and knowing everything is correct, it's best left to people who do it everyday.. I own a masonry company and have friends who have done there own brickwork in thier backyards..and I must admit, the bricks ARE laid...

breck81

"Thundercats, Go!"

slide13

Wow, 30-60 minutes. I spent 9 years working in bike shops, 4 of those as a wrench, and there is no way I could do that properly in that amount of time. I have a feeling your concept of the job and the shops were very different. To me, swapping parts to a new frame involves taking parts off, cleaning them, prepping frame (facing, chasing, etc) installing parts with new cables as needed and re-adjusting everything. Also should include taking measurements of original bike (saddle height, bar height, reach, etc) and then transferring those to the new bike if the same fit is desired. That is not a 60 minute job.

It's cool that you learned to do the work yourself though, good for you on that part. I think it's great for enthusiasts, who are so inclined, to learn to work on their own stuff. Buy books, ask questions here, it's all good....just don't go into the shop and ask them to teach you how to do some adjustment. I used to hate when people felt it was my job to teach them to work on their own bike. Sorry, not my job unless you're paying the hourly shop rate for my advice. I would never think of going to an auto mechanic and asking them how I should go about giving my car a tune up. Sorry...rant over now.

senatorw

Dude, neither lawyers nor doctors charge $175 an hour in any major city for any decent professional. Christ, when I was last in private practice (2004), I was billed out at $475 an hour (an hour!) and now that I am in house, some of the lawyers we hire on my cases are actually billing at $850 or $900 an hour (ridiculous). Without the BS with the insurance carriers, no doctor would see you for the $20 co-payment.

But, it's great you learned how to do it yourself, wish I was that mechanically inclined (though I just learned how to break down my bike for travel to an out of state race).

BikeWise1

Two things:

First, if it is so easy, then what excuse do you offer for not doing it yourself to begin with?

Second, with over 25 years in the business there is no way I could strip down a bike and rebuild it on a different frame properly in less than 1-3 hours. Sure, once in a while the planets align and everything goes together without a problem. But mostly not....

Hah. You are, apparently clueless about the cost of doing business. Even if I charged you $175, after all the bills are paid, I would get to keep about $7. I bet you wouldn't do it for that. Cashing out indeed.

Tulex

Ok, it's very simple.
Go open a bike shop, then see if you can survive charging what you think it is worth. Then think about all the expenses.

Did you add disability for the workers? Unemployment? How about liability insurance, did you add that in? Overtime pay when you get really backed up? Oh, and FICA. Now, go out and buy every tool you could ever need for any job. You also need some money to buy merchandise. You got someone to do all the paperwork, answer the phone? I'm sure you bought a building. And that's insured. Better put security system in, all that nice stuff you got. Gotta get through those rough months when you aren't so busy too. Better watch your worker, he might be taking a bike out piece by piece. Oh, and if he gets pissed off, you might lose business when he starts doing crappy work, or bad mouthing your business. Why is it so fricking dark in here? Electric? Oh yeah, and heat/air too. Damn, is that another bike shop opening up just down the road?

Now, after all of that, and I left so much out, the person comes back because it "still isn't right". You take the bike back and work on it for free, because you back your work up, and your guy didn't come in, he's sick again, so you have to do it. And you have a woman waiting to buy a bike that wants to know why she can get it for 100 less down the road. You hope to get a chance to tell her that it's because you go the extra mile for her down the road before she gets tired of waiting and walks away.

As a small business owner, I get so tired of hearing how businesses F people over. If it's so F-ing easy, go do it. When reality slaps you up side the head, go thank the guy for doing a nice job. You would be surprised at how many people don't.

Demit

Because people will pay that. Welcome to economics.

175 is about 75 more than my lbs would charge but there is more competition here. I agree that it is often better to do your own work. LBS's don't have magic hands but if you have a good job and you don't want to spend your free time wrenching, then it's worth using them. Most LBSs are crap. Any good LBS would tell you that.

deco101

I own a business and I don't put a 80% markup on my services. I guess I should cause most people have their heads stuck so far up their asses that they don't realize they are gettin butt ****ed in every which way. Hey and they are too naive to realize, what a perfect setting.
All those clowns who told me that I should do it myself, If you could read maybe you would see that I did do it myself.

Cyclist0383

Maybe you should raise your rates; perhaps with a little more money in your pocket you won't be such an angry jerk.

deco101

I wouldn't say a word if that was the case. But it's not so I think the economics haven't really played out their part around here

deco101

how am I a jerk?

deco101

are you people implying that just because I don't use my LBS im a damn jerk? everyone here repair bikes for a living or somethin?

patentcad

They're just calling you a jerk to get a rise out of you.

It worked.

Cyclist0383

Take at a look at the language you have used and your general attitude. You certainly don't sound like a nice and level headed person.

deco101

Im not talking about corporate lawyers and brain surgeons. Last thing we need is comparing bike mechanics who get paid 10 dollars an hour to world class lawyers and doctors. What's next CEOs and Presidents. Is a bike mechanics work really that valuable to you people?

BikeWise1

Details? What sort of business? Net profit percentage?


Where did you come up with that number? If it was by extrapolating monies paid to the mechanic versus fee charged by the shop, it is incorrect way to get a meaningful figure. You don't have employees that you issue W-2s to, do you?

After whining about how the evil, rich bike shop owners greedily (insert euphemism for anal intercourse here) their poor, naive customers!

mrjhmm

I bought a good Craftsmen torque wrench at Sears for $19.

If he needs to know how much to tighten a titanium bolt he could Google it or ask on BikeForums.net.

Anyone that needs a bike with titanium bolts is wealthy enough to have their local bike shop do maintenance on it. Those of us that only have enough money for BikesDirect.com bikes can't afford to give a couple of hundred dollars to the LBS.

noteon 

Literacy's gone out the window, too.

deco101

Look I can sugarcoat it for you and justify the price for you. But in reality, paying for couple of light bulbs and rent with some taxes doesn't exactly approve LBS prices. It's plain and simple, I have my own business (nursing home) and I'm also a commercial real estate broker. In both cases I don't let no 18 year old punk sell me on his BS. That's my job.

Richard_Rides

You're a business owner? What sort of business do you own? I'm a business owner (Electrical Contractor) and charge $85 an hour and pay my guys on average $25 an hour. Labor burden is $15 so my cost of labor is $40, add to that my overhead expenses are $20 per man hour so it COSTS ME $60 an hour just to put a man on a job. So, in my case I'm ripping off the public to the tune of $25 an hour (my theoretical profit) but wait, there are a million things that kill productivity so jobs often take longer than I calculated, so that $25 an hour gets squeezed pretty fast.

If I only marked up my labor cost by 80% I'd be out of business pretty fast. On the parts side, I'm lucky to get 15% markup which does not even pay my material handling costs.

OK, I've shared with you the harsh reality of running a (successful) electrical contracting business, now you tell us what business you're in and what your overhead, profit and labor costs are. I'm pretty sure you are not a real businessman but I'm willing to take you at your word and listen to what it takes to run *your* business.

Let's hear it, it's your turn.

Banzai

I'm going to call him a jerk because he's sounding like a shrill loudmouth a-hole. When this thread first started I figured there were just some knowledge gaps, regional pricing, and a variety of other misconceptions. Having read his other replies...definitely just a jerk.