adamt

I took a frame to my LBS today to have built up. I already had the cranks installed and a few other bits. - cost = $105. A bit pricey, but I like their work...and they are local.

They called to tell me my chain was a bit slack and that it needed to be shortened and the cost would be $20 (not including the pin - shimano 10sp). I asked why it was so pricey and the guy on the phone replied - "because we take on a lot of liability". This was the manager btw.

I told him Ill take care of the chain myself. at which point he sighed and said that it will cost me more to have the rear deraileur adjusted if I do it that way.

Does that sound like a lot of $ for such a simple task to anybody else? I would not mind paying for the pin itself, but the labor charge seems VERY high.

Ive bought 3 bikes and a lot of gear from this LBS. They know me - I live about 3 blocks away. The 'liability" reply makes me want give my money to another shop to do the work. His attitude makes me want to punch him in the nose.

Over pricing labor is not a way to reward customer loyalty.

So - would it be considered over reacting to pull the bike from their shop and take it elsewhere? Or would it be better to just have them do the work and not return for more labor?

MONGO!

What shop?

fwiw, last time I had a chain installed it was $8, for a shortening they probably wouldn't even charge me.

If you had the crank already installed and you can shorten a chian, why take it to a shop at all?
Those were the only two jobs I had my shop do, 'cos I don't have the tools for it.

urbanknight

Did they quote you a price to have it built up (as in a complete bike when done)? If so, that should include adjusting the chain length. If it was per individual task, then yeah he's going to charge more for doing something more, and he can't adjust the derailleur properly if the chain is the wrong length. I think this is the reason the shop I worked at finally switched to quoting an hourly rate for custom builds. The mechanic assigned to that job would notate the start time and was not to do anything else around the shop until it was done.

clancy98

20 to pull a few links? really?

AngryScientist 

my advice would be to go down to the shop and tell them your concerns. ask for an "all in" price to finish the build, and go from there.

Coop500

Seems high to me.

merlinextraligh

buy a chain tool for less than $20 and do it yourself.

daven1986

my LBS wanted over £200 to fit a bar, bar end shifters, brake levers and cables. They have lost my business now. I did it myself with NO experience in 1/2 a day. I bought 2 bikes from them and plenty of accessories. I guess they need to make a profit at some point but I'd rather learn how to do it myself from now on.

noglider 

adamt, the shop was not being reasonable in my view. I am a former bike mechanic.

mushwars

zomg, part of cycling is building your bike yourself. I routinely take mine apart and put it back together cause its fun. You should learn how to, cause your getting ripped off. They are taking advantage of you. The only thing I have LBS do is truing wheels, even though I have a truing stand, because its an art and its not very expensive for them to do it. And I only do that when I really get the wheel out of wack.

Quijibo187

the spirit of ryanf lives!

thirdin77

The shop is in business to make money and they'll ask what the market will bear. I wouldn't pay that price and I don't see how hard it will be to adjust the rear derailleur, assuming it's necessary at all. Go buy a chain tool and some pins and do it yourself. Look up an instructional video on bicycletutor.com, expertvillage.com or youtube.

daven1986

rear derailleur adjustment is easy - give it a go and if it breaks take it to the shop!

pabuck

Nice. I paid $45 last summer for a chain + install at a local shop

njkayaker

This really doesn't explain anything.

MONGO!

I supplied the chain.

$45 for a chain+fitting is about right.

Tristan86

I don't understand why he wants to charge you anything. Installing a chain is part of a bike build, did you already have the rear derailleur on the bike with the chain? Either way, 20 bucks to shorten a chain is ridiculous.

palu

So they're going to be liable if the chain ever breaks? As them what the "liability" part entails. But I smell a lot of BS. My closest bike shop said that they'd charge $35 to put on a headset. For 5 min of work. Bogus. I made my own head press that day for $10.

Chains are easy to work on. I recently bought a bigger shop chain tool for $15 on craigslist (Park CT-3) . I already had a smaller one (Park mini-Brute) that was $16 and changed out many chains with it. I'd recommend buying one.

garysol1 

Hopefully he is just a crappy communicator. I just find it hard to believe that any shop would charge $20.00 to shorten a chain only. Maybe there was more to it....not that I can figure what that would be...
I have to assume the chain was already cut since it was going onto a new frame...

garysol1 

Wait a minute.......How did he know the chain was slack? Did he install it first without checking the length? If so then it's his fault.
If he checked it first and did not install it until talking to you then there should be no extra charge because the chain is already broken.........I am confused.

MONGO!

Apparently it entails $10

Tristan86

Also whats up with charging for a pin? I always use the same pin that I push out (not all the way out) if I shorten a chain. Hopefully something wasn't communicated properly because the guy doesn't sound any good if not.

garysol1 

Thats a big no no on 10 speed stuff. I wouldn't chance reusing a pin....just saying

roy5000x2

When you partially remove a pin, and then push it back, you remove material from the pin, thus weakening it. This is the main downfall of shimano chains, since you need either a new pin or a set of SRAM or knc links to hold it together properly without worrying about the chain break. Over 30 shimano chains broke last year at Fitchburg at the connecting pin because the pin was weakened when it was installed.

Also, if they build the bike and you only had the crank installed, they should have shortened the chain for free. It's their fault that they didn't do it right the first time.

$105 isn't that bad for having a shop build your bike. Considering that each of the separate processes (derailleur install + adjustments, brake install + adjustments, chain install, shifter install, etc) would cost much more.

Tristan86

Been doing it for some time now... no bad stuff has happened. What exactly does pushing a pin in and out do to make the chain unsafe? I actually have never heard that it was bad, I am quite curious.

Edit: Ah there is my answer. I supposed it makes sense, although I have never had an incident