My bike was serviced at LBS for £187
 

For that, I got new SRAM 12-26 cassette, SRAM chain, Shimano R450 rear brake which came with brake pads, new front brake pads, new fd, new inner cables all-round, bb check, headset check and tighten.

Not only can the LBS do it faster, but they'll do it to a higher standard than what I could achieve. If I had time, I'd still do it myself however. Not ridden the bike yet, that'll come next week, but I guess it'll feel pretty different to how it was before. Of that price, £59 was for labour. This was in the middle of the finance district of London, UK.

ok.

I bought a $.99 cheeseburger at McDee's

I spent no money on my bike today and now it is starting to fall into the tomb. That'll teach me.

sounds fishy. why do you need a new brake and a new fd on a service. were they old or had you damaged them?

In the City or Canary Warf?

You do realize that the "LBS" isn't some magical shop where little elves come out from the back and go to work on your bike, it's a place that hired a guy, just like you or I, to work on bikes. There's no reason why he (or she) would be able to do anything better, faster, or more precisely, then anyone else, other then them just not being good enough.

Evans or Cycle Surgery? It matters if you're paying £59 for labour alone.

yea that sounds a bit steep.

Also, one chain bike shop which shall remain nameless, put a bb on for me and much later on when i replaced it found they hadn't put any grease at all on the threads, totally bone dry. i was lucky it didn't fuse together.

I saved a bunch of cash by switching to Geico.

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

i dont know what 60 gbp is worth to you, but pick up a wrench!

mmmhmmmm

Put that money to better use next time and buy a repair stand. Then learn how to service things on your bike as the time comes.

http://www.google.com/images/calc_img.gif 187 British pounds = 307.6524 U.S. dollars




WOWZA!!

there are little elves at my LBS. Well... okay, fine. Just three guys all under 5'6".

I'd put 300 dollars into savings and buy a new bike soon thereafter...

I'd also never pay anyone $100 for labor on something I can fix myself. Much of the cost of the parts would probably also have been avoided, as I doubt all that wore out simultaneously.

I just spent $9 on 8 pieces of Tegaderm.

Stupid road rash.

Dude, didn't you just pay $10K to the *LBS* to build a bike?

Yes, you caught me, I paid $5 for the bike and $9,995 for them to build it.

You'd be surprised at how many of the chain shops do this. I've come across plenty of seized BBs from chain shops at my friend's (non-chain) LBS which we've literally had to dance on to get the cups out. It's not on, especially for £60. DIY is the way forward and it's fun too. :thumb:

Actually, I take mine to a Keebler LBS which disproves your theory.

Really though, it depends on the shop. Mine is owned by the mechanic who has been working on bikes of all types for 30 years. He can probably do 30 bike repairs properly in the time it takes me to fumble through one. This also disproves your theory.

Yes, but the same conversion works for salaries!

what a silly comment, especially from someone studying to be in the medical field.

when i go in for surgery no little elves come out to operate on me either, some guy comes in and does it. he does it better, faster and more precisely than my bartender could though.

He has lots of experience... spending money.

Normally I'm all for people who's job it is to do just one task (surgery, replacing windshields, etc) but what I've found more often then not is, if you want something done correctly, do it yourself. Surgery is one thing, as it takes years of training and schooling to learn, but to work on a bike? Do you suggest I go to the dealership every time my car needs windshield washer fluid ($75), or an oil change ($380), or god forbid the brakes changed ($800)? I suppose if it takes years of education as well to learn how to change out a chain, then by all means let someone else do it. However, I'm reasonably sure all it takes is about 5 minutes, especially with the help of the internet, to figure out how to pop off a chain and stick it back on. If the bike needed to be rebuilt ground up, yea, let someone who does it for a living do it, they'll be faster. But for small things, DIY.