LBS wont service Bikes

CramCycle

Called into mine as I could not get the front derailleur to line up after working on the BB. Turns out the BB I replaced was still attached to the cranks but so neatly and uniformly, it looked like a spacer. Took two minutes to fix, and I done it myself but they wouldn't even take money for a coffee to say thanks for pointing out what I missed.

The reason it was so quick was he said they were really busy and wouldn't get to it for a week, I said fair enough, I could book it in and not take up space and drop it in then. He was about to go for coffee so he said, let me have a quick look. I am buying my next bike there because of it as even when they are to the wall, they still make time for their customers.

They tapped the BB on the previous frame I bought in, bought from Dolan. Never queried it once, just said they were great bikes but a number of them have very minor issues. Even then only charged me 2/3 of what he quoted me.

A good bike shop is worth its weight in gold.

magicbastarder

also should mention i spun into 360 cycles on my old MTB to see if they'd be able to service the forks for me. the chap there gave them a once over, and reckoned they just needed a pump and did so and wouldn't even take a fiver for his trouble.

CramCycle

enricoh wrote: »

Local guy beside me sells bikes n lawnmowers etc. He wont service anything he doesn't sell himself.
Some customers come in n take barcodes, photos etc and then go off n buy online. He said he cant compete with the vat 3% lower in the uk, sterling slump and a lad on the Internet with lower business costs.

So if there's an issue in a year or two dont come crying to him. Not saying hes right or wrong.
But especially with lawnmowers and stuff with engines people weigh up the fact he won't touch them and the hassle to get someone else when looking at the savings online.

It just seems an odd business model. By all means prioritise the business you have had before, charge a bit more for stuff bought elsewhere to be repaired or take a bit longer, but if business gets quiet, it will be because everyone is returning to the sop down the road who would service regardless, fair enough they charge for it and it takes a week longer than you'd think but at least they took it in and not flat out refused it. There are exceptions of course.

07Lapierre wrote: »

Depends on the circumstances of the business. I knew a guy who ran a bike shop. He was over 65, he owned the shop, had very few overheads etc. so he could afford to open/close the shop when he wanted, fix what ever bike(s) he wanted etc. If someone came in with a bike that in his eyes was a cheap BSO bought from a supermarket or online etc., his logic was that he simply didn't need that kind of hassle and would advise them to bring it back to where they bought it and ask them to fix it.

This would be a prime example of an exception, he knows it will cost as much as the person paid for it to get it to an acceptable standard. I have seen my LBS do it as well, very politely, simply, listen, you got it from Argos or the cheap range from Halfords and there simply is no use in repairing them as you will pay as much as it cost to buy them. That's not being rude, that is simply doing your customer a favour. He may feel its not worth the hassle and that's why he is not doing it but on the flip side, he is doing the customer a favour, there is a slim chance they will get it replaced or refunded by the MNC selling BSOs but either way, he is saving them time, money and teaching them a lesson about the value in good equipment.

Another bike shop I haven't been to in awhile, during the recession anyway were fitting parts from online. They were out the door, the number of customers they said who started simply buying directly from them after they made their first mistake was staggering. Weekly they had customers coming in with the wrong parts for a bike, they couldn't fit, and so they dropped them in and found out the truth. The rest were simply people who bought the parts from CRC and they charged them labour, it was in fact handier and a bigger profit margin for them.

EDit

I might be way off base here, but is there any possibility that they could be stung in terms of voiding someone’s warranty? For example, if you buy a bike in the giant store, does the warranty stipulate that it could be voided if you get a service done elsewhere? Just wondering as, if some manufacturers have those rules, that lbs may have been stung in the past.

cdaly_

magicbastarder wrote: »

would be interested to know what the smallest job people have asked an LBS to do.
mine was replacing a broken spoke, and tightening a bottom bracket, two separate jobs. no grumbling about having to do so.

Back in the days of freewheels rather than freehubs, I (as a student with no money) would call into the bike shop to have a freewheel unscrewed 'cos they had the tool. Was always free in those days...

magicbastarder

EDit wrote: »

I might be way off base here, but is there any possibility that they could be stung in terms of voiding someone’s warranty? For example, if you buy a bike in the giant store, does the warranty stipulate that it could be voided if you get a service done elsewhere? Just wondering as, if some manufacturers have those rules, that lbs may have been stung in the past.

wouldn't be the lbs stung by them, it'd be the giant customer in that case. and if that was the reason, surely they'd mention it?

ednwireland

Nearest lbs is 40 mins drive away so normally do it myself

Heard a podcast on cyclingtips last year talking about how lbs need to evolve with the times and focus on providing a top service instead of sales because of the availability of deals online (was based on the US market).
https://cyclingtips.com/2017/09/cyclingtips-podcast-episode-41-how-bike-shops-can-survive-in-an-amazon-world/

But the point of CramCycle is still valid if a bike repair will cost more than the bike is worth, they're only doing the customer a favour.

Wishbone Ash

magicbastarder wrote: »

would be interested to know what the smallest job people have asked an LBS to do....

For me it has usually been when something becomes problematic while I'm out on a ride and in the vicinity of a bike shop. Went into Richies in Swords to get the RD straightened after crashing as I would be passing the shop- 20 second job. One of my cranks suddenly became loose when heading to Wicklow last year. Fortuitously, I happened to be within walking distance of Joe Daly's and one of the lads there had me back on the road in minutes and wouldn't hear of a charge.

magicbastarder wrote:

...i have been present there when people got a little annoyed at how much was being quoted to fix a bike....

I was in Humphries one day and a local gent came in with a BSO needing work. DH said he wasn't interested in the job. He was telling me afterwards that the work would cost more than the bike had cost and, through experience, knew that whatever he charged would be disputed and it simply wasn't worth the hassle.

AndrewJRenko

magicbastarder wrote: »

would be interested to know what the smallest job people have asked an LBS to do.

It's not unusual to see people coming in to Joe Daly's with a puncture. The older ones look a bit strange when they're told that they're going to replace the tube rather than fix a puncture.


If the OP would like to give details of where they live/work, I'm sure they'll get some good recommendations for shops that do good servicing.

magicbastarder

yeah, was similar to when i was there. the chap offered to trade in the bike when derek told him how much it would cost to fix, and when derek named a price got the 'but this cost €600 five years ago!' response.
derek responded with 'yeah, five years ago! and i have to spend at least another €100 on it before i could consider selling it'

Thomyokk

I don't get the issue at all with this

It's entirely reasonable if the lbs wants to service their own sales

Plenty of other businesses don't want want stuff coming in for repair they didn't sell

magicbastarder

what sort of businesses?

i'd be rather bemused if i brought my car to a garage and got a 'but we didn't sell this to you?' response.

Thomyokk

Domestic appliance sales

cletus

Folks, thanks for all the replies. I didn't expect to generate so many responses, I was just genuinely curious.

I'd rather not give a location either, don't necessarily want people trying to guess the shop. I honestly wasn't upset or insulted, just slightly perplexed.

Anyway, I figure I'll probably give most things a shot myself, and anything I can't figure out, I'll be back here for advice

magicbastarder

Thomyokk wrote: »

Domestic appliance sales

most domestic appliance places don't do repairs/maintenance though?

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

would be interested to know what the smallest job people have asked an LBS to do.

I do most repairs myself. But I remember being in a bike shop in Irishtown and a local coming in with a wheel wanting the mechanic to change the tube because he had a puncture and needed to go to work.

(I see AndrewJRenko has mentioned similar already.)

Wishbone Ash

I'm surprised some think puncture repairs are unusual for bike shops. In my experience it's their 'bread and butter' especially in city locations. Many cyclists only use their bike for relatively short distances - i.e. to get from A to B. They are not particularly into cycling and if they puncture, they just walk to the nearest bike shop.

tomasrojo

Oh, I'm not surprised. I was just responding to a question about the smallest job anyone might have gone to a LBS for; that and he went to the bother of taking the wheel off, but not the extra 50% to finish the job.

There are much smaller jobs than replacing tubes/fixing punctures, and I imagine people with hub-gear bikes might drop the bike in for this repair pretty often.

tomasrojo

I remember reading on Copenhagenize a post that was not smug, pervy or facetious, and it was about some health-and-safety measure in Denmark which was jeopardising the trade in puncture repairs, due to rules about exposure to solvents. I don't how it was resolved, but I got the impression that bike shops there might do patches more often than bikes shops here. Again, it's a quicker job to patch than replace with a hub-gear bike. In my experience anyway.

Wishbone Ash

tomasrojo wrote: »

... it's a quicker job to patch than replace with a hub-gear bike. In my experience anyway.

I'd say it's over 35 years since I patched a tube without removing the wheel.

tomasrojo

Well, my Brompton is hub-geared and it's a toss-up whether it's quicker to patch with the wheel still on or remove the wheel and replace the tube. But the cargo bike, it's no competition. I've been putting off changing the tyres on the cargo bike for weeks because it's such a production.

Jez what ever happened to turning the bike upside down and using the end of a spoon or something to get the tyre off on one side and pulling the tube out but not off and into a basin of water to look for bubbles

ahh those were the days.

CramCycle

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'd say it's over 35 years since I patched a tube without removing the wheel.

I done it upto the mid 90s, in hindsight I think taking the wheel off would have been easier.

Wanderer78

CramCycle wrote: »

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'd say it's over 35 years since I patched a tube without removing the wheel.

I done it upto the mid 90s, in hindsight I think taking the wheel off would have been easier.

I always remove the wheel, it's just handier

letape

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Jez what ever happened to turning the bike upside down and using the end of a spoon or something to get the tyre off on one side and pulling the tube out but not off and into a basin of water to look for bubbles

ahh those were the days.

They were the days alright - now the majority of people (me included) just pop a new tube in and bin the old one.

tomasrojo

Wanderer78 wrote: »

I always remove the wheel, it's just handier

It depends though: if you have a bike with hub gears combined with dynamo, roller brakes or coaster brake, it's way quicker to patch the tube without taking off the wheel. If you're handy enough at patching, I mean.

Apart from the whole business of deatching all the cables, and making sure you don't lose any bits, you usually have to realign the gears afterwards.

py

cletus wrote: »

Ive never had a bike worth bringing to a shop to be serviced before, but on calling into a particular lbs (not where I bought the bike), I was informed that they don't work on bikes they haven't sold.

Is this a common thing? Will I need to go to Halfords any time I need something done on my bike

I experienced similar about 15-20 years ago with motorcycle shops. Seems that a lot of the shops were family run business and all knew each other from the racing scene so didn't want to take business from each other. Dunno if it's still the case. Haven't come across it in the cycling world as I either do my own or drop it in to Beecycles.

Wishbone Ash

Deleted User wrote: »

.... and into a basin of water to look for bubbles

ahh those were the days.

Reminds me of winter evenings in my childhood where my father, with the pipe in his mouth, would have the basin out looking for a puncture in his work bike. He seem to puncture fairly regularly but I suppose tyre technology has improved a lot since.

I usually replace the tube but will often patch the old one when I get home and hang it up in the garage for emergencies. I'll rarely use a basin of water. If I can't locate the hole by feel/sight, I just cut the tube with a scissors.

tomasrojo

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Reminds me of winter evenings in my childhood where my father, with the pipe in his mouth, would have the basin out looking for a puncture in his work bike. He seem to puncture fairly regularly but I suppose tyre technology has improved a lot since.

I usually replace the tube but will often patch the old one when I get home and hang it up in the garage for emergencies. I'll rarely use a basin of water. If I can't locate the hole by feel/sight, I just cut the tube with a scissors.

Lovely pen picture of your da.

I never use water either. I can usually feel the small draught of the air escaping on my face. On a windy day I need to find somewhere sheltered though (again, that's only the cargo bike, as I've the option of replacing the tube with the other bikes).