Professional bicycle mechanics

[Annoying Twit]

I am becoming much more keen to do my own maintenance as I've often been unhappy with the quality of work done by bike shops and professional mechanics. I gave up on geared bikes for a while as the gears would regularly jump down below the smallest sprocket or above the biggest sprocket, sometimes lunching the derailleur, even if I had them adjusted by a shop. Wheels that I had trued possibly with spokes fixed would lose their true within a week.

Just the other day I had a professional mechanic put a new chainset on one of my bikes. Today one of the cranks worked loose, and I had to tighten it myself.

What is up with all this? Am I just unlucky, or is the typical quality of service by bike shops really poor?

[PH]

Get a book, watch some Youtube, ask around, buy the tools, make some mistakes, learn to do it properly and your bikes shouldn't give you any of those problems.
I find that doing some of these jobs well is very time consuming. My theory is that not many people would pay the rates a bike shop would have to charge to take as much time and trouble as somebody would doing the job on their own bike.

[Annoying Twit]

Get a book, watch some Youtube, ask around, buy the tools, make some mistakes, learn to do it properly and your bikes shouldn't give you any of those problems.
I find that doing some of these jobs well is very time consuming. My theory is that not many people would pay the rates a bike shop would have to charge to take as much time and trouble as somebody would doing the job on their own bike.

I certainly am learning to do my own repairs.

Adjusting the high and low adjustments on a derailleur takes very little time at all. I've had lots of experiences of bikes that have been professionally maintained but the derailleurs clearly weren't adjusted properly. I don't think it's just the time required and whether people are prepared to pay for enough time.

[jb]

The chain set should not have come loose , but to be fair a lot of problems can take more testing and observation than an average bike shop mechanic has the time for. It took me three or four days messing to home in on the exact cause of a recent problem, would you be prepared to pay for that?
At the end of the day if you buy something that has potential to go out of adjustment or puncture for reasons outside the manufactures control then an owner needs to have some technical nous of their own.

[Neilo]

The last time I took my bike to a professional mechanic was to get the free 6 week service after I bought it. That is the only reason I took it.
It came back with the gears out of adjustment, the brake levers touching the bars when pulled, the wheel bearings too tight and what really really annoyed me, was that they moved the seatpost. It took ages to get it back right.
I don't have a high opinion of the mechancs in that shop. I've always done my own maintenance. It's not hard once you learn how to do it.

[interestedcp]

A major reason why I learned to maintain my own bicycle was experiences like yours, and because the good mechanics I knew became so overbooked that the shop started to only take repair orders from customers who had bought their bike there.
There are some really good (and experienced) mechanics out there, so treasure such a mechanic if you happen to find one.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Although bicycles can be reliable.
As a self taught motorcycle mechanic, cars can be frustrating but I do all my own Pre Mot work without submitting the vehicle first and the last 100 mots have flown through.

Bicycles have a lot of bits that require careful adjustment and in bad roads or weather require a lot of maintenance / mile.

In a short while with some basic cheap tools you can do wonders, go for it.

MOT certificate and dentist is the only annual expense I have paid in the last 35 years.

[Redvee]

My LBS only gets to tension/true my wheels, if they're not too bad I can do them myself but beyond that the mechanic gets the work. I'm happy with the standard of his work and he gets them done pretty quick, sometimes within the hour if I get there at the right time. I've paid for crown races to be fitted to forks and headsets pressed into frames but that's only cause of the tools needed aren't worth me spending money on something I'd only use once in a blue moon. Every repair on my bike I do myself cause I have the skills and knowledge and cause if I need a repair doing on my bike I want it done asap so I can ride my bike the same or following day so I can get to work.

[Tiberius]

I put my own bikes together and look after things myself but I do have to buy the parts in....

I recently bought a new triple chainset...which I SUSPECT was put together by the supplying dealer (I chose my chainring sizes/crank length etc)......Less than forty miles down the road and the middle/outer chain rings are flapping about nicely and two of the chain ring bolts have completely left the planet.....and this was a VERY well respected supplier of bikes 'n' bits.....

Should I have to check chain ring bolt tension when I buy a new chain set ??...NO. Will I check everything next time ??...YES.

An old dog has now learnt a new trick.....

[landsurfer]

Do all the work yourself.
Possibly easy for me to say as I have been building my own bikes since the age of 12 (yes really).
I am mechanically minded and a professional mechanical engineer, but bikes are simple , really simple.
If you want to pay for one piece of training then go on a wheel building course.
Other than that just get on with it and use this forum or Youtube for the times you get stuck.
My son in law is new to cycling.
For Christmas he got a cycle repair manual and a knackered Dawes 420 MTB. He has made a good job of it and enjoyed every minute of the learning experience.

[DaveP]

I'm fairly sure that you must have been referred here before, but just in case, the best on line resources are probably
http://sheldonbrown.com/articles.html
http://www.parktool.com/
There is good stuff on Youtube. Its worth having a look if you're stumped. The problem is that there is also a lot of advice contributed by people who are utterly incompetent. It can be hard to tell the difference...
Off line, I've just bought the Park Tools Blue Book in order to keep myself updated enough to at least understand what people are talking about - I can pretty well cope with the bikes I currently own! It does seem to cover a decent spectrum from basic up to recent upmarket kit, its well written and illustrated. HTH

And if you spot a copy of Richards Bicycle Book in a charity shop lay down your 50p and treat yourself to a classic...
Possibly quite useful if you enjoy older bikes. Outdated now, but in its day it was associated with a resurgence in cycling.

[AaronR]

Last year I took a leap into the unknown and got the tools required to remove and fit a new bottom bracket and in doing so managed to do the job for about £3 less than my usual bike repair guy had quoted.. hardly enough to get excited about, but I now have two extra tools in my box so next time the savings will be bigger

I'd probably stop short of buying tools that I'd only be likely to use once in a lifetime, but everything else I'd consider doing myself

Adjusting gears does seem to be a bit of a black art, but as it varies by degrees from bike to bike theres no point in panicking about that when youtube will usually provide a howto guide, most other jobs are simple mechanics.. with the exception of wheelbuilding and adjustment which I'd love to learn

[georgew]

The main difference between bike repair at home and a pro workshop is that of time. At home one can take lots of time in order to get it right, but when doing the job for money then there are real pressures at work as time is money. Those jobs which demand time ....and wheel-repairs/re-building is probably foremost of these...can mean working at a loss.

[djnotts]

The main difference between bike repair at home and a pro workshop is that......

....

your contentment and possibly your life depends on how well you do the work - the pro mechanic's doesn't. I wouldn't trust the average bike shop with any job.

[jb]

A friend once complained that LBS wanted £80 for a service, I offered to do it for him at cost; there were no big problems just replaced brake blocks, cables, jockey wheels & change damaged spokes on sprocket side after chain derail, grease bearings etc. . When I costed it all out including my time I'd have had to charge well over £100 pounds for it to be worth my while even if the shop would have got parts at trade.

Not sure what they charge these days.