Is this acceptable from a LBS?

Re: Re:

glpinxit":28363owo said:
Campagmatic":28363owo said:
... his rates are £25 per hour.
Bearing in mind the overheads (rent, rates, staff, cost of capital tied up in stock, etc), I can't understand how the average LBS keeps going. It makes me wonder what the mark up must be on new bikes.

Not much, believe me.
 
Re:

While the work does sound shoddy a couple of things I have picked up in this thread.

A £10 chain is probably not a good one. The KMC Z82 sells for £10 and is a fine chain, I use them on my 7/8 speed MTB's with no issues.

A M-part headset is a madision cheapie, really some of them are a similar price to Cane Creek and it is a headset you know. The quality entirely depends on the quality of the bearings which quite frankly the grade of them is not published. A M-part headset lasts as long as a Token, and that lasts as long as a Cane Creek and so on. Even CK headsets seems to be no better in terms of durability than Token. I mean my cheapie Token has been in my MTB for good knows how many years. So while the name may not bee fitting for the Colnago do not mistake for something second rate. the shop you use may not stock or use Cane creek if you wanted cane creek and they could not supply they should have said and you could have gone elsewhere. I have custmer who want particular brands on there bike but that does not mean that that expensive part is any better than the cheaper alternative. Pricing has more to with demand and brand cache than quality as perceived quality influence the first too.

Anyway the work was shoddy and the labour far too expensive.
 
Re:

I agree with the above - the LBS was shoddy.

I've come to realise that bike shops are really only for those who use bikes to get around, but don't really care about them. For those who love their bikes and want everything just right, it's vital to learn and sort as much as possible without the self-styled expert.

For example, the guy who runs my local bike shop is a nice guy, but his prices are going up constantly, he put the wrong size seatpost into one of my bikes and now the down tube's slightly buggered, a new chain didn't fit, a headset wasn't properly set etc. Nothing's done with love or respect... That's where we have the edge!
 
I think service is purely down to the individual you happen to deal with. We had a friend staying with us last year who had just bought a new Cannondale, while he was staying he ordered a pair of Mavic wheels to upgrade the ones fitted. When they arrived it soon became obvious that we needed reducers fitting in the hubs for the QR levers. What was odd is that the QR's came with the wheels but no reducers.

We made a trip to what is probably Shrewsbury's main shop who were very helpful until they realised he hadn't bought the bike from them. That was the end of 'customer service' and he was told to phone Mavic, despite them being a Mavic dealer. As a last ditch attempt to get something sorted we called at Halfords (no laughing) because the Halfords mechanic had the reducers in store the next day. Now we were impressed but that was followed by him swapping the tyres and innertubes from the original wheels to the new wheels for FREE!!

So Halfords proved to be a much better LBS than the main one!!
 
A M-part headset lasts as long as a Token, and that lasts as long as a Cane Creek and so on

Disagree. M-Part s the only headset I've ever encountered where the bottom race FELL OUT of the frame when the forks were taken out. It was able to be fitted by hand without tools. It was pure Kak. (That's an Afrikaans word that's not very polite)
 
I took my aende to a lbs because I heard they had a good reputation,never again they ripped one of my brake hoods which is dura ace 7402 hard to get a replacement and it had a new chain and gears tuned up and it ran crap,complained about the service they denied ripping the hood,so thought up yours and went else where and the current bike shop I use is fantastic,great customer service and my bikes always come back perfect.

Marc
2011 cube aerial
1990s aende
 
No the hood is still ripped going to try and source some nos for when I start rebuilding the bike.

Regards
Marc
2011 cube aerial
1990s aende
 
Marc,

Thanks. The search for illusive hoods continues! You will get these on ebay from a guy in Portugal called David. I think the ID is coelho or similar. He is a good guy and a reliable seller. They are not overly cheap though. But count yourself luck they are not 600AX or DA AX hoods - they are harder to find and much more expensive.

Richard
 
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