The shape of things to come....

[Jake1]

I dropped by my local MC shop to see if they wanted to work on my '85 GPZ900. They looked at me like I was insane.

My Harley shop only works on bikes 10 old or newer; in this case it has nothing to do with the tech as many of their older bikes were not much different from newer ones at the time. It is merely a psychological ploy into making you have motivation to purchase a new bike. Bike s shops and other repair businesses that also sell new (and used) products often try that gimmick, which is odd because often times the labor costs are far more profitable than the profit made on a sales mark-up; but most who do it most likely have a high mark-up on sale items or make a direct commission on a sale.

Last time I brought a bicycle to a shop they either acted like they were unfamiliar with the component (a freewheel needing disassembly); or maybe they were truly ignorant. I do not know about others regarding their work, but when someone wants a job done I will educate myself in order complete the task at hand and will be prepared for the next one coming through the door. I now know what derailleur clutch is and why it is; but if requiring a special/proprietary tool I doubt I have it in the box though my knowledge of mechanics.will allow me to service it as if I had previously worked on it. I see many folks "working" at jobs where they have essentially no knowledge/experience at their position; and when you ask them something related to their job the response is often "I don't know"; and that is it. No effort made to attempt to educate themselves ar their own job.

So regardless of how old a bike (or anything is) is, if you run a repair shop you are supposed to attempt a repair (it possible). Age/model should have nothing to do with it within reason. There are far too many bikes out there that are fully (or nearly) operational and made within the last 50 years that can easily be serviced and maintained by bike shops with only a few (and generally inespensive for a business) tools (and I do it without a true work shop or even a bike stand (I personally dislike their designs and limitations).

I have stood in a shop with a customer bringing in a modern bike (20-25 yrs old) for service;. The "tech"/"mech", without test riding or doing any physical mechanical check of brakes or drivetrain, already added up the costs and told the guy it would be about $200 to repair it. That was a complete fabrication, the obvious repairs that the bike was brought in for could have easily been done at 1/2 the cost including parts. That shop screwed up in my opinion by turning the guy away since it was obvious he was not going to buy a new bike (their cheapest at about $500), at least not from them (he may also gone to get a second opinion from another repair shop).

 

[Takingabreak]

There was a new bike shop that opened locally to me a few years back. At the time I thought they will need all the custom they can get.

So, as is the modern way, I contacted them via email about a stuck seatpost I had going on - painful it was too.

The answer was that they were too busy servicing bikes to help me.

In the end I got the post out - painful it was too - but I was hoping they had better tools, technique, knowledge etc

Then, I asked for their help again, to replace some bearings in a campag hub. I didn't even get a response.

The bike shop has since closed down but I think the guy is still doing mobile / work from his garage type of thing.

I just think, how are these places ever going to survive if they don't take on these kind of jobs which build the customer relationships?

 

[RobLoasby]

I dropped by my local MC shop to see if they wanted to work on my '85 GPZ900. They looked at me like I was insane.

Few years back I went to a main Kawasaki dealer to get some parts for the GPZ500 I had at the time. Stood at the parts counter in my (admittedly well-worn from year-round commuting) bike gear waiting for ten minutes while being studiously ignored by all three of the staff who were too busy chatting, laughing, and joking to a bloke in a suit. Almost as if they didn’t want ‘proper’ bikers in there.

Unsurprisingly, that dealer folded a short time later.

 

[Glug]

I've been fairly lucky.

4 years back I needed some ball bearings to redo the bottom bracket on a 1982 Holdsworth.
Tried some bike shops in Putney - first 2 didn't sell ball bearings.
I now know better and get G25 ball bearings online, but if a shop doesn't sell ball bearings go somewhere else.

Turns out there are decent bike shops in the area: Elswood Cycleworks
A damn fine shop, fitted a head race for me for free twice.
Even the mechanic was prepared to discuss breaking in a Swallow saddle (he rode one).

Having said that I do all the mechanical work myself, anything else it's Winston Vaz at Varonha Frameworks.

 

[Mkane]

You got to diy.
Effing VW dealer charged me close to a grand for a 70,000 mile service. I’ll never go back.

Its good to be close to dying age. Now we just need to get rid of an ass-hat.

 

[bikeworkshop]

My friend got charged £1000 by vw in Bristol to be told they couldn't identify the problem.
The charge was for "diagnostics"

 

[novocaine]

I don't know why people are so surprised at the cost of a dealers.
yes they are expensive. it costs a lot of have the facilities they have. Walk in to any workshop there and it's spotless, normally 4-8 2 post lifts, perhaps a 4 post as well. OEM specific diagnostics equipment, specific tooling, the list goes on, and it's not what you get at the garage round the corner.
as a customer, you get to be removed from the workshop, sat in big comfy chairs, offered a cup of tea etc. while you wait. if it's a long term job, access to a loaner vehicle for the duration. None of this comes cheap and they aren't paying for it without your help.

£1000 for a 70k service, that's a major service, which means all fluids and filters(4 hours), timing chain inspection (2 hours) or timing belt replacement (4-6 hours), engine inspection (possibly spark plug replacement), auxiliary belt inspection or replacement (1 hour), ancillary inspections, drive train inspection, brake inspection, the list for a major is quiet long. There's a little of a days work in a major service, normally done my multiple people to reduce the overall time. the service technician is a skilled worker, not on minimum wage, let's be cheap and say 20 quid an hour, so just a day is £160 to them, plus costs to the dealers like PAYE and tax etc. so £320, just for the person. overheads on the building and equipment, possibly another £200 for you to pay, assuming maybe 6 cars in the workshop for the day, we haven't even got to parts yet and we are £520 and there isn't any profit to the company yet. Lets chuck parts (including gaskets and such) and fluids in for a major service, £200 easy, even at trade rates (yes, the dealership pays the OEM for the parts), so now we are at £720. how much do you thing a dealer pays for access to the database of manuals, access to the diagnostics equipment and all that?

does £1000 still sound like a lot to you? the dealer is making about £100 profit of you, 10%, and that's if it all goes smoothly. don't like it, don't get a dealer stamp in your service book, go somewhere else, where their overheads aren't as high.

as to £1000 for diagnostics, how much would you pay for someones experience and ability to diagnose an issue? even when they don't manage too? I'm billed out at more than that per day as an engineer (not automotive), because I've got a lot of time under my belt that is worth something.

sorry, it annoys me. Don't get me wrong, I feel like I'm being ripped off at the dealers too, but when you break it down like this, you can see why.

I have a couple of very good specialists who I take my car's too, they aren't dealers prices because they don't have the giant overheads, but they do know what they are doing, still expect a £500-600 bill from a major service. I'm expecting one in the next 6 months for a 70k service on the golf, especially as I want the timing chain inspecting and the tensioner checked (known fault on the engine I have). Yes I could take it to the local garage, but they don't have the kit to do that easily. I'll take it there for a minor (oil and filters) service and still pay £150.

 

[Jonny69]

I bought a nice 1998 Mercian - King of Mercia - I knew when I bought it the headset would need changing at some point, so, I set about stripping it down only to find there was damage to the threads on the fork steerer - not too bad but enough to cross thread aluminium.
No problem thinks I - I'll nip down to my LBS and ask him to chase the threads out. The shop is relatively new - only been open for 3 or 4 years, it's obviously full of carbon bikes etc. owned by a young-ish fella (to me anyway!) he takes a look and says sorry mate I haven't got the tooling to do that.
I can't help thinking that it won't be long before bike mechanics won't have any experience with anything steel.

This isn’t a recent thing. I wanted someone to run a die down the threads on one of my forks about 10 years ago and none of the shops local to me had the tool to do it. Even the old guy who couldn’t find his because he’d lent it out said he hadn’t been asked to do it for years.

I was quite surprised to find the shop near where I work had tools to chase out a bottom bracket. But if you were following my yellow Hobbs thread (badum-tsh) you’d have seen that they messed it up anyway.

Sometimes you just have to accept that you’ve got to do a lot of these jobs yourself.

 

[pigman]

My friend got charged £1000 by vw in Bristol to be told they couldn't identify the problem.
The charge was for "diagnostics"

As soon as garages deal with a German car owner, they see wealth, or at least someone who isn't scared to pump money into owning the 'right badge' and capitalise on it

 

[bikeworkshop]

As soon as garages deal with a German car owner, they see wealth, or at least someone who isn't scared to pump money into owning the 'right badge' and capitalise on it

We have to diagnose faults continuously, especially on awkward high end stuff, but we almost never get to charge just for "diagnostics" - and I don't think an independent garage would either.
Generally you'd get paid to fix stuff.

And a more expensive item would attract a bigger ticket....

And the guy with the tatty old wreck he says it's a5 minute job...
Same reaction