£10 to fit a spoke!!??

[greenstiles]

All this over 1 spoke, my god !

A lot of bike shops would charge a minimum fee of around £6-£8 for a true plus the spoke, depending on how much skill it takes to true the wheel (it's not just left/right it's up and down and round and equal tension...so it is a skill. So £10 is just slightly toppy.

And i used to run a bike shop and if someone gave me cake i gave them a favor in return or if you do someone a good turn it can lead to very good repeat business, call it ' a special offer' to get repeat custom...i like cake

 

[dbmtb]

Read again. He had 2 wheels trued. Not one.

 

[greenstiles]

What...that's a bargain for 2 wheels !!!

 

[IWish]

I never said simple home tasks like cooking would take from businesses but building and servicing your own bikes takes from your shop.

Why is this not seen by people? If you build your own bike and cable it and set it up and service it and all the rest of that stuff that takes away from potential business from your local shop. You can't deny that fact.

 

[greenstiles]

What if you work in a bike shop and you do your own repairs at home............?

Seriously though, i've never understood bike shops that offer 'cycle maintenance courses' surely theirs doing themselves out of business if everyone starts doing it at home

 

[dbmtb]

Have to agree to differ on that one IWish.

Just speaking personally - the people who are so experienced mechanically that they can do everything themselves would usually buy other stuff from the shop like tools and other maintenance products.

And as I pointed out before - home mechanicking frequently CREATEs business. I've seen so many overtightened carbon stems and seatposts and broken mechs due to badly adjusted limit screws etc etc that the extra business probably outweighs the lost earnings most DIY mechanics cause. Just as long as they didn't pay anyone else to do it - in which case they should get the "mechanic" to pay for the repair.

 

[greenstiles]

Good point, the amount of times people used to walk in and say ' i tried to fix this...and this happened...please help ' or they would buys parts off you and you would offer to fit it for a few quid extra.....no no they'd say......two days later they were back.......and well they got charged normal labour that time.....ha ha......it's all coming back now

 

[The Ken]

If you fix something for someone that can't fix ith themselves then you are taking business from professionals, as the someone needs to find a business or friend to do it for them. If you offer the service to friends for free then you are still taking business but the morals are generally sound.

If you charge you really are stealing trade by offering prices that they cannot compete with on any terms.
Technically you are guilty of tax evasion too (unless you declare the extra earnings).
If you were sued for making a mistake you would have no insurance back up and could be bankrupted in the process. I know this is very unlikely but it is why shop work is more expensive than homers.

Anything you do for yourself doesn't take from another business as you might not have had it done at all, I had a mate that rode around with 2 broken spokes for a few years because he couldn't be 4rsed fixing it. I would have done it for him but I knew he could do it and his riding wasn't that serious.

 

[IWish]

I do usually do all my own work and help friends out where I can. That's where my shock came from. I'm not saying people who balls up there work don't make more work for a shop but I've been building and repairing since I was about 11 so I can do pretty much all of my work.

I got shocked because I pay 35p a spoke ish and build and true for friends at a under cut price. I don't do work for anyone.

 

[greenstiles]

I've always used the analogy of a cycle work shop to a car work shop.....smaller tools but a lot of skill and patients needed with the potential on damaging something seized parts due to customer misuse.

Compared most cycle shops are cheaper and more friendly. Try walking into a car garage and saying, oh can i just use your tools or hover over you while your doing something tricky