Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
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Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby diggler » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:49 pm
Does that sound like a lot? It was a rear spoke but not on the drive train side.
He said the spoke alone cost $5.
I feel like I have been ripped off.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby queequeg » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:52 pm
$5 for the spoke, $25 for labour.....pretty normal. It is why I learned to do it myself,diggler wrote:I recently broke a spoke. I could have gone home to fix it but I went to the local bicycle store. When the guy finished I pulled out a $20 as he said $31 please.
Does that sound like a lot? It was a rear spoke but not on the drive train side.
He said the spoke alone cost $5.
I feel like I have been ripped off.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby Duck! » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:56 pm
That's actually a reasonable price, because there's more involved than simply popping the broken spoke out & shoving the new one in. The surrounding spokes need to be retensioned & balanced as well.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby DavidS » Tue Jul 02, 2013 12:01 am
DS
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby diggler » Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:03 am
I've done it myself in the past, I just didn't realise that's what it costs.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby simonn » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:51 am
In my experience it would take at least a minimum of 10 mins and at least 20 mins to do a proper job of replacing a spoke. Takes me ~30mins from taking the wheel off the bike to finishing a test ride up and down the drive... so I'd be charging myself ~$40 labour... which is about how much my truing stand cost . If I break a spoke (and if I can) I will try to spend an afternoon checking out/re-tensioning the spokes properly.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby Gerry.M » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:53 am
Edit: actually can't remember what it cost. $20 was for something else.diggler wrote:Ok fair enough.
I've done it myself in the past, I just didn't realise that's what it costs.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby im_no_pro » Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:03 am
master6 wrote: Moderators are like Club Handicappers; I often think they are wrong, but I dont want the job.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby Paddles » Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:05 am
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby winstonw » Tue Jul 02, 2013 11:35 am
That way, you can determine if you would rather spend the time learning and doing it yourself.
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby Coolabah » Tue Jul 02, 2013 6:19 pm
diggler wrote:I recently broke a spoke. I could have gone home to fix it but I went to the local bicycle store. When the guy finished I pulled out a $20 as he said $31 please.
Does that sound like a lot? It was a rear spoke but not on the drive train side.
He said the spoke alone cost $5.
I feel like I have been ripped off.
well... it is always cheaper if you do it yourself. Question : what is your hourly rate in your job ? If it is more than the bike shop charged , then you are ahead. If it is less , then you should change jobs ... Bike Mechanic, Yay !!
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:02 pm
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby lobstermash » Tue Jul 02, 2013 7:42 pm
I've never bought into that philosophy, because you only get paid in that job for the number of (paid) hours they let you work. The rest of your time is 'worthless', unless you use it to save yourself money.Coolabah wrote: well... it is always cheaper if you do it yourself. Question : what is your hourly rate in your job ? If it is more than the bike shop charged , then you are ahead. If it is less , then you should change jobs ... Bike Mechanic, Yay !!
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby Coolabah » Tue Jul 02, 2013 9:29 pm
Yeh , that makes sense. So , point being : if your time is worth $ 0.00 then , of course it is cheaper to do it yourself as you can do the job for the cost of parts + $0.00/hr labour. Counter argument : would YOU be agreeable to work for free for some business ( like say , 38 hours a week for 20 years ???)lobstermash wrote:I've never bought into that philosophy, because you only get paid in that job for the number of (paid) hours they let you work. The rest of your time is 'worthless', unless you use it to save yourself money.Coolabah wrote: well... it is always cheaper if you do it yourself. Question : what is your hourly rate in your job ? If it is more than the bike shop charged , then you are ahead. If it is less , then you should change jobs ... Bike Mechanic, Yay !!
? If the answer is "no" , then I am confused as to why we expect bike shops to work for "free" ( this can include a fee which is un profitable to the bike shop ie less than their costs )
so : was the service worth it to you ? If not , find a cheaper bike shop . Service might be much worse , or , if you are lucky you will find the Holy Grail : a business that provides quality service at a cheap price , even better if it is fast service ..... ( dream on !!!!)
... just my 2 cents !!!
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Re: Reasonable price to fix a spoke?
Postby lobstermash » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:05 pm
Sort of, but it's only worthless if you spend it doing stuff that doesn't save you money. If you need to replace a spoke, for a random, non-specific example, and the local bike mechanic usually takes 20 minutes to do it and charges you $20 for it, then doing it yourself in 30 minutes it's like you just paid yourself $40 an hour.Coolabah wrote: Yeh , that makes sense. So , point being : if your time is worth $ 0.00 then , of course it is cheaper to do it yourself as you can do the job for the cost of parts + $0.00/hr labour.
I think people's expectation of what services they should pay for would depend on how much they'd sunk into a place. If you've spent a couple of grand on a bike from there, you'd expect the profit from the sale could cover a quick spoke replacement... If they've never seen you before and you're just buying parts for a bike you seem happy with, you'd expect to pay reasonable rates for someone half competent at doing something you can't be bothered with.
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