When I last did did your “fender massage” at BABR I really should’ve charged you at least this much (also forgot to charge for the mudflap!)
For wrench jobs across all disciplines, piecework rates are set relative to an “shop rate” (I think BABR’s is $90/hr), but the bike industry is uniquely terrible at actually recovering it. Most stuff ends up costing half to a third of what it “should” but there’s some stuff like fenders or tubeless or internal wiring that can spiral far out of control.
Your fake-hammered VO fenders are their worst model, and too narrow on top of that, next time you have trouble you should probably just tear them off
Get real Honjos, or PB ALX Medium, or Portland Fender Company, or even better wait for PDW’s 650b model[/quote]
Last time I was at back alley, I tossed Ben extra $ for the mud flaps. Right after I got home I realized you forgot to charge me.
Was going to link to this (TBH I would have struggled to find the link again though). It’s spot on.
When I last did did your “fender massage” at BABR I really should’ve charged you at least this much (also forgot to charge for the mudflap!)
For wrench jobs across all disciplines, piecework rates are set relative to an “shop rate” (I think BABR’s is $90/hr), but the bike industry is uniquely terrible at actually recovering it. A lot of stuff ends up costing half to a third of what it “should” but there’s some stuff like fenders or tubeless or internal wiring that can spiral deep into the negative.[/quote]
Yeah, when I was shopbro-ing we started charging $35 for a fender install, since it was going to take more than half an hour of shop time to get them on and they usually require some improvisation/fucking around with the supplied hardware, supplementing the supplied hardware with extra shit from the bins and often some amount of time with the angle grinder cutting the fender so it didn’t interfere with the front derailleur. People didn’t like it, but mostly gave in after trying it themselves.
We did have one dickhead who was so upset about the price that he complained to the owner, who came back to the shop area and ensured that we did it for free, since the guy bought the bike at our store (a year earlier). Aside from that, though, shops have to make money not lose money and fenders are a fucking asspain.
I think shops should charge what they need to pay their employees a decent wage
which is why I taught myself to do 95% of my own bicycle maintenance. done more than one $100 fender install in my life.
And no shop has EVER charged $100 for a $100 fender install.
Today was bike to work day. I left early to go hit some of the free stuff stations, including this one particular LBS that I never go to because the owners are a little holier-than-thou knowitalls who have always contradicted everything I’ve ever said when I go there.
So I go and get my free coffee (damn good coffee too) and banana, and of course they start circling around my bike and give me a 10 minute lecture about how I should clean my chain more often. I know I should clean my chain more often, but I just don’t care. They spent a good amount of time trying to sell me a full tune-up, telling me about this magical tool they have to check drivetrain clearances (a chain stretch gauge, it’s not rocket science) and basically acting like I was just some regular guy who doesn’t know the first thing about bikes.
But they know that I built this thing up from the frame all by myself and I know how to work on bikes.
God damnit.
I can’t remember the last time I set foot in a bike shop.
i was last in a shop in february 2016 because the only way to order the damper for my fork was to take it to the shop.
people ask me what shops are good around here and i really have no good answer.
you two have been banned from this thread
I love the bike shop I go to. They cut spokes while you wait and have been around since the 70s so they have endless bins of obscure old shit that they’ll let you dig through if you’re not a dick. The last time I tried to buy downtube shifters, the dude refused to take my money and sent me out the door with a set that I picked out of a five gallon bucket!
Ya can’t do that on amazon!
I could get a bucket and fill it with downtube shifters from Amazon. Ain’t gonna be free though.
My favorite bike shop to go to in boulder is a tri shop. Sounds like a joke, but they are actually the most helpful and generally have stuff in stock. I assume this keeps them making some profits (plus triathletes love to spend money, so that seems like it’s gotta be a good market to be in compared to the more general bike world, esp. in boulder where it’s chalked full of triathletes). It’s next to the grocery store i go to and by a hardware store, so conveniently located. i did a saddle demo through them - you just pay like $20 or $40 down and can try as many saddles as you want, with your fee going toward the saddle you buy - tried like 5-6 and they were super cool about me trying whatever i wanted to try and had a good selection of demos (fizik, specialized, ism, cobb).
I go to bike shops to dig around in bins full of garbage looking for deals. not a huge fan of interacting with the folks who work in or own bike shops.
fortunately minneapolis has one of those, but it’s not as good as recycled cycles in Seattle. Or Bike Works.
The two main guys I support are one-man bands, they struggle. One in particular will give customers shit out of his junk parts bin every time rather than charge them something… hes the most socialist businessman I have ever met. I had to make him stop giving me the shop deals I used to get as a sponsored rider as I felt like I was cutting his throat and would feel guilty. He can fix shit that other mechanics will junk because they don’t know how to fix it, and he sees it as a challenge, its not good business, but he does it. Hes come close to chucking it several times but I think its a bit of a calling for him.
I happily pay full retail for junk at my LBS and donate stuff to my local coop if it goes more than a few months in my parts bin.
Both places offer a service to the community that Ribble would never be able to fill.
The shop near my office, where I get my wheels built, is a cool old corner/dank basement sort of place and dude lets me rummage around for old stems and shit for my archaic threaded steerers. He’s a cool guy and loves to chat, but his grasp on basic physics is … spotty. His thoughts about fenders are … backwards, like closer to the rider is better sort of thing? He even drew me a diagram on a receipt explaining the leverage/modulation relationship on cantilever brakes and I swear he was telling me a shorter canti arm = higher braking power. That can’t be right, can it?
[quote=emor]not a huge fan of interacting with the folks who work in or own bike shops.
[/quote]
This is not a good thread to be in then.
Please don’t be offended. I don’t really like talking to any retail customer service folks – I like going in, buying what I need, and leaving. That said, I think the worst bike shop employee is typically worse than other bad retail employees.
Many of my friends work in or have have worked in bike shops. Honest.
I’m not _____, I swear! My best friend is _____!
Dyin!