if i were you i’d continue doing it for beer, small amounts of cash, just whatever amount seemed fair to both parties. especially if you’re not extremely invested in trying to make money off of it, that would be a way to do what you like and still have what you need for life. if my company only paid me enough for rent each month and then paid the rest in beer and bike parts and bartering whatever else i might need (new winter tights, etc), i’d still be happy because i’d enjoy what i was doing and getting what i needed.
so i’d suggest just continuing the current model–if it’s not broken, what’s to be fixed? just try not to do things totally free–people shouldn’t expect people do to things for free for them. i’m not saying people shouldn’t do things for free, but if you ask someone to repair a wheel for you, try to have something to offer back, and they can take or refuse it as they want. and you being the one doing things, should be able to get something, a favor, an item, something you can consume, whatever, out of the deal.
$30-45 for a wheel build.
$10-15 basic wheel true
$10 for a basic brake/der adjustment (that take 5-10min)
$20 per brake/shifter for cables (maybe $50 to do all 4)
$70 basic tune up (all adjustments + wheels trued. No new parts)
$150 overhaul (new cables and bearings + clean drivetrain in partswasher)
most shops run 25 bucks an hour for any labor, or thats what it seems to me. That said, you dont have the retail location etc to back up your work, so, you shouldnt charge that kind of coin. I used to do similar stuff, and if people asked to pay me in something other than lunch or whatever, I just picked a flat charge on top of parts. I think i usually charged 10 or 15 bucks, so essentially they were just buying me lunch.
I’d say this is fair, and a positive way to further a community, though ideally you would operate on a barter system (this is ideally speaking in my world)
These are the prices we charge for repairs at the Bike Co-op I work at. These are the prices for you leaving a bike with us and us working on it for you and returning it to you. If somebody wants to learn to do it themselves, we have a pay-what-you-can sliding scale with a suggested donation of $1-$10. People are usually very good about making appropriate donations, and I’ve seen people who were very happy with the service they received drop as much as $40 in the donation jar.
I would say that those prices are probably a good benchmark for labor costs without much overhead, but if you’re uncomfortable with a price list (understandably), you can go with the sliding scale system. It works pretty well.
Except for the time some ditzy bitch came in with a box full of Bikesdirect party foul and asked me to help her assemble it 90 minutes before closing. I tried to break down the process into simple tasks, explaining what we were doing at any given time and helping her with the various processes involved in assembling a bicycle. After a while, though, it became clear that she was a) not a fast learner and b) not interested in learning how to put her bike together, I just stepped in and powered through it to get it done before closing time. After explaining our sliding scale for “tool use” (though I honestly should have charged her the assembly price), she smiled and dropped A FUCKING DOLLAR in the jar. This is after disassembling what was put together, chasing and facing the BB shell, facing the headtube, pressing the headset, truing the wheels plus full assembly. I’m not the type to go chasing after her and demanding more money, but that was fairly absurd. Also, the whole time she kept asking me when she would be able to take the brakes off. I told her never.
Fortunately, most people do not seem to be like that. Especially if they are friends and friends of friends.
Charging a little money is not unreasonable, though. Beer and lunch are good, but they won’t buy new tools when yours wear out.
Also, disregard the misspelling of the word “overhaul” on our website. The site was made by core members about ten years ago who were extremely proficient mechanics, but often only mostly literate, as far as I can tell. Since people don’t really go to our website much (ever?), we haven’t really paid much attention to it.
barter is def cool.
Working for lunch and dinner is best.
I would rather buy someone a 20 dollar lunch, sit down, eat some food and have a chat, than pay them 15 bucks to true my wheels.
But I also understand that you can’t do that all the time, in which case money makes it easier.
yeah I’m mostly thinking of friends of friends who usually just wanna drop their bikes off and come back later. It’s spring and lots of fair weather riders are getting ready for summer.
Since I dont have a car or truck I work on this one dudes bike pretty much anytime he needs in exchange for help moving stuff. Plus he’s fast as lightning and I like to pretend i have something to do with it:)
I will always accept burrritos FYI (toast im looking at you)
I’ve been doing similar stuff for friends and coworkers quite a bit lately, what with spring and all. I stick with the free/beer/boob pics model you described in your first post. Told this to a friend who’s starting a carpentry business and he looked at me like I was crazy for not charging anything.
If they really wanna give me $5 for the basic stuff I do, I don’t refuse it, but I have no desire to set “rates” for all this stuff, as I enjoy it thoroughly and it gives me something to do during lunch and “work time” at the office on fridays, as well as an excuse to haul my trailer full o’ tools.
Anomaly:
For anyone but the best of friends I charge $25/hr. That being said most of my good friends can do whatever besides major stuff (headset pressing etc and that is generally due to lack of tools). I don’t worry about insurance since I don’t advertise my service and only take cash so they would have a rather difficult time proving I even worked on their bike.
$45 tune up
$8 derailer adjust
$15 to run new cables, $2/cable or housing
$80 overhaul
$10 wheel true ($10 to replace a spoke, $15 for drive side)
$50 bike build
$35 wheel build