Tom L

brought my bike over to the local shop to take my drop bar setup and make it a flat bar setup
I already changed out the bar, needs sram rival brake levers and front and rear shifters, to mount on my flat bar,
just the cheapest way to put mountain bike stuff on the bike to make it more of a cruiser than a drop bar bike

they come back at $500 for the job, seems like I am about to get ripped off, what do you think?

rhenning

What are the prices for the parts. A far as parts you also forgot cables and housings, grips and couple of hours for labor. It seems a bit high but I am not surprised at the quote. Roger

Iride01 

Spend your time trying to figure out what is compatible with what and then try to find the parts at prices you can make a profit at. 500 bucks is not ripping you off.

fietsbob

Do the work your self if you are unwilling to pay what the shop quoted..

Indexed shifting for the back I expect uses Sram MTB with same "speeds" count ..

FD, friction thumb shifter will be fine.. short pull 'cantilever' mtb brake levers would do .

squirtdad

does not sound like you are getting "ripped off" parts and labor add up.

what is on the bike now for drive train/brakes

AlmostTrick

What you are proposing to do is expensive, just for the parts. That's why the wise advice is to sell the drop bar bike and buy one set up the way you want.

Or do the work yourself, (but only if you really love the bike) which will save you a bit.

Tom L

thanks for the heads up on the costs, i't just with this particular shop I really have to watch my back, need to find someone else but I made the
mistake and purchased the bike there, and they are the only dealer for that particular bike in the region. so every time I walk in there, I am thinking
how they are trying to screw me over or worse, they are good salesman, and I may leave with a smile, but later realize they threw me for a loop
not a very good way to do business

davei1980

They could be swapping the RD as well for that price because of shifter compatibility issues.

The first time I tried to DIY this process it was an eye opening and not cheap experience

mack_turtle

What is the breakdown for parts and labor? shifters are not cheap. they might be able to lower the cost by using cheaper brake levers, but you didn't include any details. they are probably quoting you for a new set of cable and housing, which add up as well. they might be able to squeeze a few bucks off the price by reusing the brake and shift cable housing if it's still on the bike.

You can recover some of your costs by selling the old shifters, assuming they still work.

have you sorted the stem you plan to use? a flat bar will likely make the bike have a MUCH shorter reach to the grips. if the bike fit you well with a drop bar, it is most likely going to feel cramped with a flat bar.

Bill Kapaun

They are probably quoting you for a complete "shifting system" so they don't have to deal with any possible incompatibilities.
They don't want to spend hours "trying" to make things work together.

fietsbob

Perhaps its N+1/N-1 time... buy the hybrid, sell the road bike..

Troul 

gotta pay for knowledge & labor.

cpach

Honestly they are just comparing costs for similar quality parts. I understand that new bike supply is limited now so conversion may be a sensible option, but typically this isn't the best idea both economically and functionally (bikes for flat bars usually have slightly different geometry, including usually a longer top tube for the same rider). They will also have to replace all the cables and housing on the bike. This probably represents about an hour and half of billable time at the shop. Rates vary wildly by market, but $60/hr is pretty common and the last shop I worked at in Santa Cruz had a 120/hr labor rate, so labor accounts for a huge proportion of that quote.

If at all possible, just sell the bike and buy a bike that actually meets your needs, it will probably work better and will probably cost less in the end.

70sSanO

Flat bar conversions are easy and generally pretty cheap if you do the work. But I agree that a shop doesn’t want to mess with incompatibility issues of trying to piece things together.

If you can’t do the conversion yourself, just have it done.

In the current situation, you can’t find a $500 bike and if the shop can do it now and not 3 months from now, just have them do it.

Get a detailed list of what they are going to replace and get the old parts back.

John

veganbikes

It is probably about right for everything going on. People always think that magically these things shouldn't cost money but they do. Parts, Labor and the expertise of doing it. Plus you can sell off your road bike parts and probably make some or all of that money back easily.

Also keep in mind that parts are hard to get right now as well.

If this is work you want to get done then go for it. If you think you are being ripped off, you aren't but whatever people always will think we should work for free and eat expired ramen because a bike is just a toy...

tFUnK

Ask them how much it would be if you brought in the parts yourself.

ClydeClydeson

Bicycles are simple, and most are made by a handful of contract manufacturers in Asia regardless of what name is on the frame. Any bike shop can work on your bike regardless of what brand it is, with the exception of box-store brands that some shops don't want the hassle of dealing with.

ClydeClydeson

It is also possible that their estimate was 'F-O' pricing - a subtle way of saying 'we don't want to deal with this cockamamie scheme, but if you insist we'll make it worth our while.'

But just as likely they know much more about derailleur compatibility than me and plan on replacing a lot more than just brake levers and shifters to get it to work.

davei1980

That's an interesting theory - we used to do that in the trucking biz when I was in that line of work.

We'd get a call from a non-regular shipper who wanted an oversized load, picked up in Canada and delivered somewhere outside our wheelhouse so we'd quote it with a fee so high that if we got the bid, we'd make good $ at it. Same principle.

veganbikes

It is possible but doesn't sound like that. Some of that road compatible flat bar stuff is tough to get and Sram does has different cable pull ratios. Plus I need bar, stem, cables/hosuing, grips and labor to do it all. So if I go with mid quality stuff 500 is pretty easy to hit with all that. If it were FO pricing I would have done 1k and done some titanium or carbon bars and stem and Paul brake levers and gone crazy.

Tom L

so this shop kept up with it's sketchy business practices all along the way of the repair.
there was a question of a frame crack when I dropped the bike off, when they came back with an estimate , no mention of the possible crack
so I had to remind them, ohh we forgot about that, then I waited a week and a half for an answer from the manufacturer, lifetime warranty on the frame. if it was a crack or not.
the shop wanted to do the repair, then charge me again to swap over all the parts if the frame was cracked, so I waited for the manufacturer to clear the
frame and make a note that the frame wasn't cracked, OK great do the repair, I went to pick it up yesterday, they walk the bike outside
and hand me the bill, I look at it and it isn't right, I get the oops might have made a mistake, they tried to stick me for $70 extra for the tax, rang up the labor
twice was the excuse, same deal every time with this shop, they will always try to get one over on you every time you stop by.

I will give them credit, they are very smart with ways to screw over their customers, they think in ways to compound things that most may not see.or don't care about, but after a while it is just annoying and you feel like you are getting robbed
then there is always the mistake at the register with something.always something, hopefully the last time I will have to deal with them

Troul 

That is sad.

thumpism 

I believe I would take my business elsewhere. I worked at three different shops over the years, here and in VT and in WA. Although we did occasionally make mistakes, all three were scrupulously honest about new bike sales and repairs. Perhaps things have changed in the bike world. Sad, indeed.