RoadTire 

Dang, LD - I really feel like I've been baited, and to it hook, line, and sinker.

Wilfred Laurier

liv_rong has it right

except for seventy five dollars being a rip off

he uses as an example of reasonable cost fifteen dollars to set up both brakes
lets round that up for twenty
then another twenty dollars for the derailleurs
and four dollars for each inner cable is sixteen
and two fifty per foot for housing could be ten bucks
and ten cents per ferrule is another buck or two

and suddenly the cost is sixty eight dollars

prices are set by what the market will bear
if the shop is staying open and not constantly fighting lawsuits and bbb complaints
and the op is willing to pay it due to perceived value of saved time hassle and peace of mind
then seventy five bucks for a perfectly functioning bike is not unreasonable at all

Al Criner

Your local bike shop is a business. Rent, insurance, inventory, supplies, employees, taxes and fees of all kinds, website, utilities all cost real money. They have to charge real money to stay in business.

If you have the inclination to do it yourself, go ahead. Your shop will be glad to sell you the tools, parts and supplies to do it. Some shops even hold classes to teach customers how to do this stuff. Working on your own bike is fun and/or a financial necessity for many of us. Some people have no interest, no time or don't mind the expense, so they have a shop do everything. It's all good.

Al1943

At todays pricing I'll spend at least $80 for parts doing this job on my own bike, cable and housing kit, black cork tape kit.

Little Darwin

I like seeing old threads pop up occasionally, especially seeing posts from people that are no longer with us, like Sidney along with others who have just faded away over the years.

Drew Eckhardt 

Around here retail space rents for $90/square foot per year triple net with the tenant paying for real estate taxes, insurance, and maintenance.

A small 1500 square foot LBS is looking at $150,000 a year before they hire any employees or cover other business expenses like utilities and liability insurance.

One somewhat larger LBS charges $80 to replace cables to cover that, materials and tax not included.

I don't think that includes housings since they're specifically mentioned as part of the $275 full tuneup.

Personally I find it less effort to do work like that myself than driving to the LBS, finding parking, dropping off the bike, driving home, driving to the LBS, finding parking, picking up the bike, and driving home which probably totals 1.5 hours.

roadandmountain

The oil change chains are actually less expensive than DIY. The oil change is generally a loss leader so they can upsell with unnecessary air filter replacement or a transmission flush (which can do more harm than good). I just say no to the ancillaries and save myself time and money.

I spent $20 bucks to get a brake cable changed out a few years back. Didn't seem like a bad deal at the time. It was basically a demo to see how good of a shop it was. Turns out, I've not had any issues at all with my bike since then, so no need to use them.

I really would prefer to DIY just about everything on a bike these days. Will likely invest in a stand and tool kit over the summer.

gilaasepeda

for me i will re-use my inner rear rd and rear brake exchange to front fd and front brake so it will only need new rear rd and rear brake. for housing is depend of condition, now im using teflon inner wire and silk oil housing from jagwire i know is exp $$$ but i satisfied. also there is opt for non teflon and non oil housing which come in cheaper price. changing cable is prety simple there is a lot tutorial on you tube and for i know you just need proper cuting wire prefer GOOD quality cutter and set screw driver. PS: sorry for my poor english grammar

spdntrxi

hell my campy ultra shift whatever cables kit alone cost like 65-70 bucks from the LBS...

HillRider

That seems awfully high unless you use really boutique parts. I buy Jagwire brake and shift housing in 25' rolls for about $20/roll and Jagwire or Shimano shift and brake cables for about $6 each. Assuming I need 6' of each housing and 4 cables that's about $10 worth of housing and $24 worth of cables plus say $10 for bar tape or $44 for the entire job.

bruin11

I just had it done as part of a tune up. The parts cost me $48 and labor was included in tune up price.

BikeWise1

Spoken like someone with no clue about what it costs to run a business. As if the entire interaction was 4 minutes long. Every single thing we do in the shop has a cost associated with it, and if the money coming in doesn't cover those costs, no more bike shop.

My shop charges a slightly higher than average rate. But the work is better than average, and we experience very few come-backs. Our customers tend to be people who put a premium value on their time and are willing to pay a little more for less time wasted. For bikes not bought from my shop, we have a $10 shop minimum. Bought your bike from us? No charge for minor adjustments and/or repairs ever.

As to the original question, for 99% of repairs we use nice, die-extruded stainless cables, and prelubed housing. A full re-cable using those parts runs just under $80, (a fully-internal carbon/tri bike is more, for obvious reasons) and all adjustments are included. Results are often shocking with people saying "I can't believe this bike works so nice now". We flat-grind the ends of the housings and use metal ferrules where appropriate. This allows us to send the bike out confident it won't need to come back for tweaks afterward.

Is it worth it? My absolutely crammed full repair board would seem to suggest my customers think so.

As to guys on here that seem to think everything at a shop should just cost essentially nothing, I invite them to open their own business, buy all the tools they need to work on the vast variety of bikes from $79 WallyWorld specials to $10,000+ tribikes, not to mention cultivate the expertise and charge virtually nothing and see how long they last.

Don't want to pay a good shop for good work? Then DIY. I DIY all my own car stuff except tire mounting, but I don't begrudge the car places for charging what they charge. I personally find cars easier to work on than bikes. Nothing to adjust, simply bolt on the new part and off you go....

onbike 1939

^^^^^^Good post and sensible too.

fsdogwood

Brake should be easier to adjust. Derailers, otoh, is more tedious.

redlude97

A basic jag wire pro cable kit runs $30-40 and bar tape is $15-30. So $45-70 minimum unless you buy enough for lots of bikes. Once you factor in a tool or two you could easily hit $80.

cs1

They're not much cheaper online either. Cables are a major expense. Especially if you have the LBS do it.

Al1943

Not "boutique", I buy Campy cable kits for my Campy components and Shimano kits for my Shimano components. I get these from the LBS that I've used for 20+ years. I know there are ways I could reduce those costs but this LBS and others have done a great job of supporting the cycling community here. And they give club members a 10% discount.

HillRider

+1. My calculation of about $44 above is for parts only and based on doing the labor myself at zero extra charge. Of course shops get the components for less than I pay but the difference isn't that striking and it is a time consuming job, particularly if done properly. Your charge is reasonable.

midgie

Cherry pick that ****ing conversation much? Hope you also use the quote I posted regarding a full cable run

Esoteric

Lake Mary? Florida?

fietsbob

housing buck fiddy a foot, cables five bucks each what do you get paid by the hour after taxes?

SquidPuppet

TWELVE year old post. And he's in Rhode Island.

vol

My rear derailleur cable is frayed and I can't fix it because I had already fixed it once and it's too short (almost all that is left is frayed). I'm curious how much a LBS would charge to fix or replace it for me. (it's a question )