BazookaFro

Am I the only one that seems to never have a generally good experience with bike shop repairs? Now I'm a stickler, and I try to repair things to my own standard, but sometimes I feel alittle in over my head and the real world experience of a bicycle mechanic can be invaluable. But for anything outside of basic tune ups, I have always had bad luck with shop repair, whether it was my crappy huffy hardtail from my childhood, to my roadbikes today, something always seems to slip through the cracks. Im curious if anyone else feels the same.

Koyote

No, I don't feel that way.

pdlamb

Probably not the only one, but it's been more than 10 years since I had a problem with a bike shop repair.

woodcraft

I do most of my own repairs/maintenance,

and have been generally dissatisfied with work done by bike shops.

Paul Barnard

I do most of my own stuff. On the few occasions I have used bike shops I have been generally satisfied. I just had a great experience with The Alpineer in Crested Butte CO. I had a disc brake dragging and didn't have time or tools to deal with it. I pedaled into the store at about 3 pm, figuring they would need to keep it until the next day. The technician was apologetic that he couldn't do it on the spot. He told me it would be ready by 5. It was done correctly at 430.

OP, what specific issues are you having and did you discuss your dissatisfaction with the shop?

Troul 

90% of the shops locally have dropped the ball in some way when ever i've taken my bike in for them to service.
the 10% that have done me well, they make up for the dissatisfaction with the repair bill.

I do as much as I can before taking it in.

John_V 

Karman321

CliffordK

I don't think I have ever had a repair done in a bike shop. Everything is done at home.

And, yes, I also make some mistakes... well, I have those "Learning Experiences".

I have observed shops, and shop work, and I tend to have a different approach to many things than a shop, and have to wonder how thorough they are with things like a tune-up. Or, perhaps I define a bike tune-up differently than the typical shop.

Perhaps one of the most important things is simply learning about your bike. Fix it or not, learn to observe when things are working right, and when they aren't before it becomes a critical failure.

HerrKaLeun

Basically 2 types of customers. The ones that can't fix a flat and hire the LBS to do that. Those people will be impressed by whatever the "gods behind the counter" do.
Then the people that can wrench and use the internet, they will never be happy with the LBS.

Knowing how to do it right (even just from watching youtube and never actually doing) is a curse, you will never be satisfied by what someone else does.

. Cranky .

I once took a bike in for a full clean and lube package, and upon being called five days later and told they were finished, came in and found my bike cable locked to a rack of dirty kids' bikes in front of the shop and coated in a fine layer of windblown desert dust.

Troul 

back when i purchased a bike from the lbs that came with a "warranty" from the lbs as well as oem, the experience from exercising the "warranty" really made situations worse for looking up to a lbs.

The parts were covered by both warranties, however, neither covered the labor. however, only the oem warranty clearly stated it would only cover the parts, whereas the lbs warranty did not address specifically how limited the coverage was. Since the lbs was not willing to work out a deal on labor, I received my new parts in hand & replaced them myself.
*The oem warranty only required an authorized dealer to determine which bicycle parts were at fault not requiring an authorized shop to complete the installation.
Sadly, the "free" tune-up service provided by the lbs from the initial purchases could not been used either. The only thing "free" was detailed in there documentation, & that was basically seat adjustment, cable checking (not clearly stated to mean adjustment), handlebar adjustment, tire psi checking, chain wear inspection, gear inspection... All that points to is digging for work.

KraneXL

Neither do I. I had a great old-timer mechanic and always left happy and satisfied.

FlMTNdude

indyfabz

Yes.

livedarklions

I think there's a big middle category which I happen to be in. I'm comfortable changing tires, installing some stuff, doing basic maintenance, but I hate dealing with cables and deraillieurs. We want to leave the time consuming stuff to a pro. That's generally working out well for me, but I have two good repair shops in town. I think the competition makes them both sharp.

indyfabz

That's 3 by my count. And it doesn't include people like myself who choose not to do most of their own work, visit only shops that provide great service and will take issue when someone makes a mistake or doesn't do something perfectly, always remembering that people are human and thus imperfect. You also left out people who tour and are sometimes forced to pay a visit to a LBS despite their level of competence with tools.

Colnago Mixte

As well as those that only want to use the restroom.

It's a tough business trying to run a bike shop these days, I doubt it has ever been tougher, so I don't fault them for doing what they need to survive. But I'm at a point where I know as much or more than they do, so unless they have a tool I need, they never touch my bikes.

When I was at a level where they knew more than I did, I was always happy with the work done, just not happy having to pay for it.

Brocephus

My area's excellent, decades-old shop closed down a few years ago, and the others seem to charge a butt-load of money to do anything. I don't know how the quality of their work is, but their prices have completely run me to my tools and You-tube videos.
So far, so good.

indyfabz

Exactly. See my post directly below yours.

Milton Keynes

In other words, all the stuff a cyclist should be able to do at home.

RShantz

My opinion is that the bike shop doesn't care about my bike as much as I do, so I do my own work.

Working on a bike is not difficult especially given youtube. So the only time a bike shop sees my bike is for warranty work or to cut the steering tube. I'll pay them to cut the tube just as an insurance policy in case something goes wrong - I'm a little afraid of making that kind of mistake.

In addition, we all know time is money. I can normally do maintenance on my bike faster than the travel time to/from the LBS. Bikes just aren't complicated to work on.

tclune

When I moved here a few years ago, there were four bicycle shops within about five miles. I tried them all, and only one did a competent job on repairs. That one is excellent. Henry Ford once said that 90% of everything is crap. I think that's probably true of lbses. I might add that word of mouth is a terrible indicator of the competence of bike shops IME. All of the shops had people who would rave about them. Go figure.

livedarklions

90% of attributions on the internet are wrong. Henry Ford never said that, Theodore Sturgeon did.
I've never had a LBS botch a repair or charge me unreasonably. Overall, I have had much better luck with bike mechanics than car mechanics. The worst thing anyone of them has done is to try to sell me on stuff I don't want, and I can't blame them for trying.

ExPatTyke

I do most work myself, but for some jobs like wheel truing, cottered bottom bracket servicing, I'm very happy to pay a trusted LBS.

Note the word trusted - I've got several shops in the town I live in but take my bikes to a shop in a village 10 miles away. I've always had good service there, they're not fazed at all by a 40 year old French bike, take the time to talk to their customers, don't try to charge for extra parts (had a local shop try and charge me once for new brake pads in place of the ones I'd fitted a couple of weeks earlier), and the standard of their work means I feel safe riding a bike they've worked on. Cost is comparable to the shops in town, although factoring in the cost of fuel for a 20 mile round trip makes it more expensive. Money well spent though.