slowandsteady

Never had one done. I do all my wrenching myself. 90% of routine bike maintenance is done with an allen wrench and a screwdriver. And your only options are to turn it right or turn it left. It ain't that hard.

slowandsteady

Sounds like muffler bearings, or turn signal fluid. Once I had to get my falopian tubes replaced in my Nissan. Now that was expensive.

MrMorrill

My bike came with a lifetime service policy. I would do most of it myself but my past bikes have always had been single or fixed geared. Including my mountain bikes. So I've never worked with derailleurs. Which is why I bring it in. Plus I don't have a stand.

But I recently brought my bike in for service and rode it pretty hard last night already the shifting is off so I am going to call them and see what they can do for me. The tunes usually last much longer though (I'd say 500miles)

AdelaaR

Same here.

jeffpoulin

The last time I brought my bike in for a tune up, it sat there untouched for 7 days, then they spent 15 minutes cleaning the chain and cassette and slightly adjusted the cables. No thanks.

slowandsteady

Tune ups at the LBS are for people who ride their bike 3-4 times a year who won't mind that the bike is absent for a week. For the rest of us, it is a tragedy that is easily avoided with a quick read of the park tools website.

billallbritten

A bike chain invented by a former VP?

rat fink

"We've got a torqued out digiframus, our mega****z redundancy pile is on the blink, and it looks like we bruised our boo-boo."

slowandsteady

Tell me more about the pro bike cleaning. Do you use dihydrogen monoxide or just plain water?

Psimet2001 

It's all ball bearings these days.....


As Bikewise mentioned - and surprised he is on here instead of wrenching or selling at this time of year....wait....me too for that matter. Shops do a ton of service work. Contrary to what the poster above mentioned, many shops have service driving their profitability.

In general there is no replacement for a good shop that charges fair rates and does consistent quality work. Alas - these are in the minority. Many factors contribute - people don't want to pay a lot, it's hard to keep good mechanics, there is a wide array of talent and experience, etc. You could have a great shop that does great work but the one time someone comes in and deals with an idiot ......

Most of you know I have a pretty big wheel business but you may or may not realize that I do an extensive amount of repair work as well. After establishing a local clientele over the last 7 years I have been here I have a dedicated bunch that lines up at my door for service. I perform free service at any time for anyone on the team. As a result I get a ton of people coming by.

As BW mentioned - the VAST majority of riders just DON'T service their own bike. Many have no interest in even remotely learning what goes on below the saddle. Even Pro cyclists that do it for a living. To people like me this can be an amazing fact....but then that's why people like me work on bikes.

Also in BW's statement he talks about all of the people that come in who THOUGHT they knew what they were doing. Yup. Also I get a lot of work from SHOPS that royally f'd something up. Luckily I know them well enough to call the owners and go, "do me a favor and go over to the Loctite and throw it away."

Tune-ups - I never know what to charge so I am horrible on that end. When a bike hits my stand I have the privilege of fixing everything on it that I find that I don't like. Shops aren't that lucky.

So what does all of this lead to? Some simple advice if you are truly wondering how often someone should look over your bike (tune up).

1. I find in my experience that people that are into riding enough that they spend time here on Bike forums - a once a year "go-over" is probably the minimum. Many of my dedicated guys - I will bring their rigs in once a year and tear it down to the frame and rebuild it. It helps run problems off before they become big problems, etc but is definitely oevrkill

2. If something changes about the quality of your ride and you notice it then take it to someone because if it was big enough that you noticed it then something is definitely wrong.

That's it.

Best "maintenance" anyone an perform is to put air in your tires before every single ride, and to replace chain and cables/housings.

Brian Ratliff

This is so true. I was surprised when I started racing and found out how many people had no interest in the mechanics of the bike. They are athletes, not shop geeks or engineers; in retrospect, this shouldn't have been so surprising to me.

I've come to think of my cycling as two different hobbies. One is riding and racing my bikes. The other is building and maintaining my bikes. The former appeals to the competitive side of my nature, the latter my mechanical engineering side. My version of a pleasant weekend afternoon is to turn on the tube in my workshop/garage and futz over my bikes. Sometimes I'll do that rather than ride. I've got seven bikes, all with different uses, and there is always something to do on one or another of them. If not, there's always the 8th bike to spec out .

AlphaDogg

That is now my signature quote. I love it.

Psimet2001 

Case in point...

A pro's brother just left here. This pro used to race for Garmin - now on a different team. His old Garmin rig from the Tour of Missouri a couple of years back - he sold to his brother. His brother brought it in to me when he got it. f'n basket case of a bike. Makes you appreciate what pro mechanics do just to make their life easier and makes you understand why they tear up so much gear.

Anyway....this guy (the brother/my friend) is an engineer by education. i met him through my regular job in manufacturing. He can quote you speeds and feeds for face mills off the top of his head if you tell him the material and depth of cut.....

On Monday - "Rob this thing just doesn't shift right. Put a new derail on for me." Me: "OK I'll order it up"
.....brings the bike over again tonight.
Me:"dude...there's 7900 levers on here and the derail is a 6600 Ultegra. Technically they have non-compatible cable pull/throw ratiois."
Him:"Yeah...I remember you said something like that when I got it. Maybe that's why it's never shifted right."
I swap the derail. Still shifting like crap......
Me:"Just let me ask...did you put that cassette on or was it me?"
Him:"Why? Is it not on right?.......cause....yeah....i put it on."
Me:"hmmm....well there's your problem."

Pull off the cassette, clean it install it again and torque the lockring this time. Viola. purrrrrrrrrrrfect.

Him: "Rob, I'm just a dumbass. Half the time I think I screw this stuff up only because I know you'll eventually fix it or make it right. Which reminds me - start putting together a cross bike for me."
Me:"Why?"
Him:"Because I am still a cat 4 in cross and I want to go back to kicking your ass ON the bike again."

BrainInAJar

Yeah, I wonder why the LBS is a dying breed...

Nachoman

I'm not proud. I take my bike to the shop about once every couple years, for cable replacement, and a basic tune up, whether it needs it or not.

RUOkie

I'm not either. My bike started shifting like crap lately, and I realized it was time for new cables. I brought it to the shop. I do routine maint. on my own, but if it is gonna take more than 2hrs, let the pros do it. I know how to, but just don't choose to spend the time.

hhnngg1

I actually do know how to do most of the 'tune-up' type stuff on my bike (brakes, cables, basic derailleur recable, etc) but I have to admit - the LBS does a WAY better job of it than I do. I 'think' I get it right most of the time, but the 2 times I've taken the bike in, it's rode far more reliably without issue for much longer than when I do it myself. It's the little details that get you - a slightly 'off' shift that your barrel-adjust just can't seem to dial in, or a strange squeak that I can't pin down that goes awayw when the LBS does it.

If I had more time, I'd learn the hardcore details to get as good as the LBS, but I'm already strained in time enough (new kid + job) that I hate even changing the chain on my bike with a chainbreaker. Cables also take me like an hour+ including finetuning my triple - not worth it to me.

It would honestly take me about 6 hrs to do a full serious breakdown-tuneup that I'm happy with. I might pay the LBS $150 for a similar thing, including full degrease, bu tit's completely worth it to me.

shouldberiding

Correct.

And at post #2. Cool.

lol headwind

Seems like you'd have to be a huge Fred to let someone else "tune" your bike, but I guess if you are incapable of using basic hand tools, a LBS "tune up" is better than nothing.

I have a friend who sucks at getting his ride running smooth, and it's not because he lacks the mechanical knowledge, it's because he simply doesn't take the time. Either to do it in the first place or to make a good job of it. If you take your time wrenching you will be able to do it like the "pros". There isn't some kind of dark art to it. You just ****ing tighten some bolts or whatever.

hhnngg1

True. But when time is a very limited priority, the LBS is worth it, IMO.

It's one thing if you have a stable of bikes and a lot more time than money, then it makes a lot of sense to become an expert self-wrench. But I do bike repair infrequently enough despite riding a fair amount (like serious tuneups 2x/yr) that it takes wayyy too friggin' long for me to learn/forget/learn/forget over and over again how to do stuff.

When everything goes smoothly, it's quick. But when a single thing goes wrong, unexpectedly, I've found I'm set back for on average, 2 hours. I learn a lot in that process, but I end up forgetting most of it by the next time it rolls around, and usually something else goes wrong, and bang - a 30 minute tuneup just turned into a 3 hr job again. Sucks.