rs1101

When we get a bike out of the box, at least at my shop, many many times we come up with issues that require wheel truing, re-engineering on our part, or warranty. Ex, schwinn. every single box we get from schwinn looks like they gave it a going away beating with baseball bats. But anywho... thats all part of building up a bike at a bike shop, is making these adjustments. I have seen some horribly bent wheels. Which is why a great deal on the internet might not be such a great deal in general, unless youre willing to risk it.
It does sound like your bike got miscommunicated to the staff at this shop, when you primarily needed a wheel true, once they wrote down 'tune up' and handed it to the tech, the wheel true must have been forgotten. Hopefully you complained to a manager/owner? Businesses can't alleviate problems without feedback from good customers.
A good shop should help you out.

Mondoman

I suspect that quality and service vary as much among LBS's as they do among auto repair shops.

Panthers007

Friend of mine's car broke down on the other end of his state - so he went to a local garage and had it repaired. Then he brought it in to his usual garage (Cambridge, Mass), which was run by rather nasty looking people. He figures they noticed the other shop's parts/repairs. He got his car back and was driving it for about 10 miles - before the engine went up in a fireball.

Aren't you glad you ride a bike?

Totoro

The EXACT same thing happened to my boss. Of course, once the engine starts burning, it is not long before the entire car is a ball of flames.

LarDasse74

If a Motobecane from BD has the same components as a Colnago then they can be made to work the same.

Dan Burkhart 

Not neccessarily so. Factors such as chain stay length and BB drop can greatly affect things like chain rub.
Dan

LarDasse74

Yes but most bikes fall within a very tight range of shapes and sizes. Provided the frame is 'normal' and properly aligned there is no problem getting a good components set to work perfectly.

Also, the example we are using, Colnago, has a super high bling-factor, but is not necessarily any better quality than a lot of the 'mass manufactured' brands like Specialized, Trek, Giant, etc...

I worked at a shop where we sold Colnago for a while but we dropped the line because their 'legendary' quality was a lot less than we expected, but you still pay $$$$$$$ as if they were welded by Jesus while Elvis mitred the tubes*.

(*phrase stolen from a bike magazine from years ago)

bikinfool

So why couldn't you spend the time it took to take the bike to a shop to do the work yourself since you do all your own work? And when you did get it back and "fixed" it did a half-assed job? And then complain about someone else? I'm missing something here...

Panthers007

This will, no doubt, cause some to jump on me but - maybe sometimes a shop will treat a customer's bike like dogpoop if he/she didn't buy it there. But that is probably a relatively rare event. If I bring one of my custom machines to a LBS and they screw up the job I needed done - I don't think it's because I didn't have them build me the custom machine in the first place. That rather smacks of being a conspiracy-theory.

Occam's Razor tells me that the real reason is: One, maybe more, of the mechanics there is not qualified. One sees this in automotive shops all the time. There are good mechanics. There are great mechanics. And finding these can be very difficult. Hence - there are rotten mechanics. I've had experience with all three of the above.

I live in Podunk on the shores of Lake Woebegone. Finding a qualified bicycle-mechanic up here, who is professionally trained and used to working with tools that are bike-specific - like Park and Pedros - is like the proverbial 'needle-in-a-haystack.' Most are kids who worked on their bikes with vice-grips and hammers. A shop owner has to retrain these monkeys from the ground up. I have an application from the best LBS up here. It states: "No experience necessary. Will train." After several problems, I learned my lesson. I won't let them near my bicycles again. I only brought them there due to a lack of time on my part. Now I'll make my time available to tend my own steeds as I am a very good mechanic - I don't know everything, but I have resources to learn new tricks as needed.

The best revenge is doing better. So I'm seriously considering filling out that application. Then I'll help train the monkeys at the LBS.

tatfiend 

Depends on the LBS. I have had excellent service from my currently used one and will have them install the French headset I just purchased on line. I asked if they had a source for it and was told no.

I expect to pay for the work and have no guilty feelings as I have bought two bikes from them in the last year.

tatfiend 

With the grade of rim that the OP is referring to it could well be that eliminating radial runout is not going to happen. Lots of rims are not truly round and have flat spots as manufactured. You are not going to get them round and have correct spoke tension on all the spokes. As I recall Peter White Cycles has a mention of this difficulty on their web site and they do not build wheels with inexpensive rims so even the better rim makers goof up occasionally. Shipping damage can also flat a rim.

Also LBS's do vary in quality, both iin sales and service from my experience. If you live in a metropolitan area then ask around among serious riders and racers for their experience and opinions on who the quality shops are locally, and who to avoid like the plague.

I have personal experience years ago with a Honda auto dealership who was lying about wear parts condition to increase parts sales and service revenue while overlooking a steering defect that could have killed me. They lost my business forever.

JustChuck

Everyone see that? LarDasse must be basing how shops operate on how he operated when he was in a shop.
LarDasse is the one with no respect for a bike he did not sell. Do not take your bike to him, or a tool like him, and you will be fine.
Any real mechanic has respect for the owner of what he is working on regardless of their bikes base quality or origin. At the very least pride in ones labor should come in to play, unless you are LarDasse

PlatyPius

Someone brought in a new Motobecane 29'er (From BD, of course) today for us to assemble.
Rob completely disassembled it, lubed everything, and reassembled the bike, even replacing the missing concave washer from the front Avid disc brake. We charged the guy $45. He was happy, we were happy, and no one blew snot on his bike or shoved dead shrimp down the seat tube.

Remind me to never go to these shops you guys talk about...

JustChuck

The shop should not be happy with that charge. If the bike was truly "disassembled" and put back together and adjusted, by someone that is skilled and paid properly, the shop lost money. $45 would not even cover salary, much less power, rent, insurance.(However, I also undercut repair charges in the winter, just to keep some cash flowing)

PlatyPius

Rob is the partner in the store.

And it was slow. He was apparently in a good mood. Normally we charge $60-$90 to do that job.

Totoro

I ASSUMED the shop would do a better job, using better tools, AND that true meant lateral and radial. I ASSUMED wrong. The lesson is DON'T assume the shop can do a better job.

blamp28

The shop certainly should have done a better job but that is not the lesson. The lesson is that clear communications will produce a better outcome. First communicate your expectations and the cost clearly. Second communicate with management IF and when those clearly discussed expectations are not met by their employees and give them the opportunity to make it right. The bigger picture and lesson is that things are not always as they seem. With all of the time, money and effort including the drawn out Internet discussion, was this bike really a bargain? I would submit that it has now cost more than a decent bike bought locally. YMMV

keisatsu

I see your problem, you've failed to tip your mechanic with beer, a six pack of dark beer goes a loooong way in getting your bike race-ready.

Chuckie J.

I remember the first time I attempted doing a significant repair on my bike-- the rear brake cable had snapped. I was LOST. I had no idea how cables even worked. I thought the housing was merely a protective cover. After letting it sit for a couple weeks, I took it to an LBS and all was well.

Fast forward 15 years and I now do all my own bike work including wheelbuilding, headset pressing, cable work-- everything. I have the tools and slowly picked up the knowledge (mainly through BF, thanks everyone!)

The LBS has its place but once you know how to do the work, there's no comparison.

Panthers007

Here is another nugget to throw on the fire:

I paid my LBS to OVERHAUL a high-end bike for me. Many of my tools had been stolen and I was awaiting several shipments to replace them. So I specified that they were to OVERHAUL the hubs, BB, and headset. They charged me $110.00 for this task.

I retired the wheels recently - Mavic Module E2 rims, DT 14g spokes - and Campy Record hubset from 1982. I just took out all the spokes to free the front hub. Opened the hub and, can you guess? - There was the same grease I had last used. Bullshot grease from the 1990's. Pink stuff. No longer available. So I went to check the rear hub - same story. Bottom-bracket - ditto. Headset - ditto.

All they had done was wash the frame. Replaced the cables. And (improperly and against my wishes) taped the handlebars with new foam tape. Yuck! They also left the brakes way out of adjustment.

I'll leave it to you, reader, to form your own conclusion.

invwnut

That shop is very reputible. That shop is where I tell people to go to. The prices are inline with the area. Actually what the shop owner did was honorable. I've known car mechanics who will go the extra mile to make it right, even at the cost of their time. Remember Chuck, that the money was his time. If it took less than 2hrs of work that is more than $22.50/hr. That's nothing to sneeze over, especially since it was slow. That shop may have earned more business from the bike owner and new business from the bike owner's aquaintences or friends. The "wow" factor and word of mouth goes a long way in any business.

JustChuck

I said nothing about the quality of the work or the shop. This:"If the bike was truly "disassembled" and put back together and adjusted, by someone that is skilled and paid properly, the shop lost money.", was just a qualifier because "completely disassembled" means different things to different people. To me it means stripped to a bare frame with hubs and headset disassembled. The other part of that, "someone that is skilled and paid properly" was just meant to indicate someone that is skilled and paid for that wage like they should be, not to indicate they had the fireball do the work.


My point is that it is often not in a shops best interest to do repairs for less than it costs to run the business. $22.50 sounds good, but once you subtract the mechanics pay, the employers balance of benefits, power, interest on unsold bikes, and rent, you end up in a hole. For instance, at our shop it costs $17.85 per hour just to pay the rent. So, unless that mechanic was getting paid less than $5 an hour, the shop lost money(Actually the shop lost money even he worked for free). There are other mechanics labor and sales of bikes and parts to offset this, but when it is slow, not so much. So you don't want to undercut yourself anymore than you have to. As I said in the last line, I offer deals on repair in the winter to bring in business, but I have to balance a deal with actually covering the cost of the business.

As far as WOW factor, charging a proper price and doing excellent work in a timely fashion will get you more useful word of mouth than performing repairs for less than your expenses and going out of business or explaining why some customers get deals and others do not to the guy not getting the deal.