$400 is way too much for re-cabling everything.

Looking at no more than $50 in parts unless you got some Yokozuna cables.

Another $100 max in labor unless there is something else you haven't told us.

Was there some $75 bar tape or something?

Yes, and the last paragraph sounds like the best course of action.

Hopefully just a misunderstanding and/or a new mechanic there.

Good luck.

Nope, no bar tape. Parts were two cables, housing, and a serrated washer for the rear brake. He said it was essentially all labor costs because he spent the whole shift working on it (he's not the only mechanic, so it wasn't like the whole shop closed just to work on my bike).

Seems like a lot. I recently had way more than that done by our LBS for a bike I had neglected quite a bit and it was under $200. Did the same for my wife's bike a little later (also in a bad state of disrepair) and that bill came to $440 but they again did way more parts and labor than what you described, e.g. new chain, new cassette, replaced just about everything replaceable on the brakes, new tires...

If he spent the whole shift re-cabling one bike he's not a good mechanic.

Yes and without lube......

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Let food be thy medicine...

I would pay $107, period.

Remind them that you will be doing a Yelp review and telling your friends.

This ^^^

If he advertised that $107 rate then it seems to be a certified mechanic's rate. $400 is a Picasso rate, and maybe that it what he was trying to display with your cable job. It sounds like he doesn't know how to cable a bike, and it took him longer than anticipated, and he is trying to make you pay a mechanic's rate for his ineptitude.

I'd tell him he can get bent and if he isn't going to unphuck my bike, putting back the original cables, doing only what I said I wanted done in front of my eyes in a timely manner so I know he isn't going to jack up something else, I am going to make sure he loses more than the $300 difference in business with a picket sign, social media, and my spare time.

In the future, you gotta make sure you tell them to call before they start trying to tack on extra work.

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The more people I encounter the more I love my cats.

You didn't say what the problem with your internal housing is/was. The range of ways that a problem like that can manifest goes from solved in a couple of seconds to, yup, an entire shift-long nightmare. Frankly, this type of thing can be a "throw the frame away" level problem with some designs. We could well be talking about a situation where the vast majority of shops would have told you to round file the frame, and far from getting screwed, you've got a hero mechanic there. This is, of course, ignoring the terms of the estimate which we also don't know. Most shops have a "call if exceeds estimate" check box or the like on their repair release. Did you sign anything like this?

There's no way anyone can comment on this intelligently without knowing more about this problem, whether you accurately described the issue to your LBS, the terms of their estimate, and the terms of your go-ahead on the repair.

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Tech writer/support on this here site. FIST school instructor and certified bike fitter. Formerly at Diamondback Bikes, LeMond Fitness, FSA, TiCycles, etc.
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No.
Some frames are a PITA, but the shop should know that. If they’re not familiar with your frame, they should give you an estimate and say they will call back with a price once they get into it.
It would satisfy some curiosity here if you name the frame, but that’s actually irrelevant to our discussion here based on the scenario you’ve given us.
I would not walk out with housing I have to change so my bike matches.
Hopefully the estimate is in writing, and you are dealing with an honest and reputable shop. Well, owner anyway, the mechanic is a prick. (and I were one).
Refusing to pay more than the quoted price is perfectly acceptable. Offering to pay up to 125% is damned reasonable, but only if the bike is exactly as you want it.

I do know that I was quoted $120 for an ultegra cassette by my LBS that I bought online for $59. I understand they have to make money somewhere, but sometimes going through the LBS for certain things is utterly pointless. In my case, I can order the cassette myself. If they have to do it for me should I expect the rock bottom price? In your case, it does seems crazy high, especially since the price changed without consulting you first.

What frameset and handlebars do you have? What type of cables and housing did he use: generic shimano or shimano dura ace, as two examples?

Am I reading the bold part correctly in that the mechanic used shifter cables for the brakes? If so, that doesn't sound very safe at all. I wouldn't trust a shifter cable to handle the load of a hard stop.

I forgot to ask... why did you use shift cable and housing for the brakes?

Unless it was gold plated Nikon, 400 is insane.

Just catching up on replies:

1) The internal cable guide had disbonded and he stated that he spent thirty minutes fishing the cable through

2) I have the original estimate on a receipt that he'd given me with all of the tasks I needed to be completed

3) The frame is a 2008 Orbea Ordu and the bull horns are Profile Design Pro Svet. I sent the bike in with the Jagwire Elite Link shifter/brake housing and the rear derailleur cable/housing was replaced with generic Shimano housing

4) I don't recall why the mechanic replaced my brake cables with shifter cables. I'll inquire about that tomorrow. My mind went blank when he told me the new cost and I couldn't process some of the smaller details

Dura Ace Cables and housings retails MSRP for roughly $40 per set or $80 (plus tax) total for both sets, while Shimano multipurpose shift and brake cables and housing is $25 for the 4 cables and associated housing. A price of $107 would probably be the lower end stuff. A price of $400, sounds pretty extreme, even with high end cables.

So what equals $400: worst case: cables, housing, brake adjusting, possibly all 4 brake pads being adjusted, front derailleur adjusting (Repositioning possibility), and rear derailleur adjusting. If your bake pads were already adjusted, brake cable replacement should be quick. If your derailleurs were already adjusted, limit screws, b screw, was okay, it should still be quick. Let’s say, mechanic took 3 hours (seems like a loong time) for the OP description, and parts, including tax were $100 (mark up on parts). Do bike shops charge $100 per hour for mechanic work? I do all my own work, so I have no idea what shops charge.

I thought that you said that you installed shifter cables and housing for the brakes.

A decent mechanic should be able to replace all cables and housing in less than 30 minutes.

Seems really strange to use shifter cables as brake cables. I would never feel comfortable doing that... Brake cables are thicker gauge 1.6mm versus 1.2mm for shift cables and brake cables have a beefier grommet....than shifter cables. I have had many Dura Ace shift cables fray completely off at the shift lever grommet, but never a brake cable grommet.

A nice magnet helps fish cables through frames. I use this on the framesets that need internal cables fished through without any internal housing. It’s for electronic, but the magnet works real nicely for traditional cables. Of course a $5 magnet would work, too.

https://www.amazon.com/...outing/dp/B01LZDE1UY

If you’re paying an arm and a leg, or just paying a fair price, I’d see about getting matching housing and appropriately specific parts for their intended function.

My 2008 Cervelo P2c downtube hole where the FD cable emerges is too small for even that Park tool internal wiring magnet kit to fit through. And external magnets outside the frame also suck, as they pull the wire flush on the wall, whereas the hole is actually not flush with the wall (learned that the hard way after nearly an hour of failure.)

OP might have an older frame like mine that can be a royal pain to internally route if all doesn't go right on the first try. (Sometimes I get it instantly, other times it takes days of trying.) Either case, $400 seems awfully steep - but I'm sure a simple conversation with the LBS should clear up why it was so expensive.

To put it perspective though, I brought my Audi to get service after the engine light went on, and I'm sure it was nearly a 40% markup at the dealer from what a cheaper external repair guy would have charged.

There are some Vision brake levers that use a proprietary cable that looks like a shift cable, with a head about the same size as a shift cable's, and slightly smaller diameter than a standard brake cable. I can imagine a mechanic who is not familiar with those levers thinking they use a shift cable:

https://shop.visiontechusa.com/...sion-brake-cable-set



I was the service manager at the last shop I worked for, and we didn't have a check box like that. Our policy was that we absolutely had to call the customer if the repair was going to exceed the estimate by more than 10%, and we usually called even if the amount it went over was less...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

One of my frames is I think identical to yours. I have a 2007 Cervelo P series and for rear derailleur cable replacement I hold the magnet pointed at the underside bottom bracket hole, but about a quarter inch below the hole. So far, I’ve had very good success feeding the appropriate length of cable through and the magnet pulls it out the hole. I only use the magnet and not the magnet wires in the kit. Pre magnet, I used to use a headlamp and a discarded wheel spokes fashioned into a J, and I would pull it out once I saw it come by the hole. This was more hit or miss and could be a two minute or a twenty minute frustrating job. I now do the magnet technique, with pre measuring how much cable length will get to the bottom of the bottom bracket hole. This has allowed me to feed it’s through in under two minutes with far less frustration. For the front derailleur I use the same technique, but when the wire goes up to the small front derailleur hole, I have a cable sleeve, I guess about 6 inches or so, that goes from the bottom bracket to a little above the small FD hole. I feed the cable sleeve directly into the small FD hole down to larger bottom bracket area. You could also drop a spare shift cable down the FD hole and it will come out the BB hole. You could then slide the cable liner back the reverse way, pull out the spare shift cable from the FD hole, and leave the liner behind. One way. might work better for you, It’s then very easy to feed the cable to the FD. It literally takes 10 seconds if I’m slow, without needing a magnet. Here’s one by jag wire. I have an old one from gore that I purchased a long time ago. I just changed out my shift cables and derailleurs, among other parts, and the install was super easy with the above tricks learned over the years. Hopefully this helps... otherwise it can be a total pain in the butt.


https://www.amazon.com/...2425#customerReviews

I'll give that a try, thanks. I tried a black Jagwire liner previously and it barely fit through the downtube hole and was super annoying to push through the frame hole.

Do you ever just run that liner across the entire cable when its installed?