How much do you get paid for half a days work? Should they get paid any less because they work in a bike shop? Believe me, from start to finish, your shop will spend more than 4 hours to do the job right. If you don’t like the cost, buy the tools and learn to do it yourself.
I vote for learning to do it yourself. Working on bikes is really not that hard…it is not like trying to fix a modern car or something. There are tons of good videos online that will walk you through any job.
You can buy a affordable kit that has all the basic tools. You will need some torque wrenches for carbon parts and maybe some specialty tools, but they are still not that bad compared to hourly rates.
I do admit I still have a shop do wheel building/truing. That is its own art.
Just because you can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive cables doesn’t mean the difference doesn’t exist or other won’t be able to tell either. My personal experience is that the coated Shimano cables are head and shoulders above the buying-by-the-feet housing and cheap gear and brake cables.
WRT OP’s question, the price is reasonable. For those who can wrench themselves, perhaps they don’t think so because they enjoy doing the work and never counted the actual time they spent. I consider myself almost as good as a shop mechanic, for the things you listed to do, it would take me at least 3 hours from start to finish. And I can tell you from experience, even with the right tool, routing internal cable is still a crapshoot and could wind up taking a lot longer.
A torque wrench is not necessary.
Most bikes with internal cable routing have internal tubes and don’t require any “fishing”.
A torque wrench is not necessary.
Wut?!?
The ol’ “this is my torque wrench†(waves hand)
cables are $85, basic adapter is $35 and the rest I guess is the bar tape and part to make the adapter fit properly.
$85 for cables and housing is just SilLy stupid. I’ve had all kinds of bikes with various internal cable routing jobs. Quite frankly, the quality of shifting comes down to the ‘installation’ process (getting the right housing length, not creating any awkward bends in the cable path), and has very little to do with the cables themselves. I pay $2.50 for stainless steel shift cables and ~$1/foot of cable housing. That’s around $10 to replace the shift cables and housing. For a while I was buying the $5 teflon coated shift cables until I realized that I could NOT perceive any improvement over the regular cable. I’ve also bought some bikes with fancy Gore cable/housing installed and found them to work well, but not really in any way that justifies the $.
What budget cables would you recommend? Shimano?
The shop just quoted me $250 if I bring in my own cables. Maybe I can buy cheaper cables and save some money here.
Brake calipers are Shimano Ultegra (the rear brake sits at the bottom of the frame) and the derailleurs and shifters are SRAM Force.
What bike do you have now and what frame are you having the parts installed on?
Regarding the Dura Ace cable question, the more expensive cables have a coating on them that makes them slide easier and when you have full length cable housing like many Tri bikes have, the bike will shift better with these types of cables.
The bike I have now is a Planet X Pro Stealth and the bike I am installing them on is a Diamondback Serios.
What budget cables would you recommend? I can get the cheaper Shimano gear and breaking cables for $40.
The shop says they will charge me for $250 for labor, adapter and bar tape. This is if I bring in my own cables.
A torque wrench is not necessary.
Wut?!?
The ol’ “this is my torque wrench†(waves hand)
Doesn’t happen often, but this time I actually agree with ‘jimatbeyond’.
Been wrenching my own bikes for 20+ years, torque wrenches are not needed for the most part IMHO. And even if you have one, its a bit of a crap shoot as to whether it is measuring accurately anyway.
To the OP - I know its easier said than done, ‘do it yourself’, but would be a great opportunity to learn. Spend a couple days doing it, buy the very minimal tools you’ll need. Then if you can’t get it right, take it in for the shop to complete.
Be honest with the shop, buy the BB adapters and have them install them if you want, tell them you plan to bring it back in after you take a stab at it and pay them to check it over or complete.
Are you a first time costumer in that shop ??
Are you a first time costumer in that shop ??
Yes.
But it’s well regarded as one of the most professional in my city.
Maybe just ask him what he quotes for an hour work to have an idea what his work is worth for you and him …
Moving parts from an open mold to a bike manufacturer selling direct to consumer. Both probably bought as cheap as possible on the net.
Now you’ re a customer in a brick and morter store complaining that they are recommending quality parts and service that they will stand behind sold at a fair margin.
You’re in a rat race to the bottom based on price.
Some things are worth the money. Sounds like you don’t have the knowledge to make the repairs, they do.
But by all means, keep calling them and bitching about the price.
Maybe just ask him what he quotes for an hour work to have an idea what his work is worth for you and him …
The hourly price is around $100. I live in an expensive place so that’s the norm around here for a good bike shop.
They say it could take 2,5 hours or so but maybe longer depending on how difficult it is to internally route the cables and rewire my Planet X TT handlebar system. In any event, they said they won’t charge me more than $335 even if it takes them longer.
I think I will let the shop do the work but bring in my own cables.
If I can get a decent cable set for around $40 and bring it to the shop, I could maybe save $40 on the total invoice. They said they would charge $250 if I bring my own cables.
I am looking at Shimano PTFE for the shifting cables and the cheaper Shimano’s set for the braking cables.
Will that be good enough?
Better don’t ask a restaurant to roast a steak you have brought with you …
Better don’t ask a restaurant to roast a steak you have brought with you …
True! That’s not the case here though.
Thanks for the bike type info. Did the serios come with their integrated stem? If it did and you are planning to use that then could be significant variance in the labor hours. Also getting good mechanical shifting through an integrated stem puts even more demand on having good cables/casings. Hopefully the Serios has all the guide tubes in it or has existing cable housing still installed that the mechanic can use as guides. If not, more chance for labor variance.
I cannot without seeing the frameset and your parts make a recommendation toward inexpensive cables and casings. The less expensive stuff may work in this case but I wouldn’t know until I had the parts in my hands and could see what the bends are like and whether there are any exposed sections or not (I’m suspecting there are not any) (note: I have never built a Serios but have worked on a healthy list of the other fully integrated and non integrated bikes on the market). I don’t recommend the middle ground PTFE cables (Ultegra Level) because the coating frays very easily and by that point all the benefit has worn away. Plus, it looks like crap. The Polymer coated cables are more durable and the coating lasts longer. When housing runs tip to tail it’s the best scenario for coated cables because there aren’t any entry points for dirt and grit that’ll wear the coating. It’s also the worst case scenario for uncoated because there’s more housing and more bending and pinch points.
If you are in a high rent disctrict and the rate is $100/hr then I think there’s little chance they’ll be at the $250 end of the spectrum. The $335 number is more realistic. That’s nice of them to cap it however.
I learned how to work on bikes when I was 8 yrs old and I took apart my BMX bike and somehow got it all back together. As time went on I had lots of lessons learned and some trashed parts, including times when as a pro mechanic I muffed things. This is across literally thousands of bikes. I wouldn’t make a Diamondback Serios my jumping off point for learning how to do a ground up build myself.
I would try to build a relationship with your preferred shop. You might need it down the road. There will be last minute crisis from time to time or a special part you need or you just want to go in and shoot the breeze. It’s a relationship. Treat them with respect and pay a fair price for quality work and it’ll all work out in the end.
Just because you can’t tell the difference between cheap and expensive cables doesn’t mean the difference doesn’t exist or other won’t be able to tell either. My personal experience is that the coated Shimano cables are head and shoulders above the buying-by-the-feet housing and cheap gear and brake cables.
Good lord no. Shimano coated cables look awesome, but that’s about it. Don’t drink the snake oil.
$250 for the installation is not out of line with the amount of work involved.
I’m suprised that the $85 Shimano cable kit is the ‘only’ option they have for you. All shops have spools of housing and tubes full of gear cable in the back for repairs and I wonder if you can simply ask them if they have any more reasonably priced options available. You now know what other can/do pay, so use that to your shopping advantage.
cables are $85, basic adapter is $35 and the rest I guess is the bar tape and part to make the adapter fit properly.
$85 for cables and housing is just SilLy stupid. I’ve had all kinds of bikes with various internal cable routing jobs. Quite frankly, the quality of shifting comes down to the ‘installation’ process (getting the right housing length, not creating any awkward bends in the cable path), and has very little to do with the cables themselves. I pay $2.50 for stainless steel shift cables and ~$1/foot of cable housing. That’s around $10 to replace the shift cables and housing. For a while I was buying the $5 teflon coated shift cables until I realized that I could NOT perceive any improvement over the regular cable. I’ve also bought some bikes with fancy Gore cable/housing installed and found them to work well, but not really in any way that justifies the $.
What budget cables would you recommend? Shimano?
The shop just quoted me $250 if I bring in my own cables. Maybe I can buy cheaper cables and save some money here.
Brake calipers are Shimano Ultegra (the rear brake sits at the bottom of the frame) and the derailleurs and shifters are SRAM Force.