First time in years that I've been to a bike workshop, generally doing most jobs myself (bar servicing suspension).
A few weeks back I took the bike in to find a creak.
50€ later and on my way home from the shop it starts creaking again. Not surprising as all they had done was the same as I had done a few days earlier (grease stem, bars, seat post, cranks, pedals....).
Take it back. Got a call yesterday telling me it was ready.
On my way to pick it up, but was told this time it's 85€. They've supposedly tightened the BB and correctly torqued up the cranks. Why they didn't do this first time round I don't know.
I'm a bit annoyed having paid 50€ given the problem still existed. I'm now very loathe to pay an additional 85€ given the first trip to the shop was wasted.
If I were called out to sort a door and it was binding when I left I wouldn't have the cheek to charge again for putting it right.
Suck it up or kick up a stink?
Give them some stick and hammer frozen sausages into their door. 👍
Go and talk to them about it.
Haha.... I'm on my way to do just that.
Interested to know if I'm being unreasonable.
If all they've done is stuff they should have done when reassembling the bike the first time, then I'm not sure what the bill will be for. There must be more to it than that.
The first 50 I can understand, they've still done the labour, albeit unsuccessfully. Bike mechanics aren't 'no win, no fee'. The 85 I'd want some itemisation...
Get an itemised bill and take it from there.
Has the creak gone?
Does the shop have a dog?
If so you know what to do.
My friend rocked up at my house a few weeks ago. She had paid £200 for a *service*, largely to fix a creaking and cracking noise in the rear.
It took me 10 seconds to see the bearings were shot, she had bushing play in the shock mounts, was missing the spacers for the pin, the rear hub had outbound play, and the BB was loose.
Changed the bearings, fixed the wheel, and generally sorts everything out for her in an hour.
I generally am wary of bike shops, unless I know the mechanic doing the work - there are some brilliant ones, but i would rather buy a new tool and learn a new skill
"Finding a creak" via a bike shop is unlikely to end happily. Assuming you've eliminated the really obvious stuff, it can be a huge time sink trying to reproduce a creak in the workshop and even then it can be hard to figure out where it's actually coming from, and hard to know if you've actually fixed it.
Just about every time I've had a creak it's taken several attempts to get to the bottom of it, and I'd have to summarise my effort as "spent a lot of time failing to fix the problem". Fortunately, I'm not trying to make a living off the time I spent resolving it.
It's frustrating when it comes back not fixed, but would you prefer to be billed for extended test rides to confirm that it really is fixed?
I would be more annoyed that I didn't find the creak if it was as simple as tightening up the BB and cranks as that would be the first area I checked...
Alpy”
You’re always reasonable 🤪
Creaking can be difficult to find sometimes if the customer is a lard-arse.
Bike mechanics are often skinny from all the riding they do, not to mention the starvation wages, and simply can't put the same stress on the bike, so nothing creaks.
Was absolutely pissing out down when I picked up the bike so I was concentrating more on getting to where I needed to be than hearing for the creak.
Had previously checked everything, including removing the cranks, chainrings, bb, stem, seat post, axles....
Supposedly I hadn't tightened the bb nor cranks up to the correct torque. Maybe I should invest in a torque wrench... 😁
I generally am wary of bike shops, unless I know the mechanic doing the work
Same. My mate is a bloody good mechanic, but he lives in Finale. He does my fork and shock when we visit.
Bike mechanics are often skinny
You saying I'm fat?
Sounds like they done what you wanted. Not surprised it took two attempts. Would you have fixed it yourself?
Supposedly I hadn’t tightened the bb nor cranks up to the correct torque. Maybe I should invest in a torque wrench…
I have never used a torque wrench on a BB and never had one creak. I do use a torque wrench on the crank arm (Shimano) as 14nm is probably tighter that I would have done without one.
Definitely worth buying one though although in my case it was mainly to stop me overtightening bolts such as stem face plate bolts.
If a bike came in with a creak the first thing I'd probably check would be are the wheels quick release / skewers tight. Is the seatpost greased and collar tight. Then I'd check the bb and cranks.
By just picking a bike up you can check for headset bearings, bushings suspension etc.
I'd be asking why they didn't check the bb first time round?
50 euros seems reasonable. 85 euros in total isn't great but bike shops are busy at the moment.
135 euros in total seems a bit steep for me if they've not replaced anything.
And there was me feeling hacked off today that a local 'engineer' charged me £15 to bugger up 2 hub end caps that will cost £25 to replace (that will still need to be shortened by someone competent).
135 Euros! God's teeth!
