[Closed] What would you expect to pay (labour only - not parts)...

Whatever I'd agreed with the bike shop before they did the job

That’s quite a lot of labour!

I’d guess the best part of a day for the shop, £250?

I think it depends on damage to fork, bearing location etc, could be a couple of hundred or so....

Fork service - £150 ish?
Wheel service £20 ish
Pivot bearings etc easily £100 took me ages to do mine last time could be more.

Family size pack of chocolate hobnobs.

A lot. £250ish?

Might as well change the casette as well while you're at it

It's a lot of work, maybe 2 packs cheezybeanz?

Just trying to work through timings if I were doing the work (not a bike mechanic but so a lot of my own stuff) I reckon that’s 8 hours. So x that by their hourly rate - maybe £40? So could be like £300 at a guess.

How long is my piece of string.

No where near enough information

What fork.

What frame

What shock.

All of the above will make a difference to the price .....in some cases quite significantly .

And if the forks truely siezed don't be surprised to find (if they are rock shox)the bushings have corroded to the stanchions

My guestimate is around £250+, under that would be good value IMO. Or £20, a six pack and a pack of biscuits 🤣

I’ve done the work - doing some bike maintenance for friends during Covid-aclypse given plans a, b, and c all stopped

Rock shox Sid (quite old), they weren’t fully seized, just totally dry
It’s a 2008 commencal of some sort. martin is a 60 year old machine (430 miles in 24 hours anyone? (In road obviously) and rides bikes into the ground.

Reckon it took me 4 to 5 hours, was thinking £100 plus parts.

Reckon it took me 4 to 5 hours, was thinking £100 plus parts.

Sounds fine for mate's rates. 5 hours is £250 where I work.

So come on. What did they charge

My firs guesstimate was about £250 but could easily be more. £75 forks, £50 hub, £125 bearings..

I've done more than that for mates and been very happy with a few beers, biscuits, cake, lunch next time we rode or a simple "thanks pal, I really appreciate it". They have skills i don't, and I know i can always ask if I need assistance with what their skills cover.

If I was charging, I'd have been upfront with a cost, either fixed or hourly. Either way £100 seems fair mates rates

Thought mates rates was £22bn?

Ah the old "it's only a seized fork it just needs a lower leg service" thing.

£250+

As already said if you're doing work for mates that have skills/trades you might need to call upon in the future then I'd 'bank the time'and just charge them for materials.
If it's mates rates then for 5 hours £75-100 + materials.

@ Carlos - did you read my post? I’ve been made redundant, supply teaching (plan b) non existent, plan c electrician training 95% complete but final assessment was due to start 5th jan. and was cancelled. so I’m not planning to change shop rates but need to charge something

For a mate? £50 tops. Personally I would only be charging materials and expect a bucket of beer in exchange. Indeed a pal is dropping a bike off to be serviced tomorrow.

I'd charge you £150-£200
Full days work and specific tooling

@ Carlos – did you read my post? I’ve been made redundant, supply teaching (plan b) non existent, plan c electrician training 95% complete but final assessment was due to start 5th jan. and was cancelled. so I’m not planning to change shop rates but need to charge something

Sorry must have missed all that. I answered your question which was "What would you expect to pay (labour only-not parts)

And took into account your reply

I’ve done the work – doing some bike maintenance for friends during Covid-aclypse given plans a, b, and c all stopped

Rock shox Sid (quite old), they weren’t fully seized, just totally dry
It’s a 2008 commencal of some sort. martin is a 60 year old machine (430 miles in 24 hours anyone? (In road obviously) and rides bikes into the ground.

Reckon it took me 4 to 5 hours, was thinking £100 plus parts

Sorry to hear things aren't great for you at the minute, but the info about being made redundant, plans a, b and c etc...was not part of your original post. I hope things turn around for you as that situation could be any one of us.

So taking into account your situation etc... I think £100 is a bit light

Okay I asked the question to gauge market rates so I can do a decent deal for a friend. I do 2 or 3 bikes a week, often on the basis of ‘I want to ride tomorrow but my brakes don’t work, bike shop are booked for 4 weeks’. All seem to be very happy and think I’m a bargain

I do some diy stuff for people as well. According to some of you I shouldn’t charge for anything! Hope you’re not plumbers or anything - you’d be skint!

Have to say people I’ve done work for (usually triathletes) so basically hopeless with anything practical and usually can’t offer me anything in return!

According to some of you I shouldn’t charge for anything!

This is because fixing bikes is an enjoyable hobby for most people on here.

I think the prices you're proposing are fair, bordering on generous, for the level of work - hope it works out well for you and your situation improves soon.

According to some of you I shouldn’t charge for anything

Has anyone said that? I think people have said what they would do, not what you should do.

LOL re triathletes, charge them double!

Are these mates or acquaintances? Its different and also different if you want to see it as a job.

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Acquaintances mainly - yes I agree there is a difference!

Labour only, this is what I would've charged as a zero overhead back garden bike mechanic:

Fork lower service: £30
New hope pawl springs fitted: £20
Main bearings and 4 pivot bearings replaced: £30-50 depending on how faffy it was
Shock DU bush changed: £10
New chain fitted: £10

Total: £100-£120

I think you're spot on.

I do 2 or 3 bikes a week

Are these mates or acquaintances?

Acquaintances mainly – yes I agree there is a difference!

150 bikes isn't mates, it's customers.

charliemort
Full Member

Seized fork – disassemble, clean, new grease and oil (lower service basically)

Unknowable basically. A lowers service is really quick (it's about as hard as undoing 2 bolts, wiping your arse, and pouring a shot). An actually seized fork almost certainly doesn't just need a basic service.

I can do full fork services, change seals, swap parts etc but un*ing a properly *ed fork is a whole different kettle of fish. Knowing when to even attempt it or when to write the fork off is a skill, as is knowing what needs intervention, what can be bodged or what needs new parts, etc. And then there's liability- a lot of shops won't do a basic service on a fork that needs more.

To look at it from another angle, did the guy come to you because you'll do a good job, or cheap? I've had people come to me who are adamant (Prince Charming! Prince Charming! etc....) that I should charge them full shop rate because they want me specifically to do the work and are happy to pay for a job well done. So with that in mind, anything from full rate to whatever you think you are worth as it sounds like he is more acquaintance than mate.

Aargh, sorry, just spotted your followup post, forget I spoke!

You should have far lower overheads than a shop but you'll still need to allow for tax and liability insurance. Might also impact on your home insurance, especially if customers are visiting you.

Our local at home mechanic charges £25/ph. If you’re paying your taxes (you ARE a business btw) out of that it’s about right.

You should have far lower overheads than a shop but you’ll still need to allow for tax and liability insurance. Might also impact on your home insurance, especially if customers are visiting you.

Did cross my mind, not in a bad way as in 'You must pay your taxes!!' (although strictly you should, etc.) but once it's more than a favour for a mate and becomes mate of a mate or an acquaintance, I'd be wary. Pure whatiffery but say something you'd repaired broke and caused an injury that caused the rider to be off work. They're self employed and claim on their insurance to cover lost earnings, the Ins Co ask whether the failure that caused it was preventable and he says that a bloke he was recommended repaired it a month ago......

Sounds far fetched but I believe that's what happened (sort of) with a coaching injury claim a few years back.....the person being coached didn't want to claim as he knew that MTBing is hazardous before he started but he needed to claim on his insurance and it was part of their T&C's that he had to support them to minimise their losses - ie: to shovel the claim onto the coach (and his insurance) instead.

[in fact doesn't even have to be something that you repaired or even something broke; just the hassles of proving it wasn't your liability if they came investigating I'd like insurance for that]

Yeah, with respect, i think you're being dangerously naive here. My friend, who used to own an LBS, charged me "mates' rates" but it still went through the till, I got a VAT receipt and if he did forget to tighten something important, his public liability insurance would cover it.

now the shop's gone, same friend would still fix my bike, as a friend and (apart from parts obv) it would be more like a packet of hob nobs or a donation to a favoured charity, certainly not an hourly rate calculated to earn a living.

Everyone says LBS can't survive cos premises costs, but how about prices being undercut by more than half by backstreet workshops who don't have insurance or pay their VAT?

Apologies if you have it in place, but I've assumed from your "hmm, how much to charge" tone that you've not been looking at the overhead absorption rate of insurance cost when assessing breakeven...

Still can't quite work out what you are trying to be.

A backstreet bike mechanic (presumably unqualified, not VAT registers, not insured) doing off the books cash in hand work.

or

A useful DIY fettler monetising doing some bike maintenance for friends.

I guess it depends where you draw the line at what you are calling a friend and where the line is for you.

A word of caution - I was involved in this - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22379092

Involved in so much as I was his teacher and had spent the summer term taking him out on group rides in an after school club. It was completely devastating when he died a week or two after the end of term. Especially as I had been the one to get him from a very cautious lad who got off to get down the steep bits. Why is this relevant - I had a visit from the police and the school were approach by the family's lawyers as to if I had either done maintenance on his brakes or instructed him how to do so. I am a qualified mtb guide but not a qualified mechanic. I had not and was able to make a statement to that effect with a clear conscience. They went after the bike shop that had serviced his brakes though - hard. Like ruinously hard. Had they been an unqualified, uninsured backstreet diy mechanic who had taken cash for the work I would dread to think what would have come of them. And don't go thinking they are friends, that won't happen to me - the wife of said friend having lost their partner and bread winner might not be thinking the same.

And don’t go thinking they are friends. they won’t happen to me – the wife of said friend having lost their partner and bread winner might not be thinking the same.

horrible situation but this. And as in my tale, it might not even be the person, or the family's wish, but an insurance company forcing them to

@charliemort

martin is a 60 year old machine (430 miles in 24 hours anyone?

I know Martin is a popular name but there can't be many of that age who've knocked out that sort of mileage, not from Worcester are you?

At the first lockdown, I was asked by a mate why I hadn't started doing a local, fix bikes for local residents type setup. Especially when the voucher scheme started, as I used to teach bike mechanics, deliver velotech courses etc, do have qualifications and a reasonable amount of knowledge.

For me, insurance was a big problem for a short term thing. Liability insurance would be easy, but theres insurance needed for overnight storage of bikes you have for repair.

Ok for mates, but as soon as you charge something, even if you get paid in biscuits, if it's specific to that job, you have a liability for the work you do and should be insured.

It only takes one friend of a friend to bring you an expensive bike that ends up not as they were expecting and there's a legal battle started.

Pita it can be.

Your unfortunate circumstances aren't your so called mates problem, so charging £20 per hour for non professional tinkering in your shed/ garage for a few hours should be the maximum.

I put a value on my time. I'm lucky that I'm semi-retired and I earn money from designing and making individual furniture.
So I try to charge out my labour at about£200 a day. And you need to realise that most workers can only manage to do chargeable work about 60% of the time.
But it's not just for charging out my time that I put a value on it; it's for knowing what's a good price to pay for someone to do a job for me, or the value of a day off.
Mrs BigJohn had somebody lay some turf the other day and was a bit miffed that it didn't take them as long as she thought the price justified. But they did a great job, brought the right tools and materials and tidied up after them. It would have taken me a couple of (miserable) days so the £350 was a bargain in my eyes.
P.s. Mates' rates is a horrible concept that should be sent to room 101. It means "I can carry on doing my job on full pay while you spend a week earning bugger all".

P.s. Mates’ rates is a horrible concept that should be sent to room 101. It means “I can carry on doing my job on full pay while you spend a week earning bugger all”.

MATES RATES MEANS YOU PAY YOUR MATES FULL PRICE COS THEY'RE YOUR MATES AND YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THEIR BISINESS. IF YOU EXPECT A DISCOUNT THEN YOU ARE EXPLOITING YOUR MATES.

I have bought stuff from mates. Sometimes they offer it for free, sometimes they insist on a discount but I want my mates' business to survive and for them to do well. If I cant afford to pay my mates then I cant afford that thing.

🙂

/soapbox

I know Martin is a popular name but there can’t be many of that age who’ve knocked out that sort of mileage, not from Worcester are you?

Nope - he's from Kent

He may have been 58 / 59 when he did the 430 odd miles