Bike Shop or DIY?

[Deano]

I usually fix the problems on my bikes by myself - very occasionally I'll get a bike shop to do some work.

A work colleague has a different POV - as an engineer, he likes to have things done professionally.  Fair enough.  Yesterday he took delivery of a second hand bike, and one of the wheels was a bit out of true.  I offered to have a look at dinnertime if he wanted, but he preferred to take it to a bike shop.

He came back later on to pick up his wife, having dropped the bike off at home.  I asked him how it was - and he told me that he was going to have to go back to the shop to collect his skewer...  He'd asked the mechanic to remove the plastic case that sits behind the cassette, and they'd forgotten to replace the skewer.

Professional I ain't, but I doubt I would have made that mistake

So, who does their own repairs and who gets a bike shop to do it?

[jellied]

A mixture of both. It's usually time vs money. I do a lot of stuff myself but replacing chains and rear cassettes just takes to long for me, so the 6 month/yearly service is about the only time I drop it off at Mr Bike and come back in the evening to collect my bike.

[TheLurker]

Bit of both.

Simple stuff like new chains and routine adjustments I do.

Things that could stuff things up seriously if I get it wrong (new chain rings, headsets, bottom brackets, wheel truing &tc) I get the LBS to do partly cos  I've only got the one bike and it's got to get me to & from work and partly because I haven't got the toolkit.

[Polar Bear]

DIY.  To date if I have needed a specialist tool I'll buy it.

One job not done yet but due this summer is wheel building.

[urban_biker]

DIY - always.

Bikes are so simple and I don't think I'd trust anyone else to play around with mine.

The only think I wouldn't do myself is repsray - at least on a nice frame.

[RogerT]

DIY, but I confess  to a fairly steep learning curve on occasions .  

[MSeries]

Same as you, nearly all DIY. Bike maintenance isn't difficult at all, bike mechanics don't need much experience to call themselves mechanics.I suppose there is a certificate they need ? Is there ? I don't know. I do know what I can do though. With a busy workshop it is easy for them not to double check stuff or forget stuff, not so in my garage. Also DIY is much more convenient I can do it on an evening and do not incur any transport issues.

[Mr Larrington]

DIY except for wheel building.  I have built wheels in the past, but find it unutterably tedious.

[TimO]

DIY for everything.  The only time I've used a bike shop for work in the last 20 years was to get a respray done, and all they really did was hold it for collection by Argos.  When it was returned, I did get them to chase the paint out of the holes, but I think the guy only did that since I asked, and they knew me pretty well.

These days, with the advent of t'Internet, I could probably do this myself, but back then finding a company to repaint a frame would have been more effort.

I don't think I'd do a respray myself, since the equipment and effort is probably realistically well beyond a home mechanic, for a nice job anyway, something beyond sanding it down and covering with Hammerite!

[Ian H]

DIY. My two experiences of bike-shop maintenance have been bad.

[Charlotte]

DIY always.  I'm too anal to let anyone else lay a spanner on my bikes and I begrudge them the money that I could otherwise spend on shiny, blingy goodness 

[TheLurker]

<snip>I suppose there is a certificate they need ? Is there ? I don't know. <snip>

Don't know if it's _necessary_ but believe there are City & Guilds qs as well as NVQs available.  How useful they are as a guide to the quality of the work that an LBS might do I wouldn't care to say, but they might be a useful rough guide when having to resort to a previously unused LBS without a personal reference.

[Greenbank]

I let the LBS do things that I'm rubbish at:-

1) Wheelbuilding
2) Applying bar tape
3) Headsets

[David Martin]

DIY for almost everything. There are some jobs I don't have the tools for (racks brain to try to think of one) such as chasing threads on the BB. Everything else up to and including frame modifications I do myself.

..d

[MSeries]

I let the LBS do things that I'm rubbish at:-

1) Wheelbuilding
2) Applying bar tape
3) Headsets

How much do they charge for bar tape ?

[TimO]

I quite like putting bar tape on, although I don't have to do it very often.

On the other hand, I enjoy building wheels as well, so maybe I'm just a masochist!

[Greenbank]

How much do they charge for bar tape ?

Like most small jobs at that LBS¹, it's usually only one or two quid more than the retail price of the bar tape and, more importantly, it's a professional job (rather than my ham-fisted attempts that usually end up falling off or bunching up within a couple of weeks).

But that's one of the reasons I keep using that LBS for other, more expensive, purchases.

1. He spent over 30 minutes on the phone to various Colnago dealers to help him get the information he needed to do a valuation (to put it on the home insurance). Cost: nothing, because he knew I'd be back.

[Notsototalnewbie]

In contrast to everyone here, I'm not very good at bike maintenance. I've come to accept this since buggering up the threads on my cranks and having to slink shamefaced to the LBS to sort them out.

I did a CTUK basic maintenance course when I first started and couldn't even fix a p-word, so I can now do very basic stuff like that and adjusting the brakes if they are rubbing etc (although I doubt I'll even be able to do that on a certain canti-braked tourer that has come into my possession). The V brakes on the Globe take cartridges so I suppose I'll be able to replace those myself, it looks easy enough. I did manage to trim the stupidly wide bars with a pipe cutter and put my bar ends on with some forum encouragement.

I wish fervently that I was good, because I would love to save the money and spend it on something more interesting, but I don't trust myself any more and it could all turn out rather badly if I continue to screw up on the machine I ride nearly every day. At least my LBS are lovely people who are very good at what they do, they have helped me out of many a hole.

[alan]

In contrast to everyone here, .

It doesn't contrast with me 

[LittleWheelsandBig]

DIY but I used to be a pro mechanic and have my own Campag tool kit (along with the rest).  Quite a few shop mechanics might be better employed as butchers...

[ian]

DIY, mostly*. But I doubt I'd be brave enough to tackle the bike's nether regions (crank and bottom bracket, because they're mysterious to me, and take bigger spanners than I have).

And wheels. Remember many boring hours with a spoke key as a teenager straightening bmx wheels. Ain't doing that again.

*This shouldn't be indicative of any kind of competence or that I won't go crying to a grown up when it all goes wrong. As it so often does.

[Air Dancer]

DIY always, as it helps me know the bike

[andygates]

DIY because it's fun.    I'll only get a shop to do it if I don't have the tools or I'm pressed for time. 

[Aidan]

DIY for me every time. Its fun (mostly) I know exactly what has been done and to what standard and I know my bikes intimately.

It has also resulted in my having a big box of part used, part worn or unused spares* that come in bloomin useful sometimes


* about 3 1/2 bikes worth, except brakes and stis

[juliet]

DIY, always, these days.  Although after witnessing doop's efforts at putting a BB in, if I had that to do I'd be tempted to take it down the LBS.