Hi,
I was wondering if someone can recommend a good bike shop in around Alexandria or Sydney CBD for my Merida Road Bike, was bought in 2009. Needs complete servicing, including cable changeout, maybe chain set change too.
Any shop that will do a good job at reasonable price, I know in Sydney even the bike shop employees need to pay rent :-), reasonable price is subjective.
You should see some of the 'designer' chain oils it's dentist pricing.
Jump on the YouTubes - everything you need to know for bike servicing will be there.
I now service all my bikes myself and have saved heaps.
Yeah, did it all for last 15 years, never been to a bike shop. But the tools I will need this time around will be too much
Its worth buying tools. What tools will you need?
Internal cabling?
Do it yourself, bikes are easy to work on.
As above.
There aren't many tools involved with what you've listed needs doing. The tools will also be cheaper than getting someone to do it, and you then have them to do any further upkeep.
$350
Where is this? 99 Bikes?
Botany Rd towards the Redfern end, abt 200 metres from the corner where KFC is. They’re reasonably priced, you can choose the level of service from basic to premium.
Yep. Might be less than that but it’s very expensive. Better to look on Facebook marketplace and search for bike service and pay cash to someone.
Ring your local and ask what it might cost. Then pick yourself up off the floor and get on YouTube to learn diy. A full service wont be cheap and bike shop prices aren't cheap for parts either.
Alternatively, look for a local bike coop. They will often service your bike for very cheap and use budget parts.
Despite all that, does it really need all that? You might be surprised how well bikes keep going without a lot of love.
As above.
Id do it for $50/hr plus parts but im not in sydney. Depending on what's needed won't take more than 2hrs
I can ride my push bike to you 🤔
Good idea until he fkups his derailleurs by winding the wrong screws. Or the bearings on the bottom bracket need replacing, regreasing. Or chain is too loose, but doesn’t have a chain break. Also needs the right tools.
This.. Too many unknowns..
If you reasonably handy with DIY and can understand a couple of youtube instructions ita hard to screw up a derailleur. Especially modern indexed gears.
Bottom bracket isnt hard either, just got to have the right tools. Unless its a really old school cup and cone bottom bracket you basically dont service them, just replace. Chain is similar, buy a chain breaker, then reinstall it with a quick link.
Its well worth learning how to do it. Saves a lot of money and from what ive seen, can also get it repaired a lot quicker than waiting for your turn in a shop.
Honestly, I'm not sure what people are going on about. 99 Bikes does an ultimate service with club membership for $299. Club membership is $5, so, $304 if you never want to see them ever again. My Camry has never had a full service for anything close to that.
Like any other servicing, anywhere, your results will vary depending on who you get. It's not a company thing, it's a which staff member you get on the day thing.
The world has far more bicycle geeks than it has jobs for bicycle geeks, so your odds of getting a decent service are pretty good, and certainly no worse from 99 Bikes than from anywhere else. It's not as if the owner is doing the servicing in all those other shops, mostly it's just some casual high school kid.
Personally, I've had nothing but excellent experiences with 99 Bikes. Indeed, I picked up my bike from them after a standard service last week and I couldn't be happier - they even replaced the brake pads at no cost. I'm with them right now because the two bike shops I used prior were both a bit… average. Not bad as such, just snobbish and not especially helpful.
Frankly, for a bike that probably hasn't had a decent service since 2009 you're getting a bargain. I don't know about you, but my time is worth far more than $304 for the amount of hassle, stress, broken parts and YouTube watching that would be involved in learning all of that.
Just do it.
$300 is a lot of money if the voke was $700 new.
The ultimate service is essentially the labor component of building the bike in the first place, but you have to do it twice because it needs to be stripped, cleaned and reassembled, and then all the crappy bits that are not being replaced need to be tuned to make them less crappy.
I don't know what you think people's labour should be worth in Australia, but my hourly rate normally works out at about $150, inclusive of tools of the trade, insurances, rent and bills, fittings and furniture, as well as all the other unbillable hours spent quoting on jobs, answering questions, doing tax and other paperwork, something for quieter periods and holidays when I'm not getting paid, plus a margin for the jobs I've ended up under quoting and losing money on.
But sure, ship the bike off to Thailand where you can probably get labour for $5 an hour, or you can get it done in Australia for what it costs, or you could buy a new bike.
Im not doubting that it costs that to fully service a bike, just questioning if its worth spending $300 on a $700 bike.
When i service my own bikes however, i dont do a full strip and rebuild. Its just not necessary. Replace cables and pads and pretty much just check everything else and make sure it spins/moves freely as it should. Most bike dont need more than that. That can be done for a lot less than $300.
@Euphemistic: Correct. Which is why the standard service is only $119 and why most people don't need the ultimate service.
The ultimate service is essentially for people who have left their bike in the shed for a few years getting rusty, or who have hammered it hard on double black diamond runs all summer, and want to give their bike a complete refresh.
A percentage of the cost built into these fees is all the extras that you can't easily charge for, like trying to ungunk a rusty gear, or the 15 minutes you spend trying to do something with a thread that someone else has stripped, or trying to work out what to do with the jammed non-standard part you've never seen before that the owner picked up from alliexpress and then attached to their bike upside down.
The kinds of people who typically buy an ultimate service are not the kinds of people who typically keep their bikes in tip top condition.
The kinds of people who typically buy an ultimate service are not the kinds of people who typically keep their bikes in tip top condition.
Any evidence for that? Id reckon its only for bike that get ridden a lot and are worth a lot. Like an annual ser ice for a bike that does 5000km+ and was over $2k new.
As for people who have hammered their bike on double black runs, they wont get a $300 "ultimate" service either. No sensible bike shop is going to strip and rebulld a dual suspension bine for that. Theu could do a strip and replace drivetrain for that, but theyll want extra for all the suspension pivots and shock servicing.
But having said that, a 2009 merida tells us nothing of OPs bike. Could be anywhere from a $500 hybrid to a multi thousand roadie or dually MTB.
$1,700 it was in 2009, purely for context
$300 is an insane amount of money for a service on a push bike, no matter how you try to justify it. There is very little to service for a start and what parts are included in the servicing? There is no oil change or filter change, there are limited wear on bearings and chains etc.
As others have said learn to do it yourself, tools will cost $100 if you buy good ones and probably less than $30 for crap tools. Plus WD40 and some light oil.
In our world today it seems there is a niche for everything and a justification as to why it’s worth paying for it.
Nobody's stopping you from doing it yourself mate, but it's nowhere near as simple as you suggest.
Tensioning cables, adjusting the brakes and derailleur, doing a proper clean of the gears and chain. I mean, the Ultimate service involves completely stripping the bike back to a bare frame, which for most normal people would be hours of work right there.
Last week I just couldn't manage to get the brake cables to properly tighten after half hour of fiddling. The $119 for a standard service was more than worth it to me to save the hassle of trying to find a decent youtube video relevant to my specific gear, watching and pausing and rewinding and pausing again, getting my hands all black, and accidentally stuffing something else up in the process.
What speciality tools would you need?
Cycle Max in Crows nest. Not CBD but small independent shop, the guy just loves bikes and has done diagnosis and surgery on my kids mountain bike for less than $100 when his bottom bracket totally cracked
Brad's Bikes offer a pickup and return service to/from their Lilyfield & Neutral Bay workshops. Brad seems a top bloke and very helpful:
2009 model and wanting a complete bicycle service?
Okay, how often do you service your car (unless you have just bought the bike)?
I get my bicycle service once a year or two. Minor service at least 1000kms, anywhere around $150ish plus parts. Major, they pull apart everything, around $300ish to $400ish plus parts, depending where you go, maybe cheaper or more expensive. (These are prices for my e-bike mountain dual suspension).
A bike and car are vastly different in terms of needing servicing.
Personally I don't regularly service my bikes other than lubing the chain. The rest is reactive. If something feels/sounds wrong then it's time to service it.
I've got a fleet of bikes I'm the garage and prior to riding one that's been resting for a while just check the brakes, tyre pressures and maybe spin the wheels prior to hopping on.
So you just jump on your bike with a quick check, not thinking about servicing/checking your disc brake pads and rotors, chainring and cassette as your chain wears them down too, even derailleur, have you thought about your freehub that you can't see and sounds good (I've broken mine but wasn't that far from home on my way back)?
I learnt the hard way, but sounds that you are throwing caution in the wind.
Thats pretty much it. As i said, have a fleet of bicycles. If i haven't ridden one for a while it gets a basic tyre pressure and brakes working check and then off i go.
If im headed for a long ride then ill lube the chain and be a little more thorough on pre-ride service a couple of days before.
Do.you really service a freehub? Probably not slmething thats included in a regular bike shop service anyway.
Complete Bike Service
A bicycle needing "service" … Geeeee …
Waiting for a new trend of therapy sessions for neglected and lonely bicycles.
Omafiets on Mitchell Rd Alexandria consistently get good recommendations for their workshop.
I'd be inclined to get a quote first.
Not in Sydney, but I'm shocked at the price bike shops are charging for servicing - they're legitimately more expensive than a car service for most things!!