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Labor/service prices are based on a labor rate of $____ per hour, typically in 15 minute increments. That means that the minimum labor charge of $____. This is based on me doing the work more or less uninterrupted, something that has never happened in the history of the world.
Unless noted, any prices shown do NOT include replacement parts.
Cleaning is modest. If extensive cleaning is required it will incur additional cost. Your auto mechanic doesn't wash your car, generally. Your doctor doesn't give you a bath.
Prices are different for different sorts of bikes, that only makes sense, right? Ebikes and cargo bikes and cargo ebikes take extra time and effort, and may incur additional cost. The prices are still based on time - it just takes more time to deal with a bike with motor and a battery, or one that's super-sized.
We reserve the right to refuse service to any bike for any legal reason.
Minimum Viable Service (MVS)
Minimum Viable Service (MVS)
This is the minimum level of service available, especially for any bike that I haven't seen before. It takes 15 to twenty minutes. Sometimes this is scheduled in advance, sometimes not.
Call it what you want: assess and adjust, quick service, routine service, preventive maintenance, tune-up, safety check, pre-ride check... It involves inspecting, adjusting, and lubricating. If there is a specific problem to address, we'll scope it out. If it's quick and everything else looks OK, we'll fix it. If it's not quick, we'll talk about it and make a plan.
All bikes need this. It's like an annual physical at the doctor's office. Take the vitals, look under the hood, schedule a follow-up to deal with anything uncovered during the exam.
There is no standard set of services - I check it out and do what's necessary, and if I can't do what's necessary, I'll tell you and we'll plan for more. How many different ways can I say the same thing? I think that's three already.
Generally, I will:
Inspect everything.
Adjust as much as I can, in descending order of importance, critical items first, aesthetic/fun/frivolous items last.
Talk with you about your bike, your life goals, and how they fit together. I might recomend additional service. We might make a plan.
Scheduled 60 minute service
Scheduled 60 minute service
This one might be called a standard tune-up, complete service, full service, comprehensive inspection, something like that. Or it could be called corrective maintenance. It all depends. It always depends.
Scheduled in advance, always.
You and/or your bike will get 60 minutes of my undivided attention. Sometimes spread out in smaller chunks.
If I'm not doing a specific corrective task, then at the end of this I'll give you a comprehensive and detailed written report on the bike, including the condition of each part and syste, and my recommendations for additional or future work.
Again, I'll figure out what needs doing, and do it in order of importance. If your bike doesn't need any brake work, I won't do any - I'll spend the time doing other things that needs doing.
This service may involve one or more of the following:
Comprehensive wheel truing and spoke tensioning
Drivetrain deep cleaning (parts come off the bike) or replacement (parts not included). This is common for heavily used urban transport bikes. If you grab the chain of your bike and your hand comes back covered in oily sludge, it could take the whole 60 minutes to clean it up.
Installation of new shift and/or brake cables, inner wires and/or housing (parts not included)
Installation new brake pads (parts not included)
Headset bearing service (includes new standard ball bearings, but not cartridge bearings)
Bottom bracket bearing service (includes new standard ball bearings, but not cartridge bearings)
Stuff brakes, we fix it. Stuff wears out and stops working correctly, and starts makes other parts wear out faster - we replace it.
Extensive Service
Extensive Service
This is just an enlarged version of Scheduled Service, and every big job is unique. Here is an example:
Total Rebuild
Make an old bike new again. Not all bikes can handle it, not all bikes are worth it. If yours can and is, and you want to keep rolling, this is an option. This is more or less what we do to the used bikes we sell in the shop.
Often, the following parts get replaced:
Cassette and chain
Brake wires, cable housing, and pads (or fluid and hoses, obviously
Shift cables and cable housing (if your bike uses electricity to shift, we'll give you all new electrons)
Grips or bar tape, brake lever hoods
Saddle
Tires, inner tubes and rim tape
Unless you specify, we'll use practical but not fancy parts. Quality will be excellent, always. We also always try for beauty - form and function go together - but beauty can cost. If you want to pick and choose your own bits and pieces, or have a particular aesthetic, style, or purpose in mind, let's talk about it. We'll work up a detailled estimate of the total cost. It's very difficult to be accurate about this sort of thing, but we'll try.
Flat Fix
Flat Fix
This gets it's own section, but really it's just MVS.
A flat fix usually involves
Inspecting the wheel, tire, and inner tube.
(Often) removing the offending thorn or glass or whatever.
Installing a new inner tube.
Sometimes you'll need new rim tape, or a whole new tire. Sometimes it's hard to tell ahead of time. If we try to rush, steps 1 and 2 get slighted. Ask any mechanic they've ever installed a new tube but left the thorn in the tire, and then punctured the new inner tube immediately. If they say no, they are lying.
Chain waxing and swapping
Chain waxing and swapping
If you like your bike and want to treat it well, keep a waxed chain sized for the bike in our chain closet, maybe keep more than one.
Whenever you feel like it, ride in. We'll swap the chains and you'll be out the door super quick - no scheduling needed, even on the weekend.
Meanwhile, I'll re-wax your first chain and hang it in the chain closet, ready to be swapped in next month, or whenever you come it.
As you ride, and the wax wears off of chain #1. Riding volume and conditions affect how long the wax lasts. You can supplement between swaps with a wax-based drip lubricant.
Benefits
This does four five good things:
Keeps your bike well lubricated and working smoothly.
Reduces the time your bike is in the shop.
Keeps your skin and clothes and bike clean.
Increases the lifespan of your drivetrain components, and likely other components as well. More chains in rotation => great longevity.
Gets your bike in the shop once a month, give or take. Getting my hands on your bike regularly is best way to keep small issues from becoming big issues.
What's the big deal
This is how I understand it, but I'm sure my understanding is incomplete. I hope it's just plain wrong. I'm the engineers out there in interwebville will LMK.
Chains effectively elongate as they wear. Eventually the chain has elongated enough to affect the way it fits on the teeth of the front chainrings and rear cogs. When this happens, the chainrings and cogs begin to wear as well. Liquid lubricants applied to the outside of the chain don't always get deep inside where they need to be. Even if they do get there, they bring contaninents (dust and dirt) with them. The liquid lubricant and the dust and dirt combine to form a sort of grinding paste, which hangs out on the chain and increases the wear on the chain, rings, and cogs.
One way to solve this problem is to remove the drivetrain components periodically and clean them thoroughly. This is a messy and time-consuming process. If you've ever tried to clean a bike chain, you konw how it goes: use a solvent or degreaser to pull the lubricants and contaminents out of the chain. Remove the solvent. Wash, rinse, repeat. You watch more black dust drift out of the chain into the solvent. Skip the rinse, just do another round in the solvent - more black dust. And again, and again. Less each time, but it's still in there.
Submerging a very clean bicycle chain in a mix of hot wax and lubricating additives for 15 minutes gets the slippery stuff deep inside the chain, where it needs to be. When the chain cools, the wax solidifies and holds the lubricants in place, itself does some lubricating, and keeps contaminents out. The wax left on the outside of the chain flakes off and falls away, or stays put. Either way the chain is left clean and dry. No sticky liquid lubricants, no oily marks on your calves or clothes.
Depending on your riding conditions, waxing should last at least a week and may last as long as two or three month. Remember you can supplement between swaps with a wax-based drip lubricant.
Until we're up and running, you should patronize other local folks...
Until we're up and running, you should patronize other local folks...
I've worked with or for or near all of the people below. Not recently, certainly, but enough to trust them and recommend them. If you think you should be listed here, and maybe I forgot about you, give a call.
There are lots of bikey people doing bikey things in and around DC that I don't know about. They probably do good work. Very few people in the bike business are in it for the money. Also, we encourage you to learn how to fix your own bike. We'll even teach you if you ask.
Types of bikes
Types of bikes
I mentioned that different types of bikes might incur additional costs. Here "types" doesn't mean mountain bike v road bike v hybrid.
"Normal" two-wheel geared bike with front and rear brakes
Single speed bicycle, kids or adult
E-bike
Three-wheeled bike, cargo bike, or tandem
Cargo E-bike
Unicycle - No uni service, that's just weird. Just kidding, we'll make it up on the spot.
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