"Do you have any idea what you're doing with such rubbish?" writes reader and bike mechanic Franz Keller in response to our article: The Service Lie in BIKE 5/26.
In response to our story in BIKE 5/26 about black sheep in bike shops who cash in with innovative service requests on the display, we received plenty of reader mail - particularly critical letters came from bike shop owners.
Topics in this article
For issue 5/26, we researched the cost trap of servicing e-bikes. We interviewed various people about this: Bike shop employees, owners, apprentices and customers. In the report, we describe cases in which customers were sometimes wrongly charged.
A number of readers, including bike mechanics, responded to the article, claiming that they had been wrongly condemned. Of course, it was not our intention to generalise suspicion, but these cases do exist - and it is precisely these that we wanted to address in the article.
Click here for the full article >> The service lie: Deceive, swap, write expensive invoices
"How bad do you actually want to make the specialised trade look?"
It's enough that you suggest everywhere that you can do everything yourself on bikes and e-bikes. Do you have any idea what you're doing with this rubbish? Annual service for e-bikes - for some, this obviously sounds like the wet dream of greedy dealers. A rip-off! Conspiracy! Workshop mafia! But the evil idea doesn't come from the back room of the bike shop, but from manufacturers such as Bosch, Giant or Scott. Remember: An e-bike is not a sofa with a battery. A chain carries up to 800 kilos of pulling force. Meanwhile, in the foothills of the Alps, you ride, ride, ride - preferably in top gear, of course. Shifting gears? Overrated. Maintenance? Romantic notion. The result: sprocket dead after 800 kilometres, chain jumps, the bike screams metallically for help. Owner's diagnosis: "What kind of junk did you sell me?" Reference to cadence, chain maintenance or physics? Either aggressively fended off or vigorously denied. The initial service is often free, including readjustments, conversions, ergonomic wishes - almost like wellness for the bike. And yet the following still applies: anyone who refuses safety checks for brakes, handlebars or tyres will not get a repaired bike. Not out of malice, but because liability is not a hobby. Perhaps we should write less about alleged service rip-offs - and more about 3-euro brake pads from the internet that kill warranties. Or about tuned e-bikes. I'm disappointed in you guys.
Franz Keller, 2Radstadl, Wurmansau
"Your article about The service lie has struck me".
Of course there are rip-off artists - I have also experienced this, even from colleagues. Leasing customers in particular like to max out their spare parts budget, even though some things would last even longer. But does that mean that the entire industry should be demonised? No. There are many responsible, sustainable garages. With us, a customer who books an annual inspection for 95 euros simply buys an hour of workshop time - fairly and transparently. Incidentally, I consider an initial inspection - which is correspondingly cheaper - to be absolutely appropriate. We check the gears again and put the bike back on the diagnostic system to see whether the system is working properly in everyday use. And whether the customer might try to charge the frozen battery in winter after all - or leave the display on the bike, where it then deep-discharges over the winter, etc.
The inspection costs €57 and is normally included as an extra with the purchase. The nice thing for the customer: You can ask again whether everything fits or whether you need to readjust the handlebars, grips or similar.
My recommendation: Google reviews are at least a guide and insist that the replaced old parts are included so that you can get an explanation as to why they were replaced. This greatly increases the inhibition threshold for pointless exchange orgies. Note the mileage before handing it in... A good service includes at least a few hundred metres of test driving, especially after work on the drivetrain and/or when changing the brake pads. And do a short test drive yourself when you pick up the car.
Andreas Schiwy - e-Motion Reutlingen
"... committed to the reader!"
Generalised suspicion is rarely a good idea - and that was not the point of our article. The topic was black sheep in the industry; the many white sheep were therefore inevitably barely mentioned. The cases described are not made up, but are based on the experiences of real people who have shared them with us. We have no grudge against the specialised trade or the retail trade. But as a special interest magazine, our loyalty is to the reader and therefore to the customer.
Laurin Lehner, BIKE editor, author of the article
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>> Bicycle repair guideWhat should a service in the workshop cost?
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Laurin Lehner
Editor
