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Howsit?
so my ride is nearing it's first service I reckon - elixir R's feel tight and will need bleeding soon, and some fettling of the gears is needed to keep em plush. I figure that it can't hurt to get a full bike service - but how...?

£120 at Evans or at a similar chain store sounds a bit of a piss take - doesn't include any suspension work or the brake bleeds!? £18 EACH extra for those. £40 to for a car maybe, but for a bike? wtf. Anyway...I don't know what I was expecting but £160 seems freaking steep. Price list differs per shop but is similar to this across most London stores:
http://www.evanscycles.com/stores/Spitalfields

for those in London - who do you use when you can't be arsed/don't know how, why, and how much does it set you back? It might also be useful to know which services are provided under the term 'full'?

Or should I just man up and do it all (minus any suspension work...) myself? A few man/days of effort over a couple of weeks I reckon...I'm no mr fixit, but youtube and manufacturers manuals could be sufficient, and it'll be a good way to learn. Maybe after this weekend's ride, so midweek salvage missions can be undertaken if need be........

so whaddyareckon? solo or shop?

I tend to do all my own stunts and servicing
park tools website tutorials makes life a lot easier

Learn to do it yourself its fun.... honest. Everything apart form messing with suspension is easy. Start with gear indexing. as you wont need any specialist tools. There are lots of good tutorials on youtube.

Brake bleeding is a bit more tricky but with a 10quid kit from ebay and youtube you should be all set.

I do everything myself except bleeding brakes as I just can't be bothered with the mess.

Thje price could go up as well dpends what needs replacing but I do for new rings, cassette and chain along with pads and gear cable.

You may need new bearings i nthe hubs, headset and bb but that dpends on how far gone they are and I honestly don't trust the shop to do that as I reckon they will fit basic stuff and charge way too much unl;ess you go in there and say what needs chainging to give them the impression you know what needs fixing then they are less likely to think they don't have a clue.

Take everything apart, clean and then re grease and put it all back to gether.

I might be one of the few that loves taking their bike apart and cleaning it and fettling.

Servicing a bike is a lot like making love to a beutiful women, you might not know what your doing, you will get covered in a goowly mess and you will proboly end up asking someone for advice.

If you have got the space and some of the correct tools give it a go. Take your time, lay things out in order and even mark up the tops of parts with a marker pen to know what way things go back on. Nuts and bolts are the easily bits, its the setting up that takes time with trial and error. use the internet for vids to understand how things work and what you are actualy doing.

I have started to do my own maintenace now to keep it running sweet but i would still take it to a shop once in a while for a check over for things that i may miss

Personally when ever I get my bike serviced I take it to my lbs in dulwich (bc bikes) and trust them 100% with my bike - I wouldnt take it anywhere else to get stuff fixed or serviced. BC charge 60-120 depending on what level of service you get, which I dont think is that bad when you think about the work involved.

I always tend to have a go myself, there really isnt anything to complicated, though I did struggle with bleeding my brakes. As above park tools or sheldeon brown website offer some great tutorials.

Yeah...!! i would recommend NickTKS .....sorted out my bike for me....

I'd say learn to service it yourself, it's quite rewarding, even if you need to buy some tools it will save you money in the long run. It also has the benefit that you don't have to wait around for the LBS to do it for you, you can do it as and when you want, assuming you have time.

You can find everything you need on the internet, parktools, youtube, bikeradar has a few useful guides too, there's also forums to ask on Just a case of following instructions as you learn to do it and paying attention to what you're doing.

Some things people seem to struggle with, like brakes, forks and shocks, and they can be fairly daunting at first but once you've done it once you'll be suprised how easy it.

hahahah! dude that is hilarious

Cheers for all the comments people - reckon I'll get stuck into the brake bleed this week. rode on Sunday in Epping (dry!!! well...kinda) and the front calipers will seize if I don't do it soon.

this video SRAM have posted seems super clear about everything.
http://www.sram.com/service/avid?catID=1&subcatID=1

fingers crossed but it should go smoothly...

thanks again!

Theres an independent cycle shop, just down the road from us www.eastcentralcycles.co.uk/ good for basic services, quick and friendly and reasonably priced they won,t do ya forks tho !

I do it myself,
I usualy drop the pads out the caliper and give them a clean after a ride,
Only takes a few minutes and keeps them working properly

How do you clean em? and the rotors also - what do you use?

fully bled on Sunday btw

Use a bit of emery cloth on the pads to rough them up abit, then use disk brake cleaner on the pads & disk and wipe off. I use electrical contact cleaner which seams to be just as good (and cheaper thanks to work)