Bike Maintenance

How much do you guys spend on bike maintenance each year (per bike)? I am not very handy, plus I live in a condo (no space to work on my bike anyways) so I rely on bike shops to do the vast majority of my bike maintenance/repairs. I seem to be easily spending $1,000 per year on maintenance, which seems pretty ridiculous. However, just doing your annual "overhaul" maintenance seems to cost like $180 for a dropper post and like $150+ for each of the front and rear suspension… that gets you to $500 already, and throw in a few brake pad/tire replacements, some brake bleeds, and a few broken parts due to crashes or heavy use and its not hard to get to $1,000 over a 12 month period. Is everyone else in the same boat or am I doing something wrong here?

How much do you guys spend on bike maintenance each year (per bike)? I am not very handy, plus I live in a condo (no space to work on my bike anyways) so I rely on bike shops to do the vast majority of my bike maintenance/repairs. I seem to be easily spending $1,000 per year on maintenance, which seems pretty ridiculous. However, just doing your annual "overhaul" maintenance seems to cost like $180 for a dropper post and like $150+ for each of the front and rear suspension… that gets you to $500 already, and throw in a few brake pad/tire replacements, some brake bleeds, and a few broken parts due to crashes or heavy use and its not hard to get to $1,000 over a 12 month period. Is everyone else in the same boat or am I doing something wrong here?

I can see how it might get that expensive, which is why I do all the maintenance on my bikes myself. Everything except full on overhauls and rebuilds of suspension parts I do myself (oil and seal changes are simple if you have the space and tools). I guess you have to decide if you want to spend the money to have someone do it for you or invest in the tools (you can usually find space to work on a bike pretty much anywhere - parking garage?) and get the satisfaction of working on your own bike. $500 goes a long way to buying some nice tools to get you started. Multiple bikes means it would be unaffordable to use a shop to do the work!

I do everything except suspension cartridge maintenance..

I can't stand any clicking or creaking so I am doing pretty much full teardowns ever 15 to 20 days on the bike, and those are park days which is an order of magnitude bigger kick in the nuts. If I had to pay service rates for the amount I service my bike I'd be broke.

If someone is doing all the work for you and you're getting the parts from them, $1,000 seems pretty good (assuming you ride often).

A home shop and tools is critical.

I do most of my own basic tune up work. Don't bother with suspension overhauls, wheel trues and brake bleeds but tune ups, drive train swaps, new cables etc I do myself. I spend way under $1000. I am also not super mechanically inclined but some basic tools, some patience, and some time and almost anybody can do most of this stuff. HUB does maintenance workshops if you are interested in learning the basics (like this one) Youtube is also great for this stuff. When I lived in an apartment I would drag my stuff into the parking garage.

DO lots of stuff at home, but get pretty busy so often just drop stuf at evolution and pick up in the morning (Working two jobs and trying to ride screws that up).
Last summer i kept a spread sheet of maintenance and parts. Spent nearly 3K. that inlcuded 3 derailileurs thru my spokes in the bike park, and riding pretty much everyday.
I still ahve a bunhc of pads and a few tires left over from this though.

I like being self-reliant and I actually enjoy working on my bike and understanding how it works (or doesn't work). The only thing I ever pay for is suspension damper overhaul once per year or so (~$150). It really bothers me when something is wrong with my bike so it would cost me a fortune if I relied on a shop for repairs. My kid has turned out to be a very good mechanic and we often spend evenings working on our bikes together. He works in a shop and usually has something to teach me. I got tired of rebuilding my reverb so I replaced it with a 9.8 and it's been bomber so far.

I cover most of the basic stuff myself: bleeds, cable swaps, linkage/bearing overhauls. I also keep an amount of consumable spare parts around: tubes/cables/housing/brake pads/tires. Likely isn't any cheaper for myself though :lol:

The fine people in North Van (I drop the lowers and change fluid) service the squishy parts. Had the Bicycle Hub do a full service on my Reverb this spring.
Wheel repairs are so infrequently that wheel builds I leave to the shops. It's relatively painless to drop off a delaced and clean hub at a shop; YMMV.

SRAM has some really detailed youtube tutorials for maintenance/installation of their products.

Is everyone else in the same boat or am I doing something wrong here?

We're definitely rowing different boats.

Only thing I pay for is rear shock service.

Will be moving over to RS rear shocks to remove that off the list then everything is done in the garage workshop.

I'm getting some popping noises from the cranks. Is it my bottom bracket?

I guess you have to decide if you want to spend the money to have someone do it for you or invest in the tools (you can usually find space to work on a bike pretty much anywhere - parking garage?) and get the satisfaction of working on your own bike. $500 goes a long way to buying some nice tools to get you started. Multiple bikes means it would be unaffordable to use a shop to do the work!

I would love to buy a good set of tools and start to learn to do a lot of this stuff on my own - would be good in terms of saving money but also fun to learn to do it all. Unfortunately, it really just isn't practical for me. My storage locker is already too jam packed to even fit tools or a bike stand, etc. Doing maintenance in the parking garage isn't a bad idea, but I don't want people to know that I even have the bike in general cuz that's an easy way for a thief to be tipped off (I keep it in my storage locker).

As soon as I move into a bigger place with a basement/garage I will get my own workshop set up but until then I guess I just have to suck it up and pay for my maintenance.

We're definitely rowing different boats.

Only thing I pay for is rear shock service.

You dont even pay to have someone weld your frame.

I need to show you how easy a rear airshock service is. (Edit, ok, RS are dead simple)

Unless you have a home shop that looks like Suspensonwerx', you won't be servicing you fork or shock damper or your reverb beyond a bleed so that's $500 just for those 3 each season. Maybe more of you have a bad bushing or get talked into an upgrade. You can service the lowers and air can as well as bleed the reverb at home but if you're riding A couple times a week you will still need an annual overhaul. Maybe the seat post every 2 seasons depending.

Call it 4 tires at $60 and 4 sets of pads @$25 plus a busted derailleur $100 (or a shifter or misc part) and a couple chains @$30 and you're at $500 again. Ever replace your cassette or chainrings? $$$$

I'd say $1000 is a realistic estimate for what it costs for a home mechanic to keep a high performance bike running/season and that's not counting smashed rims or frames, broken hubs or pedals.

This also doesn't include the $1000/yr depreciation that I factor in when I get a new bike.

One time I sat down and started to divide my annual costs by my annual # of rides but I had to stop because it was too depressing. There's no way it costs me less that $15 every time I throw a leg over the bike. And that's just for local rides. From my house. No gas factored in. Or beer.

Good thing I don't ride because it's cheap!

You dont even pay to have someone weld your frame.

I need to show you how easy a rear airshock service is. (Edit, ok, RS are dead simple)

Air can service yes super easy. I am talking full tear down and nitrogen recharge for coil Fox stuff.

Or with my current Cane Creek it needs a bunch of tools that are special for it that I don't think they sell to home mechs.