How long does it take for a LBS to true up a wheel?

My LBS trued up both wheels under 30 minutes.

Call the shop and tell them you'll be in at a particular time to collect the wheel they said would be ready three days ago. If they say that that's no good, then tell themthat you don't want to spend any more time off the trail and that you'll be in any way to collect your wheel to take somewhere else. Be polite, but firm, and don't let them d*ck you around.

Then learn to true your own wheels.

10 minutes. Except when you complain. Then it takes 1-2 weeks.

During the busy season, which is now, a bike mechanic can do 5-7 tune-ups a day, less if he has to deal with customers.

BTW, if he trues your wheel, and your derailleur shifts into the spokes, you are ok with that, right? Or what if the handlebars slip?

There are several things involved with any bike servicing, which also increases the time of a repair.

Put this way: did you take off your wheel from your bike and remove the tire before having the wheel trued? Your mechanic is much more likely to true your wheel on the spot if you are willing to do that.

Well, I just came back. Still not done, lol. He said he would have it done tomorrow. I know its the busy season.

Yeah I took the wheel off before I brought it in. How does one go about truing up a wheel?

Coolpick87 said:

Well, I just came back. Still not done, lol. He said he would have it done tomorrow. I know its the busy season.

Yeah I took the wheel off before I brought it in. How does one go about truing up a wheel?

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You would have been on the trails days ago if you had trued your own. Try Mike T's wheel page in general for wheel info http://miketechinfo.com/new-tech-wheels-tires.htm#wheel truing stand

It takes me about 20 mins per wheel, and I wouldn't say I'm proficient at it.

If you go back tomorrow, take your wheel - done or not. It shouldn't take that long.

emtnate said:

It takes me about 20 mins per wheel, and I wouldn't say I'm proficient at it.

If you go back tomorrow, take your wheel - done or not. It shouldn't take that long.

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As I see it, the issue isn't really the amount of time it takes to actually true the wheel. A week or more during the busy season isn't even "long" for some shops that get really slammed with repairs. It's overly long in this case because the OP says he was told a few hours, which makes 3 days "long."

Hey coolpick, is there something unusual about how out of true this wheel is? Is it just a minor touch up or is this major surgery? Just curious...

It wasn't bad, but I didn't feel like riding on it. Nothing was broke on it.

It really does depend on the shop. MOST of the time we can get it back to you in a few hours depending on how many repairs we have going out that day. If we're caught up and we're just building bikes and shootin' the $hit with the guys, then sure we'll get started on it right away, some times we can get it done right in front of you :thumbsup:

BUT keep in mind, we also answer the phones, and sell bikes too, so it can be really hard to give a prediction on stuff like this.

~5 minutes per wheel if they are clean, off the bike and not completely ****ed.

peddlers took over a week to finish the tune up on my friends new bike they were so back logged, they had bikes sitting out in the lobby thats how many they had in the shop

When I bring in a bike, they usually tell me to pick it up the next day. Last time it was retensioning a wheel and shortening brake hoses.

At least once they fixed some issue for me while I dropped by at the library, a couple of blocks away.

During busy times, things take longer but they don't want to keep lots of customer stuff in there: they'd run out of space.

My LBS does it in 2 minutes max. I usually bring my wheel(s) in. Leaving the wheel there for truing is unacceptable. If they can't give you the 2 minutes of attention to do it there, it will usually be left in a corner and forgotten.

Switch Bike Shops. If they don't have the patience to deal with you right on the spot, they usually will not deal with your problem later either, or just do a crappy job. Always ask if the mechanic is in before you go there. Some smaller shops don't have a full time mechanic on staff. If they are too busy, they don't need your business.

I expect anything I have my LBS do this time a year to be a week or more going in; I'm generally pleasantly surprised, but that's what I expect.

I also expect them to honor their "we'll get it to you by ______" date or the "you are in line for __/__/__" date within reason (if it changes I want to know ahead of time and I expect it to not happen more than once).

I haven't had a problem. Most times I'm the person they drop everything to do the "10-15 minute" fix for right then and there and I only have to wait for the full tunes and major issues. There are benefits to being loyal.

It may only take a couple minutes for the repair, but most shops this time of year don't schedule your repair until a week after you broght it to them. So if you bring it in now, they don't even look at it until next week. They are busy fixing the bikes that came in last week. If you take it to performance bike, try a month. They are doing a lot of free tune-ups on every bike they ever sold.

I built my own truing stand for my motorcycle. http://mysite.verizon.net/resp7drb/id8.html I will be building/buying one for the bicycles as soon as one is needed. It's really not hard when you understand the concept, assuming things aren't too far off. Read up on it and give it a go!

I second doing it yourself like bikinfool said (and reading MikeT.'s page - he makes it simple to understand)
once you get the hang of it, it's a snap
then you can get free beers when you able to true your buddies wheels as well :thumbsup:

There are multiple bike shops in my town (sorry highdell, its all mine) so I have seen the range of service and attitudes out there when I walk in with a bike that isn't theirs

Brought my bike into one shop on a Thursday for a simple wheel truing. After the manager looked down at my bike he told me he could start working on it on Monday. Then him and the wrench went back to chatting with some friend. Sad because I've had good experiences before that with the same manager, but that was when I was buying shoes and other stuff

Brought my bike into another shop on a Friday evening 5 minutes after the shop closed and the wrench told me they don't normally schedule many repairs on weekends but that he wanted to get me riding and promised to have it finished on Saturday, which he did by 1pm