Relacing wheels

[cahurst2001]

Soooo I went to pick up my Roadriders today from a local mega motorcycle/dirt bike/four wheeler place, snatched them up and headed over to the service dept to have my wheels relaced, trued, tires mounted and balanced, etc. After inquiring how much $$$ to do so, the guy looked at me funny, turned around and asked his boss how much it would be. They flipped through their book and said $150. Per wheel. For a grand total of about $350 w/it all relaced, trued, mounted, balanced,etc. I told them I would think about it and get back to them.

Here's my question:
Is this highway robbery? How much should it be realistically? What have you guys paid? Am I better off doing it myself or is this kind of a pros only type thing considering the potential safety issues?

thanks mates!

 

[Tim]

I paid $50 per wheel for lacing/truing. Then I paid $30 or so per wheel to have the tires mounted and balanced. I took bare rims, hubs and spokes to the guy who did my lacing. He didn't have to take the old stuff apart. And these prices did not include the cost of things like rim-strips, tubes or spoke weights (I used fancy chrome spoke weights instead of stick-on lead weights).

How does $150 per wheel add up to $350? What is the extra $50 for? Oh, and where are you located?

 

[cahurst2001]

How does $150 per wheel add up to $350? What is the extra $50 for? Oh, and where are you located?

Since I purchased the tires and tubes from them, they were only gonna charge me $50 to mount and balance the tires.
$150 a wheel for reassembly X 2 wheels + $50 mount and balance = $350

I paid $50 per wheel for lacing/truing. Then I paid $30 or so per wheel to have the tires mounted and balanced. I took bare rims, hubs and spokes to the guy who did my lacing. He didn't have to take the old stuff apart. And these prices did not include the cost of things like rim-strips, tubes or spoke weights (I used fancy chrome spoke weights instead of stick-on lead weights).

So about $150 total, not per wheel. That sounds reasonable to me. How did you find him? Friend? Word of mouth? Shop?

I'm in Washington, btw.

 

[thanatos]

Since I purchased the tires and tubes from them, they were only gonna charge me $50 to mount and balance the tires.
$150 a wheel for reassembly X 2 wheels + $50 mount and balance = $350

So about $150 total, not per wheel. That sounds reasonable to me. How did you find him? Friend? Word of mouth? Shop?

I'm in Washington, btw.

It's nice to know that even though you pay a fraction of the price for bikes over there, everything else adds up. Over here (Yurop) the usual rate for mounting and balancing is between 10-40€ (x1.5 for USD), that being said, most places will mount and balance them for free if you bought the tires from them. For my other bike I laced and sort-of trued the wheels myself, but took them to a shop to have them "fine-trued" The guy charged me 30USD for two wheels.

150 seems a bit high, but of course I have no idea what the usual rate is over there. I paid 150€ for front wheel (laced+custom made SS-spokes). I'm assuming the price adds up from the time it takes (50/hour)? Depending on where your thumb is located it's really not that hard to lace them yourself, it's a bit time consuming but I'm guessing you could knock off at least a 100 off the total price. The world wide web is full of how-to's on the subject and I'm sure there are a few people on this board tht could help you out as well (myself included)


The UnFlying Finn

 

[Tim]

I found the guy to lace my wheels through word of mouth. Check the vintage racing scene in your area - there will be 'the guy' everyone uses to lace their wheels.

The tire mounting/balancing was done by the Yamaha dealer I ordered my Avons through.

 

[cahurst2001]

I guess some research is in order. Lacing is very time consuming is all. Just comes down to Time vs. Money. I'll keep you guys updated.