What? You still go to a bike shop for repairs? How very 90’s of you. When I put up a post about how much you should pay for bike repair in a bike shop a number of the responses surprised me. Quite a few people are removing the bike shop part of the formula. Instead opting to have repairs done in the comfort of their own home. For that matter it doesn’t have to be at home. It could be anywhere.
You simply call or text the mobile bike repair company and they come to you.
This is incredibly convenient and the prices I’ve looked at either match or beat bike shops. For example Bike Ade which Ruth mentioned will do a full bike service for £20 + parts. As long as you can convince a couple more people in your office to get their bike serviced at the same time.
In the world of “I’m too busy to do that” these services will no doubt become more commonplace. Here are 5 mobile bike repair companies I’ve been recommended. As always feel free to add your own recommendations to the comments.
London’s mobile bike repair companies
A puncture repair is £12 which sounds a little steep until you remember they come all the way over to wherever you are. The bike tune-up they offer is really good value. Ade covers zones 1-4.
Working from 9am to 8pm on Monday to Friday. Mobile Cycle Service is a little more expensive than Bike Ade but worth bearing in mind.
Cycledelik also offer membership options for those expecting a lot of bike breakdowns! The call out fee starts at £5 for zone 1 but rises to £35 if you are all the way out in Zone 6.
MobeOne is available within the M25. They do all sorts of bike services such setting up your new bike.
Bikes R Us cover North London up to 15 miles around Southgate.
Related posts:
- How much should you pay for a bike repair in a London bike shop?
- London Cyclist’s Free eBook that makes bike maintenance ridiculously easy
- Three simple fixes that will make your bike riding much more of a pleasure
- Splashing the cash on bike upgrades
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One more to mention that I just came across after hitting the publish button is Cycle2Job with their Dr Bike service. This is more focused at servicing big businesses: http://www.cycle2job.co.uk/
I can say nothing but good things about http://www.cycledelik.com
I had a gear cable snap on my way into work recently and the good repair people of Cycledelik did a brilliant job of getting me back on the road, fully-functioning, for a very reasonable price.
cycledelik.com every time for me
A bicycle is a simple mechanical device. A good book and a small number of tools are all that is needed to keep a bicycle running. I would be very upset if I couldn’t fix any problem on my bike.
At least you consider that £12 is a high price for a puncture repair. Bike Ade must be rubbing their hands with glee if they are finding people prepared to pay that much for a 10 minute job.
Agreed it is expensive but I guess its not a 10 minute job as they have to cycle over to you. Some bike shops charge you that for the 10 minute job and you bring the bike to them!
Regarding having a book and learning to do it yourself I think that is really awesome and would encourage everyone to do it. Unfortunately some people just don’t have the time or the patience to figure out doing bike maintenance themselves. Which is fair enough. Hence why its good to know about services like these ones that may potentially save you money
Yeah, fair enough, but when you factor in the time needed to get there and back, it”s a lot of work. Having someone come to me to fix my bike is a luxury I certainly wouldn”t pay for either, Needless to say Im not surprised others see if differently
I’ve been doing mobile bike repair in the US since end ’08. I have expanded the service territory, and hired an additional mechanic. I can easily beat bike shop prices. My customers really appreciate the convenience – especially during peak season when traditional repair shops are backlogged 2 weeks!
No need to worry too much about bike repairs where I am (funkyest island in Asia). There are always cyclists going past and so no end of people to lend a hand–or an opinion! All this was inspired by a movie, Island Etude, released a few yrs ago: http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2007/04/movie-review-island-etude/. Gotta say though, it doesnt take much to carry the stuff you need to take care of the most common probs.
I have to say on the puncture front, if you are prepped, you have a wee under the saddle bag with your repair kit and your wee sticks for helping pulling the tyre off, and most importantly, your pump, if you’re not used to doing the job it could be a half an hour of misery in the pissing rain.
…but you’ve got to think, it’s going to take twenty minutes for anyone to come and find you, then take them ten minutes to repair it, and what they’ll probably do is simply put in a new inner tube anyway which I hate! Such a waste, anyway the point is you *could* do the job yourself, probably in less time, and for a hell of alot less than £12. Heavy duty break cables snapping etc – different kettle of fish.
I think the reason you tend to just stick in a new inner tube is because its quicker than finding a puncture. Then when you get home you repair the old inner tube and have it as your new spare. Or so I’ve been led to believe? Admittedly when I first figured it all out I threw the inner tube away not realising I could so easily repair it when I got home.
RE: Your point about how long it will take for the person to reach you anyway. Completely true. It’s a shame that you can’t even take a disassembled bike on the bus in case of punctures.
While you can’t bring a bike on the bus you can use the tubes provided the line is overground at that stage (District Line, Piccadilly)
Found that out when my chain snapped on the way to work. I just locked it up to the nearest bike rack and continued by public transport and came back that evening to collect it.
I have a mobile bicycle repair & maintenance business covering bournemouth, poole and surrounding areas.
Everytime i gain a new customer i am told that i provide an excellent service, of which the convenience of having a trained mechanic with a fully equipped mobile workshop turn up at your door, place of work or wherever its needed is massively appreciated and when combined with outstanding customer service that we offer customers are allways glad to use bike-fixed again and again, even if that customer just requires some free freindly advice!
bike-fixed and every other mobile repair services who know what they are doing offers great convenience over any static bike shop repair service.
New to cycling and am going to get a spare inner tube right now – excellent advice. Cheers.
Do you have any suggestions for good bike maintenance books? Or phone apps?
Has anyone used BikeDoctor?
I build Bike Doctor so of course I love it!
Good bike maintenance books:
http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/maintenance/ultimate-guide-to-bicycle-maintenance-review/
Bike Ade is incredible! I had two bikes that needed to be looked at. Ade was here for an hour and a half and charged very little. Ok, perhaps some of it could have been done myself but some of it couldn’t (!) and for £20 I didn’t have to worry about wheeling two bikes to a bike shop, Ade came the day after I called him and while he was working I could get on with work at home. Honest, friendly guy. Thoroughly recommended.
No worries! Happy to recommend a good service..
I’ve worked in an independant bike shop for 5 years, and would always get alot of requests for collection and delivery of a customer’s bike, so have started a mobile bike repair service in my home town, any good marketing advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mike
Hi everyone,
I am rubbish with repairs but my road bike is in need of some serious atention. does anyone know where i can get the cheapest service done in London?
Highly Reccomend http://www.cyclesolutionsuk.co.uk for anyone needing a bicycle repair shop in bournemouth and poole, very good service indeed!
The mobile bicycle mechanic business is growing. You can now view a directory of mobile bicycle mechanics http://www.cyclefix.net/business_directory.html Across the UK.
Or if you are thing of starting your own business view Blog: http://mobilebicyclerepairs.blogspot.com/p/starting-mobile-bicycle-repair-business.html
Ideally you’ll have experience building and servicing Road and Triathlon bikes. This business is growing rapidly and we want to hire the very best service candidates. If you like a fast paced, customer focused environment,then various environment will be provided.
Just had Bike Ade come to my rescue in Central London. He kept in touch with emails as agreed time approached even when held up. I had thought inner tubes would suffice but Ade had with him perfect tyres at a really good price. A real result for me and I will happily recommend them without hesitation.
New in Amsterdam… whenever you have a bike problen near our city we’ll be happy to help you out.