Is it OK to buy online and ask local bike shop to fit?

If your LBS doesn't want the busniness, look for a local independant mechanic without a shop, perhaps they will be a mobile mechanic with a van or have a bike workshop in a non high street location. The mecahnic I use prefers me to turn up with all the parts I need, as he wants to spend his time workng on bikes, not ordering parts and waiting for them to arrive. 

When I collect my bike from him it is always running like a brand new machine.

Just thought I would chime in on this one, been in the business for 10 years on both sides of the fence. First 5 years were working in a shop, 3 more working for an outdoor distributor and now back purchasing for an online retailer. A few key points below;

- Most shops will fit parts for a charge, they accept this as part of their role but don't expect priority over customers which have bought their parts instore.

- Warranty issues should be taken up with your online retailer not the shop that fitted the part (unless it was fitted correctly). 

- Be aware of extra charges, if your brake pads are worn but you want a new handlebar fitting the shop will normally have to put the bike into a "safe" condition so they are covered under their liability insurance. 

- Small shops cannot compete on price with most online retailers. Period. One of my local shops will actually match online prices as long as it is above their trade price and if it is below trade they will sell it you at trade, its the business but I understand them not wanting to make a loss.

- Business works on both sides of the fence its crap your shop pays more than an online account but that online account will be making more money for the supplier. It was often known that CRC and the likes will be selling parts cheaper than trade for most other accounts as they buy them from OEM suppliers rather than distributors where they can. 

- Be nice, say hi and treat bike shops with respect, they will help where they can, if possible don't go in at weekends because that's when most of the browsers will be in. Appreciate their work and always take them something good, if you know it will be a horrible job (snapped bolts, jammed parts, internal cable routing) take them biscuits or beer and don't expect a discount. If you're a good enough customer the shop will give you one!

I've asked my LBS for a repair and supplied my own parts and they were more than happy to help. In my case I was intending to do the work myself but hit a problem, so I already had the spare part. However if a bike shop can't compete with internet prices then they are at least making money with the labour side of it and are building a relationship with the customer.

There is no right or wrong answer to the broader question, it depends on the circumstances. In this case, when you have vouchers to spend, any reasonable LBS would understand your position, and also understand that it is better business for him to fit the parts at a price, than to turn you away. I bought a £2.5k bike from my LBS, and he actually advised me to buy the pedals online, and he fit them.

I suspect that it will depend on the shop and  thats fair. To suggest that any decent shop will take your parts and fit them is over simplifying things. Each will have its own business model and the customer has to accept that by complying or going elsewhere.  A shop that makes its profit on parts may not want to see you , especially if you rarely visit are bringing parts that they stock. A regular customer bringing in something thats not their normal stock may have a different response.  Which are you. If it's a no then just accept it without hard feelings.

We have no right to expect any business to deal with our individual needs. On a different note, spend the money on an instruction book. It's only a bike and thus needs virtually no expensive and rarely used tools.  Fix it yourself and thus remove the need to ask the question.

Perhaps I’m a spoilt Londoner but I don’t understand the weirdness here. 

There are “many” ways for an LBS to make money. Everyone knows that services are the way to make money these days.

If an LBS gives you grief for you offering money for their mechanic services they’re idiots that will be soon out of business. 

Just ask them nicely. My LBS couldn't compete with the Internet his workshop subsidised the rest, he's not renewed his lease and now has a successful mobile business. You're obviously concerned to do the right thing by your local independent trader, if only more people were, so do ask and make the most of the type of service the Internet can't provide. And of course if they're not used, they won't turn a profit and if they're not making money they'll soon be out of business and you'll have no one to fit the parts.

You should simply ask them if they're willing to do so and how much they charge.  I've known extremes from one shop (when I was doing a Brompton conversion) where the owner simply told me that he'd be happy to install any components at a regular hourly fee but only if I brought him everything and was willing to assume the risk if something didn't fit, he simply didn't want to do any research.  Another shop told me no, adding that neither were they willing to order any 'exotic' components nor indeed perform any work on a bike that hadn't been purchased with them and unceremoneously showed me the door.  A couple of repair and maintenance outfits are building a business model around simply charging by the hour in order to do whatever tickles your fancy, offering a cheaper rate and 'guaranteed suitability' if you order components through them.

My LBS fitted a whole groupset without any qualms at all - small neighbourhood shop, nice guy, happy to take my money, doesn't sell those kinds of parts. I go back and buy bits and pieces off him when I can. Just ask.

One option might be to look for a local cycling/sustainable transport collective - there was one where I used to work and you could pop in and fit your own stuff with a little help from trained mechanics. 

I've also mixed and matched. Took a new derailleur to the LBS and they were the cheapest online for the hanger. As I didn't know if the hanger was the correct one and the shop didn't have the range of cassette I wanted it worked perfectly to buy a part and get reasonably priced labour...

No-one commenting knows the shop's attitude, they are just guessing.

I would jot down some prices, pop in when it's not too busy, explain that part of the reason is that you are using a voucher (providing it's a significant element of the cost) and see what they say. I suspect that the response will depend on your relationship with them and their general policy.

I think I have a good relationship with the team at my local shop. I have occasionally asked them to fit things I've bought online, mostly s/h or hard to source items like NOS chainrings.

gbzpto wrote:

They are not overcharging you on parts. Their trade accounts will be more expensive than wiggle etc.

I believe this is often the case. Wiggle/CRC source many OEM parts and/or through 'grey' markets.

If a bike shop offers bike building and maintenance (as not all but many do) there would obviously be nothing wrong with bringing your own parts (unless it was some seriously jerky shop, the likes of which wouldn't deserve your business in any form).
As others have said above there are probably more bike shops now than ever that are primarily, or in some cases wholly focused on the building/maintenance of bikes.
Another good point made above is that some of the shops may not even really be able to compete much with best online prices for the parts anyway. 
Chances are they will be delighted if you bring all the parts. Appreciative of your good organisation and your CUSTOM in buying their building services.

As for the two labour rates system mentioned above by PRSboy..well, maybe in the world of car audio (of which i know nothing about) you can afford to have such a policy but I for one would walk straight out of any bicycle shop which stated it offered bicycle building services and who asked me for higher rates if bringing my own parts. Plenty of other bike building shops who would be glad to have my business instead (and be more deserving of it).

A local car audio shop to me  has two labour rates, depending on whether they supply the hardware or not.  Seems fair enough.

My LBS is happy to do this, a lot of shops make their money on servicing and repairs now.

My LBS does have a Shimano Price Match deal in place which has proved handy though. I'd much rather get them to price match and buy through my LBS, often they are better on the 'manpower costs' for any work done when I do this.. so it's win win.

My LBS, the mechanic wanted to fit parts bought elsewhere as he knew they couldn't compete on parts, only the manger didn't agree.
Mechanic set up his own repair shop.
Seems a sensible way to work in this online age.

Many restaurants will allow you to bring a birthday cake for the end of your meal.

My LBS even has a price for putting a bike together from scratch via sourced parts or a bike box. They want people in the shop. While you are in there maybe you pick up a tool or some cliff bars (other bars available).

You could always ask them, be nice about it, explain it to them.

My LBS, with whom I'd been building up a bit of a relationship with, wheelbuilding, I can do most spannering, but I needed 26 inch rim braked rims, the first couple ceramic, quest to find those, and NOS non disc XTR hubs.  Things that a bike shop cannot source, you can't expect them to bid on Ebay after all.  Then I found 3 mavic xc717s, onto touring non disc XTs.  The mechanic even found me a new front wheel, already built on a german bike site.  It's about trust, I suppose.

They have just built me my new bike, Surly, Rohloff, hope front hub and disks, chris king headset.  Took a while, some problems.  If Ison had it, they'd get it.  Some parts I bought.  Xtr bb, middleburn cranks, jones bar.  I JP Weigled the frame,  he built most of it, I did the finishing when I got it home.  I found the specific tyres I needed, he set them up tubeless and built the front wheel.  I think we were all pleased with the result, at least I very much hope so.  I have been making them cakes all summer.

I wouldn't expect anyone but me to create a full length Nokon gear to a rohloff, bathing everything with ACF 50.  Hour and half of threading for each cable, and messy.  But I'm not going to fit a headset (not anymore) or make me a wheel, and I've always had various LBSs tension and true my wheels, no matter where I got them from.  Oddly enough the wheels made at this LBS have never needed trueing, and the first set of non ceramic 717s died before going out of true.  At some point I'm going to have to move, I will miss them.

I've never wanted anything done in a hurry, and I've never demanded a discount.  I also understand that the mechanics have a lot less to do in the winter months and so bike shops are more ammeanable to do work on stuff you've purchased somewhere else then, but at the same time I wouldn't want to take the piss.  I think I have gravitated to LBSs that have understood my particular obsessions.

Ah OK. I think that's ludicrous.

LBS, like all high street businesses, cannot compete with the Internet by selling "stuff". They need to sell services, stuff you can't deliver online. A smart LBS would not only earn money by fitting parts you bought from Wiggle, they'd also take delivery for you, for a fee. It needs to be convenient. There are guys who will turn up at your house and service your bike using parts you bought online.

The loyalty of a tiny customer base isn't worth much.

I think I didn’t explain myself properly,

corkage on the parts, plus the labour.

I have a local workshop (not a full LBS) whose quotes for parts are high, but labour cost is low. I always assume they're putting a massive markup on sourcing the parts, and it puts me off using them as I know I could get them online for half the price and nobody likes being ripped off. But ridiculously, if they gave me the same overall quote, but with more of the price allocated to labour (the bit that I need, know I can't do myself and value), I'd be happier paying it.    

wicksy5508 wrote:

So you’d be happy with a bike shop charging corkage to fit the internet supplied parts? Because that actually seems like a pretty reasonable compromise.

Yes of course. This is exactly what the OP proposes to do and what you argued against:

cyclefaster wrote:

Is it OK to ask a shop about fitting parts I've sourced online and pay for the labour?

wicksy5508 wrote:

No its not ok.

Tools, kit and accessories are the highest margin items.

If a LBS won't let you spend your money having a bike fit because it wasn't bought from them, don't buy a bike from them just to get a bike fit. In fact, if they refused, I'd assume their bike fit service was crap, unable to stand up on its own and only really value-add as a freebie with a bike.

I don't understand why they'd turn away workshop business because parts were sourced elsewhere. Would they rather, having lost your parts business, not even bother to win your workshop business? Most bike shops I visit don't even stock the (Campag) bits I want to fit.

The analogies posited above are not sensible. A bike shop does not exist solely to sell parts. It's a bit more like paying corkage to take your own wine to a restaurant, which is of course totally fine. And my local tyre place are only too happy to fit tyres sourced online, particularly if one pays cash. 

I'd love to find a LBS that bends over backwards for a loyal customer. In my experience, most are not worth my custom. OT, my opinion of car mechanics is similarly low. I don't really have the time to maintain my cars right now, but begrudge handing over £75 an hour to a trained ape who has never heard of a torque wrench.

Does anyone commenting actually know (I include myself in this) what is the most profitable part of a bike shop ie servicing, supplying parts, selling bikes, or are we all just assuming?

perhaps some LBS owners would like to chime in on this, because it seems to me that £40per hour labour for one mechanic doesn’t a profit make when all other costs are factored in. (I run a security systems installation business so being profitable is obv very Important!)