Bl00dy bike! (seized sprocket)

3 hours for a chain and sproks...takes me 20 mins all in...big breaker bar and sorted..your mechanic is useless

[Stu]

Has he taken the washer off?

I would have thought so- he's experienced and well established.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by thedonal

I would have thought so- he's experienced and well established.

Obviously not that Experienced.

I dont see how a sprocket can sieze on. Even the nut! A nut splitter or angle griner to the nut if its siezed on, new nut...15 minutes tops. If the sprocket is siezed on the shaft, then a hub puller will bring that off in no time, or again an angle grinder and a large hammer.
Sadly i think you are being stitched up somewhere. No more than an hour extra labour at most.

99% of mechanics are ****. I cant trust any of them as the majority give mechanics a bad name. whether its slicing your windscreen wipers at an mot, or taking the **** with times, prices and general organisation. Makes me almost want to start a place up and offer a decent service with decent website and customer service etc

DIY!

[jambo]

Originally Posted by breakz187

99% of mechanics are ****. I cant trust any of them as the majority give mechanics a bad name. whether its slicing your windscreen wipers at an mot, or taking the **** with times, prices and general organisation. Makes me almost want to start a place up and offer a decent service with decent website and customer service etc

This sort of viewpoint can be quite frustrating and isn't terribly constructive.

Yes there are of course dodgy garages and bent mechanics, but there are also plenty of honest ones, it's not like there's a lack of good workshops. They all have overheads to cover and bills to pay. You wouldn't work for free and neither will they.

I do almost all my own work on my bike, and the bits I don't, I can do if I have to (mainly changing tyres). But my time is free to me, theirs isn't. And most of them have done a thousand more services than you ever will.

In this case, however, I think an additional 3 hours of work is well in excess of what I'd expect an experienced mechanic to be set back by on a standard job.

Even I could probably do it in that time frame!

Jambo

Originally Posted by jambo

This sort of viewpoint can be quite frustrating and isn't terribly constructive.

Yes there are of course dodgy garages and bent mechanics, but there are also plenty of honest ones, it's not like there's a lack of good workshops. They all have overheads to cover and bills to pay. You wouldn't work for free and neither will they.

I do almost all my own work on my bike, and the bits I don't, I can do if I have to (mainly changing tyres). But my time is free to me, theirs isn't. And most of them have done a thousand more services than you ever will.

In this case, however, I think an additional 3 hours of work is well in excess of what I'd expect an experienced mechanic to be set back by on a standard job.

Even I could probably do it in that time frame!

Jambo

I think you've hit it spot on Jambo. I would expect myself to take much longer to do something as I haven't the experience or all the tools (hell- it took me 2 hours to remove a rounded/seized chain adjuster bolt). But a mechanic must deal with seized parts on a weekly basis.

When I got my clutch overhauled last year, I was quoted £400-£550 depending on the state of the plates by the same mechanic. It ended up costing about £300 as the plates were fine- just the worm drive that needed cleaning/rebuilding.

I will be DIY on this in the future- but the costs of this and a new tyre last month have set me back in my plans for a rear stand and tools (plus a passport, running shoes or just having cash at the end of the month!!).

And I don't see how a bolt that has only been on for a year or just over could seize when over the last 2 years, I've ridden in all weathers and not had this issue when getting the chain/sprockets replaced.

[jambo]

Originally Posted by thedonal

I don't see how a bolt that has only been on for a year or just over could seize when over the last 2 years, I've ridden in all weathers and not had this issue when getting the chain/sprockets replaced.

In my (limited) experience, front sprockets on bikes I've seen come in 2 flavours:

1) Bastid stiff
2) Finger tight

I've never really worked out a correlation, but that bent metal tab has stopped more than one front sprocket coming off a bike that I know was torqued up correctly. There's usually so much oil in there on my bikes that for something to seize would be a major achievement.

Jambo

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by Stu

Has he taken the washer off?

I did think this was maybe the case as it's easily done