Bike Purchased Online 90% Assembled?? Not Quite.
I came across this post from Durham Cycles about bicycle assembly and the challenges bicycle shops face when explaining to customers who’ve purchased bikes online why it costs the equivalent of 1-2 labor hours to assemble their bikes for them. Most bikes purchased online incorrectly claim that the bikes are 90% assembled. This is false advertising and a dis-service to their customers. A bicycle assembly from a box typically takes 1-2 hours for a trained mechanic to get the bike into a safe and ready to ride shape. Most bike shops are happy to assembly your online purchased bike for you and they will do an excellent job and stand behind the work, but they do need to be paid for their labor.
Durham cycles made a video showing just what goes into the labor to assemble one of these bikes. Check it out..