I moved across the country last year, and have had my mountain bike sitting in a box all winter from taking it on the plane. I paid 30 bucks to have it professionally disassembled and packed when departing, and was debating whether to spend the 30-50 dollars to have it professionally put back together at my new home.
I decided to rip into it instead myself. It only took about an hour to put together. The front tire had a hole so I replaced the tube myself. The front disk break was messed up and jammed shut (probably from the plane ride) and I watched a google video on how to fix that myself. I also decided that that back tire tread was nearly warn out, and that while I had the wheels off I should replace the tires and tubes so I'll hopefully have grippy hassle-free rides for a few more years. I also oiled the chain and washed the whole frame and cleaned a bunch of gunk off and adjusted the deraileurs.
All in all it took about 3 hours. I think the labour costs from a bike shop would have been roughly as follows:
Assemble bike: $40
Spring Tune up:$80
Replace tires and tubes: $20
Plus I would have had to buy the expensive bike store parts instead of the hardware store parts. Probably a $30-40 savings.
So all in all I saved about $170 while having an enjoyable Sunday afternoon of learning how to assemble and fix my own bike, while simultaneously making a big pot of soup and watching True Detective.
