Dear LBS

(Not being argumentative at all)
Could you really rebuild a wheel with a new hub in 30 mins? Tyre off to tyre back on?

I could, in my day at the shop. I built all the wheels so muscle memory. 2 or 3x simple wheel doesn't take long when you know the process.

Edit: with spokes to hand but I would have to measure them and pull them out. Say 45mins tyre off and on.

Christ, I’m an 11-thumbed civilian and I’ve got the correct tool for that : /

Sometimes the best tool is an Stanley blade to start it. A crown race tool sometimes can't get between the fork crown and crown race. Put a Stanley blade just under the crown race and tap around to create a small gap, then use the tool.

Yeah I was imagining one of those cigar cutter looking things but he just pulled out a Stanley blade and whacked it a bit and made me feel inadequate.

Reading this thread has made me more appreciative of my LBS who've done all sorts of shit for me, often for free when all I've ever really bought from there is consumables, tools and occasionally very reduced components.

This is what shop matey said, he said they're unreliable and often you still need to do the hard part

Crown race tools are great for most races that come off ok, makes it a quick and damage free job, they're also handy for when a bearing race sticks itself to the crown race. You do get fork/race combos that don't play nicely and need a careful amount of blade/chisel twattage, but it's not the first thing I'd try.

Crown race pullers are even more useful on top headset races and spacers that have got fused to the steerer through neglect. Hammering the steerer tube doesn't do anything, but pulling the spacers off with the puller works in seconds

So how much for rebuilding a Shimano free hub? The loose ball variant. These things cost 20 or less in most cases and the result is much better with a fresh one. Same about rebuilding cheap wheels and so on. No wonder most bosses moan about workshops losing money.

I guess you could say "it will cost £100 in shop time to service this one or you could buy a new one for £30, fitted" and let the customer choose.

For a shimano one once you have them off they aren't hard to service and you have to repack the bearings of the hub either way. Don't know about the new cartridge ones. With most cartridge freehubs though its even easier as with hope or dtswiss you don't have to remove the bearings in the hub.

Swapping the bearings in a hope or similar free hub is usually worth it. They're designed to be serviced like that, bearings should be kept in stock, and new freehubs are pricey. Shimano ones are just easier to replace, most of the time the bearing cup face is fucked anyway at that point and they're cheaper than the time spent doing the job, especially if it's something the shop rarely does as it's hardly ever worth the time so tools/method probably needs at least a bit of research for most mechanics.