It's a tough time to start learning about parts, later is better than not at all: The shops you describe are straight up cheats. I've faced the same thing, but have the past experience to be able to judge and tell the con artist to quit lying and show me a parts price list. Granted, there are some parts which are too specialized to get at a hardware store, but after you spend a while putting things together, you learn about many things and whether or not to expect them to come from the hardware store and for cheaper prices at that. If you didn't learn this stuff in school, you're left to learn them the hard way. It was my good fortune to take auto mechanics in highschool- they don't have that class any more- I guess because it makes people able to better care for themselves.
There is a bike shop in Berkeley, California- Mikes' Bikes, where they have maintenance classes. Those guys sell good parts for good bikes. They know the products and help customers get the right fit and service. There is an auto shop in Oakland- Marty's Metrics, and I've gotten excellent and honest work there.Marty even told me what a problem was caused by and let me choose to hire him or fix my own car.enabling me to solve a vibration problem by replacing my own half-shafts and saving $200, and every other shop said it was anything else but that. Marty fixed a tuning problem and charged me $25 FOR about 15 minutes work (his price is $100/hr), but another shop estimated $1600 and wanted to replace a lot of stuff unnecessarily, including an $800 carburetor. I found out about Marty by asking friends where they got good work done. Other friends told me about Mike's Bikes and showed me their bikes they got there. I usually get the right stuff at Pagano's Ace hardware in Alameda, California or Berkeley Ace Hardware. There are so many other hardware stores where they won't take time to show you where things are, let alone advise you, good or bad.
The short answer is, always get referrals before choosig a shop. Honest mechanics are born, not made.
