Originally Posted by mechBgon
The person in question (and I knew who it is before looking at what thread it is) seems to have a contrarian streak. Nothing is valid unless backed by formal studies, etc.
But anyway, yes there's a difference in the products, and there's a difference in the quality of the assembly work. XMart sells units, never to return. LBS sells a product that will boomerang right back at them if something's the matter, and their lifeblood is satisfied clients, so they'll take pains to do it right the first time.
That's been the approach at every LBS I've worked at... if we got a new assembly guy, the assembly work got checked over, critiqued and corrected before the bike hit the floor. The bikes were checked and tuned again when sold, no matter who assembled them. There are undoubtedly bad LBSs out there, but they'd be the minority.
The ones I have had bad experiences with are almost always the larger 'chain' operations. But my own guy, who I trust implicitly, once sent my GF out of the shop on her new bike with the fenders unsecured and flapping away...everyone can make a mistake...especially when distracted by people yakking over their shoulder as they work. Funny thing, one of the guys who used to work at one of our area LBS now works at...yes, Walmart.
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