It all breaks down to who's behind the counter the moment you step in the door... Could be some young bike nerd who knows anything and everything about what you're asking about and answers your questions with authority. I've found that it's very rare to find these kind of guys out the LBS's in my area (Orange County, CA). Then you got the shark of a salesman that just wants to sell you a bike. I recently encountered this at Cycle Werks in Costa Mesa. Terry in that shop is one hell of a salesman. Doesn't know squat about anything, but will promise you the world! Totally reminded me of a car salesman. I did end up buying the bike from this shop. Three things influenced my decision to buy from them. 1)They price matched another LBS. 2)They offer lifetime tune-ups on the bike you buy. 3)I wanted to give some business to the smaller shop.
NOW, the reasons why I will NEVER go back to this LBS. 1)Terry all of the sudden "forgot" about all the things he was promising while "making the sale" 2)Terry and their "so-called mechanics" don't know squat about IGH and belt driven bikes. You really think I'm going to trust them to know how to tune my bike? What tuned me into this fact was when I went to go pick up my bike, Terry was going to give me a little "clinic" on how to change a flat on this bike. I asked him about this and his reply was "Uhhhh, hey Arturo, do you know how to remove the wheel on this belt drive bike?" He then said "Well, we'll find out and you can come back or you can also search it on YouTube." Wow! This really instills a lot of confidence! My bike mechanic is watching YouTube videos on how to work/fix my bike! Idiots!
It's no wonder that Cycle Werks had to close down so many of their shops and ended up with only two. Terry shared this information with me during one conversation.
I've since sold that bike since I just hated the fact that I got it from where I did and will never take advantage of the lifetime tune ups. Luckily, I broke even.
Since I'm in the market again for another bike, I'm now more aware of what I want and expect from my LBS. Don't mind spending a little more if I know I will be taken care of and they know how to actually service bikes.