I do very little business with the local shops, since I do all my own work and buy all my parts online. I did take a friend of mine to Bike's Inc. last year to buy a Trek fitness geared bike that was on sale, but avoid the other shops which cater to the high dollar crowd. The last time I bought a bike through a shop was my Pista Concept, which I bought 6 years ago at Colonel's. My last nine bikes I either built myself or bought complete online. Right now number 10 is pending replacement of a defective fork, which demonstrates the pitfalls of buying el cheapo bikes online from vendors with sketchy customer support.