With regards to purchasing the Giant from an lbs or the other from bikesdirect: One of the things that will be of value from the lbs, if they're worth much at all, is retensioning the wheels after you've put a few miles on the bike. The stock wheels will have been machine built. Which in itself isn't a bad thing. But, after a little riding, they will require retensioning and truing. Which, if you go with the bikes direct bike, you need to factor into your cost. As well as assembly of the mailorder bike, unless you're comfortable with that.