lilolme

Ok, So I am all for supporting my LBS. The area I'm in could use all the local support it can get. (I'm living in Joplin, Mo... big tornado last year, 1/3 of the area gone. Currently rebuilding. I was lucky and out of town at an old Hardcore punk show; I now have the right to say "D.R.I. saved my life" how sad is that if you know of the band...) anyways getting back to my actual topic here now: I'm in the market for a new bike and I feel compelled to buy local but can't fully convince myself it's worth it.

I'm not going to present the age old question of what bike should I get. I allready know that. Well, almost know that. Eitherway it's not my question. My question is should I buy from the LBS or mail order. See heres my dilemma:

There are two shops in the area. One is out of the question due to the fact 1) they don't carry what I want. Which I feel justifies my reasoning enough. If I really wanted more justification to avoid the shop how bout when they told me "Surley's are good bikes but you can't get them warrentied easily in the states becasue there just so rare and not many people carry them." then they go on to to show me there "popular" line of Red Line bikes. Nothing against red line but really come on now. How do you say that about Surley and then try to sell me Red Line. I have other issues with this shop but this thread isn't to be about only them...

So across town now, at the other shop. First off, this is the shop I use for my current bike the few times I'm stomped and can't fix something or I need a part etc. Shop guys are all nice and I don't feel lied to. They have a 2011 GT Peace Tour. I was unfamiliar with this bike. I mean I know GT, but not the Peace Tour... or any of the GT line as of late. Heres the catch tho. The price on the GT is 925$, (or it was 975$ I don't remember honestly) That seems high for it. All be it all I got to go off of is few old internet posts about it. As far as I can tell the msrp is only 850$.

So basically I need to know if thats worth it? Cuz to me it seems like a higher than normal price on a last years canceled model. I mean true I'll get "life time adjustments" which I do on my own anyways. I'm supporting locally. Tho, I all ready do my part for my community. Course more never hurts... just feels like a kick in the butt to pay that high of price.

So can you convince me to pay extra at LBS or should I go Nashbar and/or Performance. I don't care what bike you think I should get only what purchasing route I should take.