I just bought my first road bike, and my LBS is great so far. The owner took me for a 20 mile ride on the bike I was looking at before I bought it. I didn't have any bike shoes to go with the pedals, and he doesn't stock many because it is kind of a small market. Anyway, it turns out his display pair of Specialized road shoes fit me, so he let me have them. That's right, Freebie (zip, zero, nada........).

He also does overnight turn arounds on repairs at no extra charge. He's closed on Sundays, but he is meeting some friends of mine this Sunday at his shop to let them test ride some bikes because they just can't seem to get in during his normal hours. I'm sure if you were going to a ride/race and broke something after hours the day before, he would meet you at the shop to get you fixed up. Mailorder shops couldn't do that if they wanted to.

He's also letting me try out seats 'till I find one I like.

One last nice thing is that on Thursday evenings there is a pretty big casual ride that starts at his shop.