There seems to be a general understanding by most people on this forum that the bicycles supplied to big box stores aren't built to the same standards that bicycles supplied to independent bicycle shops are. Thats true but is usually price related. Most bicycles carried by bbs are less expensive and thats reflected in both the lower quality of the components and the lack of attention to build quality.

What may NOT be as immediately apparent is some of the QC issues that your local LBS has to correct or reject or otherwise deal with to maintain some kind of QC on behalf of the brand they're selling. Specifics?

Have personally rejected bicycles with the Brand name MISSPELLED; forks that were painted and installed on new bikes even though it was obvious that the forks were badly bent even BEFORE going through the painting process (not to mention the assembly and packing processes); bikes that were delivered with road shifters completely incompatible with the rear Dyna-sys derailleur and drivetrain; cranks and chainrings fully installed on bicycles but not threaded to accept pedals; and consistantly with mounting hardware too short to mount the reflectors that come with them.

And since its for some stupid reason too common for distributers to insist on saving a couple pennies by specing galvanized cables instead of stainless ones, and unlined housing instead of lined housing - I'd find it hard to believe they wouldn't opt to save a few dollars by not facing at least one side of the BB. After all - in a cartridge bb its only the fixed cup where facing might be critical. So it would make perfect sense to skip the other side since their warranty and liability is only restricted to original components.

Which would leave any facing issues resulting from component upgrades the responsibility of the consumer.

But thats just my opinion - if its your bike and you feel differently - by all means do whatever you want - I probably won't notice either. Cause I'll still be in Montreal


The only bikes I've absolutely NEVER seen an issue with are Argon 18's. Because those are individually assembled in the East of Montreal by factory techs before being boxed and delivered to dealers. as far as I know every other brand is at least partly assembled in some other country and boxed ready for delivery to dealers.