I never had any particularly great or helpful experience at a bike shop. One guy was nice enough to sell me tire levers for the advertised price which was probably too expensive but there you go. Young guy at his shop actually did a good job simply by not saying anything and seeming disinterested and bored that he had to be in the upstairs room when a customer was there. That's the good experience. Other salesmen tell you the most basic stuff that you already read on the website. But really what else do they have to go off of or to know. Some people may not have any idea about this or that bike and need that type of help. People on any forum this forum some suggest are at least a little more dedicated knowledgeable and thoughtful than the average person by virtue of us spending time here talking about it, though it doesn't always seem the case that we're the cream of the crop. Yes, we're all probably smarter than people working for minimum wage in bike shops who by virtue of nature of the work would not be able to afford their own bikes on that salary. I also suspect many of the lbs owners/ workers/ manufacturers make up some amount of the commentators here. I suspect they're the ones casually asking whats the best this or that to buy. So they have some love for the lbs/ want to promote them. More so getting service or preferential treatment (if they give some guy preferential treatment then what does that say about the rest of their customers) but the heart of why people say lbs lbs is better is because it's the boutique professional gear. You say lbs lbs because that means you are for real. You're not out buying toy bikes or inferior equipment. Good and bad with that and the best way to take advantage of you. but is My best guess on lbs love. My 1st time walking into one I was angered by the prices and in other trips was never overly impressed with service anywhere.