Originally Posted by
mdilthey
You've just perfectly highlighted the problem. Short-term, your way is ideal.
Long-term, the loss of a LBS will mean less people will own and use bikes, which will reduce the amount of people riding in your area. This will slowly eliminate cycling clubs, and it will be much harder to get bike lanes maintained in your town (or create them, if they aren't already there). The used parts market will dry up, and good advice for complex problems will be harder and harder to find as mechanics switch careers. Drivers will stop paying as much attention to cyclists as they are less and less present on the road, making it a lot less safe to ride around.
Is it likely that the entire cycling world will collapse? Of course not. Is there a possibility that you will feel the ripple effects of Shimano's decision? Absolutely. And I think that's a shame when there's an alternative close at hand.
Just because you CAN have something at a certain cost, doesn't mean it's smart or sustainable to do so.
Call me selfish, but it is not important to me whether a particular LBS adapts and survives or closes their doors forever. And promoting the expansion of cycling or not is not my mission in life. I just want to get out there and ride. The smart LBSs have large online sales departments and compete with other online-only sellers. The idea of supporting your local economy has pretty much gone out the window. The reason is, that people don't want to pay the middleman a large fee for selling them something. The groupset I just purchased was from a LBS in Oregon and will arrive by UPS tomorrow (free shipping). If I could even find it locally, calling and driving around to several stores, paying sales tax and full retail, I would be out probably $300 extra. No thanks.