Broctoon,

Trek has gone the way of corporate America. Meaning, they have a "process" they have to follow for everything. This slows everything down and makes them less efficient than a small shop. Granted the Covid issues have dictated some of this but not all of the goofy process overhead they have.

I don't think that Trek has an "elitist" attitude. My local Trek store is pretty good but I rarely buy anything from them except spray solvent. It's more of a corporate attitude where process and procedure run the business. It has to with a company that big.

Performance got to that same state before they imploded. Small shops are the way to go; however, I strongly recommend that you tune your own bikes and leave warranty work for the Trek store.. That way you control the quality and cost.