Originally Posted by urbanknight
If an LBS has little reason to keep a part in stock even though local riders might install it themselves, a mechanic will have even less of a reason to have those parts lying around taking up space.
As a lot of people said here, LBS already don't stock a lot of them, so we are not loosing anything...
People who might install the part themselves, are going to buy it from the internet cause it's cheaper and (more importantly) choices are unlimited. Go to a site like this one, and there is plenty of information about compatibility, experiences, what-worked-what-not, etc...
If you can't install it yourself, check compatibility, order the part and mechanic will do the rest.
It worked nice for me. If I get a quote from LBS, I always get a quote with separate part price and labor price. After that it is my decision what to do. And if LBS gave me fair quote, they will be happy with any decision (help me either with part and labor, or labor only).