I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that the deal needs to be satisfactory for both parties. You need to give them something in return for what they give you. Maybe buy a few more accessories than you were planning on, or refer somebody there, or let them know you plan on getting another bike down the road and you'd like to buy it from them also. There are a lot of ways to do it, but I prefer to keep things friendly as opposed to trying to "hardball" them.


When I was looking at buying a mtb last year, I talked to one shop in November and asked what kind of deal they could give me on the 2006 models since the 2007 were coming out soon. They told me they couldn't move the price at all. I promptly left and went to another store. When I asked the same question, they gave me a couple of different offers about how to save a bit of money. For that reason alone I'll never go back to store #1. I only saved about 10% at the second store, but it wasn't about the money - it was about a show of goodwill.