I think you are exactly right and in fact with them not having it in stock how exactly is that different than buying from BikesDirect? Oh yea you will pay way more for less bike.

I currently have 5 bikes. 2 from eBay, one from here one I got as a gift (purchased from a LBS in Austin), and one I got from my LBS. In the past 14 months I have purchased 2 $2k bikes form my LBS (sold one when I got the gift). And one of the eBay bikes just cost my LBS a sale...but they still treat me very well and they do get my attention when buying anything...I go there first, but if they can't deliver what I want for a reasonable price (I will pay more than internet pricing but only to a point) I go straight to the net.

Case in point, I needed pedals for the fixie I just got off of eBay. LBS said they wanted $90 plus tax for pedals I can get from PBK for $40 shipped...LBS didn't get that sale. I needed a Garmin GSC-10 cadance sensor for another bike I just built (happens to be a BD frame FWIW) and my LBS again wanted $90 for it...froogle found it for $42 shipped, again the LBS looses. I also needed a chain...my LBS didn't have the one I wanted in stock but their price was close enough to the net so I had them order it even though I could have saved a couple of bucks and gotten it faster off of the net (they order on Mondays and receive on Thursday from QBP and I had them order it on a Wed so nearly a week when I could have had it in a day).

Point being I support the LBS whenever I can...but I am not going to order/buy something from them just because they are there with no regard to what I can get it from otherwise.