i worked at my lbs for the entire summer, i learned so much. i was lucky enough to have a co worker with all of the knowledge in the world about bikes. he use to race mtb. my boss was cool so i got everything at wholesale and just had to pay shipping charges. maybe youll be that lucky. just dont let putting 250000 trek 4500's together turn you off to it all. oh, and the factories dont true wheels for anything! that gets annoying.