The best advise I hated to hear was to think about the whole biking thing as a package- you may not get a whole lot off the bike, but can do well on discounts for service and accessories that you're going to buy anyway: pump, shoes, clothing, tires/tubes, etc. Very often, all the stuff seems to cost more than the bike, when it's all said and done.

However, I still cringe when I see people get excited about receiving a fee water bottle or something. WTF is up with that?