Originally Posted by twahl
95% of bikes can be assembled out of the box without any problem for anybody that can read and has a basic mechanical aptitude. Of course my experience building literally hundreds of bikes may make it seem that way to me, but on the other hand, I've talked to a lot of people that build bikes up for a living, and half of what they tell you gets done so thoroughly is crap. I think you'd be better off building it yourself, adjust things as you find them, ask questions if you run into trouble, and maybe taking it in for a basic tune up after about 6 months.
I don't buy this. It really depends on the shop. $30 seems ridiculously low for a bike build. Yes I work at a bike shop assembling bikes as well. We do a VERY thorough job assembling it. We true all the wheels, check hubs, check bb. check EVERYTHING.
If you have any doubts about assembling a bike from a box yourself or about assembling something - let the LBS do it for you. Find the right LBS as well. It is NOT as simple as assembling an IKEA book case. You risk serious injury if you have no idea what the eff you are doing and assemble a bike and cruise down a hill at 50kph.