I think all of us started out low budget and buying things from Nashbar, Performance, as well as used. Once you get out of debt, hopefully you've been riding your budget stuff for a while and know what you want and like and can appreciate the service from a good bike shop.

Anyway, that's how it's turned out for me. And if you can swing the cost differential, there is often the added bonus of being able to skip waiting for shipping and fluidly handling returns and problems which inevitably crop up. If I were you, buy the bike from wherever you can find a convergence of needs and price point, and if you need service which you cannot do yourself (or is too much trouble), go to your local shop for that. They make most of their money on service anyway.