Originally Posted by
mark9950
Sounds like bike direct is worst than wal-mart.At least wal-mart builds them.
How do you think your new Trek shows up at the LBS?
Bikesdirect is a mail order bike company that mails you the bike the same as your LBS orders a Trek or Specialized and gets it. Heck they are even packaged almost identically.
The difference is you would never walk out of your LBS with it in the box, you are paying the bike and for the service of the building and configuration of the bicycle. If you can do that yourself and you are not a name brand freak and not someone who freaks out about how BD uses old names they bought, then you can save money with Bikesdirect.
That said I'm fairly new to biking, and there is something to be said for that LBS assistance. I bought a BD bike and had a whole bunch of problems, completely every one caused by my ignorance of bicycles (I work on cars, I figured how hard could it be?), and none due to the quality of the product. Once I figured it out, with help from here, a book I bought, and my LBS, AND BD's customer service, I have a damn good bicycle, learned a thing or two about them, AND saved a bunch of money.
Walmart bikes and BD bikes do not belong in the same sentence.