I really did not wish to end up scrapping out the one bike, it was meant to be a regular commuter. Very few items on the scrapped bike were worth keeping, and to add insult to injury, half of those items would not fit any other bike that I had.

**Fist-Bump for Schwinn Racer** I have the Black version from that same year, and also just got the 2013 version from America's Bike Company (though it's still being assembled with more desirable/less hipster-ish parts). my favorite style of bike, love it.

I bought a Motobecane Fantom Comp 29er a few weeks ago, with the intention of doing my own upgrades to have the bike I want at my target price, which was $1200. Swapped the RockShox fork for a Manitou Tower Pro (+$290 after selling RS on eBay), and the the Truvativ FiveD crankset for a Shimano SLX (+$110 after selling the Truvativ on eBay). Swapped in Shimano PD-525's, Ergon grips, and a WTB Valcon saddle, and bingo, my bike at my price.

I will say that the OP sounds too inexperienced mechanically to receive and properly assemble and check a BD bike. EVERYTHING needs to be gone over. Hubs adjusted, cable housings shortened (in some cases), seatpost and headset interfaces greased, fasteners checked, spoke tension checked and rims trued, etc. These are not the jobs for someone with no bike troubleshooting and repair experience.

But, I wouldn't hesitate one bit to buy a bike from BD if I needed one. PG

I'm all for supporting the local economy, but I don't really believe in this support your LBS for every single biking need. My LBS owner is a super nice guy, but he didn't sell the bike I wanted. When I found another bike shop that did in a reasonable location near where I live, I thought the guy was ok but definitely could of been nicer and more helpful to someone dropping over $1200. So now do I have to feel awkward bringing a bike to the nice guy at my LBS that I didn't buy there, or go miles out of the way to the bike shop I bought it at, that barely gave me average service? Here is something that's worth a lot to me....my time. My point is, don't feel obligated to support your LBS because people tell you to, do it because you want to.

I love my new Tricross but looking at what I paid for it, the components it has vs what's available at BD for almost half the price, I will tell you all my future bikes will most likely come from BD.

Take it to the good guy. You obviously have done a good bit of business with him and I'd bet he won't get upset about it. I have built bikes from scratch and bought Bikes Direct bikes and from other shops but I take all of them to my guys here in town and they fix or adjust anything I take to them. Heck when I bought the Winsdor Tourist from BD I took it up to them to true the wheels and I told them to adjust anything that looked like it needed it. They adjusted the brakes and that was about. I buy a lot of stuff from then so its not a problem

Before I went to the dark side, I was considering a bike from BD. I had talked to one of the guys about it at the LBS and was planning on bringing it to them to build. They would still make some money on the bike (possibly not that much less than if they sold me one) and they'd have a happy customer.

I would suggest that you drive to the nearest city and go to a quality bike shoppe, talk with the staff, and see if there is a bike there that interests you, or you may get lucky with a used machine.

Buying online when you lack in-depth knowledge of models and your own preferences, is really setting yourself up for a disappointment, not to mention the issue of correct fit.