Quote Originally Posted by Catriona View Post
Not to start anything here - but, you guys are sort of giving performance a bad rap, and painting a rosy picture of local bike shops. Not that there aren't very rosy local bike shops out there, but they're not all like that. And I'm sure somewhere there's a rosy performance bike shop out there. There's plenty of stories of people who've bought bikes at local bike shops that didn't fit or had something wrong, and the bike shop wasn't willing to work with them or fix it. Look at how many threads on here about being ignored or whatever at local bike shops because you're female or overweight.

I bought my first real bike at a local bike shop, and it didn't fit. I was steered towards the bike, and yeah, maybe I should have known better - but I didn't at the time, and I was assured that this was the bike that fit me. Maintenance - they threw in one tune up after a month for cable stretch and after that you could buy their maintenance contract.... One of the guys here at work recently bought a pretty expensive mountain bike (full suspension, higher end components ) from a local bike shop, and they refused to give any fit advice or suggestions if he didn't pay the extra $200 or whatever for a pro bike fit... He could test ride the bikes and decide on his own. The bike he bought has ended up being too big for him. Read craigslist and see how many bikes that are being sold that start off with "I bought this bike at my local bike shop, but it doesn't fit & they won't allow me to exchange"

Performance does offer lifetime free adjustments on their bikes and does give a 100% satisfaction guarantee so that you can return your bike to them and get your money back at any time.

So if you have a great local bike shop and are completely certain of the fit of the avail, local bike shop prices are probably worth it... Scattantes aren't bad frames or bikes either especially when you're talking about the sora componentry level.
Thats why you do your research!!!
I am a female lbs owner who happens to be on the chubby side. So guess how we treat EVERYONE who walks in the door?? Like cyclists- or potential cyclists worthy of our time and respect.
I do agree that it's not always the case out here. But being a small business owner myself I always try to give the little guy my biz first. Be it hardware, or a sandwhich. It is VERY HARD for the little guy to survive and fight the price cutting the big guys are able to do. So anytime you can throw a bone to a small shop- and they EARN THE BONE- please do it.
I have a story about a guy named "Jimmy" that maybe I'll post sometime.