If it were my bike, the answer to all of those questions would be me. As it is for all my bikes.

The whole bike shop vs. chain store question has been debated a ton of times on here. It all comes down to what people are comfortable with. I posted the bike because I was surprised to see a bike with reasonable components at costco and because it's cheaper than the equivalent trek, giant, or specialized that people often post. It's probably cheaper than performance bicycle, as well. We quite often tell people on here that to get the most bang for their buck, they should buy used off craigslist or ebay - all of those bike shop services don't come with a used bike either. Around here, fittings and servicing aren't complimentary most of the times when you buy a bike from a bike shop, you pay extra for it - just like you do when you bring a bike you bought elsewhere to the bike shop.