If you buy online it may well just come in a box and you have to fit it together yourself.

Nothing too hard, just handlebars, seat, wheels, check the brakes, check the forks. The benefit of a bike shop as far as I can see if if anything goes wrong (and occasionally there is a mistake when a bike is built) they will fix it for you there and then, they provide a bit of after care.

I've always bought my bikes second hand so I can't really offer much help, but my brother has appreciated the bike shop service he got. He took his bike in when the derailleur failed after a few months, and ended up the updated model of the same bike (worth more with some upgrades on it).

Posted By: jAC, Aug 19, 12:36:23