Originally Posted by
unterhausen
I'm sure they are. The thing I have noticed is that online prices are very close to the price I get from my lbs unless it's something the online place got surplus somehow. Since I get a fairly large discount from my lbs, I always save money going through them. If they can't make money with my normal discount, they let me know and charge me more.
A well managed shop with decent volume gets free shipping on a lot of stuff, so that's not a concern.
Good point, surplus sellers like Random Bike Parts will get some smokin' deals sometimes if it just so happens they have the one thingy you need but yeah, the full catalog sites like Nashbar and Jensen USA, usually within a trivial margin.