It's always annoying to find the thing you just bought cheaper online, but at least you can feel all nice inside about supporting your LBS. Probably. I'm usually happy to pay a bit of a premium if deciding what to buy involves getting decent advice from a shop bloke, cos it's only fair, and if everyone picked the shop's brains and ordered online there'd soon be no more shops to ask at. However, for 'consumables' and stuff where you already know what you need, IMO it's fair play to buy where it's cheapest. I bought a
pair of Continental GP4000S tyres for £50 on
ebay the other day, then whilst I was perusing the local bike shop for a bottle cage, I saw the same tyres for £40
each! Well, I'm glad I didn't pay £30 over the odds for a pair of tyres. Bought the bottle cage from the shop though.