Is a Canyon mountain bike worth it compared to buying from a local shop?

Across r/MTB, r/CanyonBikes and specialist publications like nsmb.com and singletracks.com, the consensus is that Canyon's direct-to-consumer model gets you noticeably better components for the money than equivalent shop bikes, with the trade-off that you handle assembly, sizing and warranty service yourself. Reviewers stress that this is a great deal for confident riders and a worse deal for first-timers who'd benefit from a shop relationship.