Saw this bike on Craigslist. It is listed as 75 dollars. Poster claims to be an apartment complex, and that a former renter left this behind. They didnt post any real details. I know very little about road bikes (I am a mountain biker who commutes to work on an old steel trek road bike). Just looking at the wheels and spokes, it looks to be the best deal i have ever seen. The spokes look like they are bladed like the ones that are on my friends' nice road bikes e.g. manvic ksyrium etc. Are there any other indications that if this turns out not to be scam, and trust me I am on major scam alert with this one, that the bike is really nice. Even if it isn't my size, I am sure I can find a local rider who could benefit from this deal once I buy it. Anyway, give it a look and let me know what you think.
Is there anything that stands out about this bike
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41,745 Posts
yeah, get over there quick.
The ad posted at 12:50, I responded by 1:10. I left my phone number and told them I had the money and I am ready to buy. I am just waiting on a response. I am feeling really nervous now. I hope to god this is just some idiot who does not know what he/she has. I wish I would not have bike commuted today, so I could just play a little hooky from work, and go get it if they call me soon. I guess I could always cab it if it ends up being the real deal.
I agree with you Kuma, that this just seems too fishy. Someone left a nice bike behind. It is posted for well less than it should be. The picture is just blurry enough, and just angled enough not to be able to make out any branding. Yet, anyonw who knows bikes can tell the bike appears to have a nice wheelset. The bike even looks like it might be titanium. Even though I feel 90% sure I am going to get an email back asking me for my credit car info, or someone telling me to meet them in the projects, I can't help but get my hopes up.
Another thought is that it might be stolen. Normally when somoene comes around trying to sell a nice second hand bike to the LBS I frequent, they call around all the shops that sell that bike and check the serial number againsts the shops sales records. If I get the feeling it is stolen, I will probably still buy it, and do that.
I agree with you Kuma, that this just seems too fishy. Someone left a nice bike behind. It is posted for well less than it should be. The picture is just blurry enough, and just angled enough not to be able to make out any branding. Yet, anyonw who knows bikes can tell the bike appears to have a nice wheelset. The bike even looks like it might be titanium. Even though I feel 90% sure I am going to get an email back asking me for my credit car info, or someone telling me to meet them in the projects, I can't help but get my hopes up.
Another thought is that it might be stolen. Normally when somoene comes around trying to sell a nice second hand bike to the LBS I frequent, they call around all the shops that sell that bike and check the serial number againsts the shops sales records. If I get the feeling it is stolen, I will probably still buy it, and do that.
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7,191 Posts
So verrrrrrrrrry shady...
Meet in a very public space. If they ask you to come to their place, do the transaction out on the street. Bring a big friend. Leave your valuables at home. Take your driver's license, cash and that's it. Keep your car close by.
Prepare to lose $75 when the police tell you it was stolen.
Meet in a very public space. If they ask you to come to their place, do the transaction out on the street. Bring a big friend. Leave your valuables at home. Take your driver's license, cash and that's it. Keep your car close by.
Prepare to lose $75 when the police tell you it was stolen.
The bike appears to have a smaller front wheel, which suggests a custom built frame. Based on the size of frame and small front wheel, I'm guessing it was built for a small woman. However, given how high the seat has been raised, a far taller person has been riding the bike than for whom the bike was built. I'd betcha this is a stolen bike, which ought to be easily reunited with it's owner via the frame maker and the serial number.
I saved the ad. If it ends up being stolen and I can reunite the original owner with the bike, I will still be overjoyed (maybe not as much though). It would make me sick if my FS mountain bike was stolen and sold for 75 bucks. The only problem is that if someone was careless enough to leave it behind or got evicted, it would still seem stolen. I guess if they were that careless or that broke, I should still feel joy over the reunion of bike and owner. I will give an update if I hear from the person today. If I don't hear from them tomorrow, I will also post back that my efforts were in vain.RHankey said:
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2,392 Posts
This could be a scam but then again, it might not be. I bought a 2007 carbon fiber Giant TCR w/ Ultegra from some guy off Craigslist back in February for $750. He had just closed escrow on a house and needed the bike gone. I kept it for two days, then turned around and sold it for $1,200- within 2 hours of posting it on Craigslist. In April of this year, I also had the luxury of purchasing a 2004 steel-framed Fuji Club LE w/ Tiagra components for $150- also on Craigslist. I rode that for a week and sold it for $350. There are awesome deals out there so don't pass this up. Just make sure that it's legitimate.
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216 Posts
Bring some friends, expect a scuffle...
Btw, who would forget their 3-4K ti bike? Ah crap, forgot my ti bike... ah [email protected]# it, I don't need it.
Btw, who would forget their 3-4K ti bike? Ah crap, forgot my ti bike... ah [email protected]# it, I don't need it.
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5,480 Posts
You beat my deal. $850 for a 2006 here.terbennett said:
But OP, you've got two choices: throw your morals out the window, or forget you saw that post.
I say if the window isn't "too high off the ground", do it bro. You can always pick things (your morals) back up by making the effort to hunt down the owner.
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3,126 Posts
There have been enough threads in other forums about selling stolen items on CL. The owners and friends will scout them to find the goods. One of the forums I'm on, the owner tracked his items, informed the cops and during the meet, the guy was arrested. He got his parts back and the bad guy got a free ride in a B&W car to the local "inn".
Sounds too good to be true...highly likely.
Sounds too good to be true...highly likely.
I had a weird craiglist experience for something that seemed too good to be true. This guy had posted some old steel frames that he wanted to get rid of. I emailed and he said that he had them and that i could just pick them up. I kept trying to ask when and where but he would never tell me, he just kept stringing it along. I finally just gave up. After that, I started getting a lot of spam emails after that and I think there was a connection but who knows.
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