General Cycling Discussion - Craigslist Bike Buying.

What to look at in a craigslist bike? Just about everyone on their claims to have "hardly" have ridden them. Cassette wear?

The other option besides a used bike is a guy selling a bunch of these CAAD9-7 http://nashville.craigslist.org/bik/1667098206.html. I don't like the components but for the money difference between this and the 9-4 I could buy the 9-7 for the frame and upgrade it.

Looks like he got and posted the specs from the manufacturer's website. --> Crank FSA, Vero, 39/53 Option: FSA, Vero Triple, 30/39/50
Is it a double (39/53)or a triple (30/39/50)? :lol:
If it sounds too good to be true then give the bike a really good visual inspection and take a good long test ride over smooth and rough road conditions.

CL sellers are ALWAYS hiding something. its worth a risk for low end bikes - not sure I'd drop big money on a mystery bike without a warranty

I recently bought a higher end Bike from an out of town CL seller. Having no one locally in that city (1500 miles away) to check out the bike pre-purchase, I contracted the services of a young lady running an errand service. Her husband was a BMW Tech and accompanied her to examine the Bike brfore I made the purchase. . He checked the Gears out and general overall condition of the Bike and based on his opinion, I bought the Bike. They then delivered the Bike to a Bike shop in that city of my choice who dis-assembled and boxed it and then took it to a nearby UPS Drop Center for shipping. A few days later the Bike arrived without a Hitch and in good shape. I was very satisfied with this method in which I bought this Bike from an out of town CL Seller and would recommend it to others. The Errand service raised the price of the Bike approx $100 but was well worth it as I received a very nice Bike at a good price. FWIW, I posted an Ad here on BF for someone in that city to check out the Bike for me but got no responders.

BTW having sold Bikes on eBay and CL locally, I can verify personally I had nothing to hide on my sales and never once had a complaint from a buyer who purchased a bike from me. Some sellers may have a hidden agenda...But not all

an errand service? I never heard of such a thing. elaborate?

an errand service? I never heard of such a thing. elaborate?

Errand/Concierge Service(s) are small businesses operating in most of your major US Cities that exist for people who cannot or do not have the time to do everything needed to do in their personal lives either by choice or lack of time. They do a lot of things for example like Bill paying, walking a Dog, running your stuff to a dry cleaner, waiting in line to purchase tickets ect. In my case of needing someone to check out this potential bike purchase, it was a last ditch effort at buying as the seller did NOT want to help me out by getting involved with taking the bike to a LBS in her area, taking it to a shipper ect. Her being a non eBay type of person(which I am) and not used to selling to out of towners, I belive she thought an out of town buyer was probably some type of scam artist and would only deal with a local buyer. I understand her caution so I took the Errand service route on this last purchase. The link I put up below is not a link to the Company I used but one of the first that showed up on a Google service I did. Not only was I impressed by the Service this company provided, it has given me an idea to start such a business myself as I see a need in my area and I already involved in a related type service myself . Google Errand Service and you'll get a ton of Hits.

http://www.myerrandservice.com/Personal.htm