Purchased or stolen?


Raleigh CL has deals about 2-3 x a month. I've seen STI (Sora) bikes for $150-$200 quite often, and an 8-sp Colnago was offered for $150. By the time the buyer got there, it was up to $300 due to phone calls. Still, a buy.

You have to scroll a lot, because the handful of flippers tends to dominate on the days they update their listings. We have a self-appointed bike Nazi who flames regularly on one flipper, and it's obvious by now it's personal, because the flipper is a decent guy and sells decent bikes with a 1-year warranty, and negotiates his prices.

By and large, the people are decent, the buyers will meet you and many sellers will, too. We really don't see too many sellers who are completely clueless about their bikes. Maybe 1/5. The other 4/5 either know their stuff or google it to find out.

I did get a pretty good deal on a set of 10-sp Eurus and 10-sp Vento Reactions, with cassettes, a chain, and ProRace2's mounted, because the seller was "not a Campy guy." He had a P3C, Look 585, and his wife had a Look, all set up with SRAM.

We don't get outright screaming deals like Thrifty Bill out west. I think he uses the Force on some of those buyers, and roccobike was the undisputed king of the deal here. Yard sales and just plain staying on top of things netted him some great buys, but not that often from CL.