i just told my parents i spent $300 on my new '06 trek pilot 2.1... and they bought it...! so i can vouch that this method works... just tell them u were gonna buy a $1000 bike, but decided to buy a new one that was marked down and that its 2 yr old stock... since they seem to know so little about bikes, they wont know the difference between 02 or an 06...! keep us posted.