okay, well recently i bought a shogun kaze TT bike. posted a little thread over in road bikes: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=503387 (i've since adjusted the stem to the proper height, was above max height when i picked it up: http://i437.photobucket.com/albums/q...ze/stemfix.jpg )

I paid 220, probably too much, but it was a fun ride and the Davis bike market is pretty good so i figured i could sell it for 200 if i got tired of it and i'd only be out 30 bucks (20 dollar difference and 10 dollars gas to pick it up)

well, that's until i flipped the bike over to oil the chain, and i notice the serial number is missing. not that it wasn't stamped on, but that someone decided to chisel or grind it out... I didn't think to look for this while buying because frankly I wasn't expecting to need to, and i was more concerned about making sure all of the parts were working fine and dandy.

it doesn't seem to be structurally unsound, and that bit of rust seems to be just on the surface. i plan on scratching the rust off with a wire brush and brushing some clear nail polish over it tomorrow to protect it.

so i guess my question is if anybody has an idea as to why somebody would do this? is it stolen goods? is the resale value now totally killed?

here's a picture:


oh, and i'm working on finding a new saddle, i know this one is as hideous as it is uncomfortable. every minute on that saddle makes it feel like i'm getting punched in the taint.