Trek 7.3fx -- is this legit?
 

So, there's a Trek 7.3fx for sale near me--but the seller claims it's less than a year old, and I don't see this coloron trek's site. And the badging seems off.

http://i5.ebayimg.com/08/i/001/1c/56/af08_1.JPG

http://i24.ebayimg.com/07/i/001/1c/56/b674_1.JPG


Trek's site:
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/bike_path/fx/73fx/


It looks to me rather more like the 7.3 from **1998** !!! as shown in this picture:

http://www.blackbearbike.com/images/jackie_resized.jpg

Am I being paranoid, or is there something wrong here?

The 7.3FX has only been made since 2006.

As to the color, it's not unheard of for Trek to run an undocumented color. I bought a 2007 3700 MTB for my daughter that was purple/silver, and no one shows it available in that color.

http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2007/archive/73fx#

click "fathom duotone"

------

Why do you think that picture is from 1998? I thought the 7.X designation only went back a couple of years.

Right. And I don't see an actual FX on the top photo, you know? So I'm wondering if this is an oldish 7.3 someone is trying to pass of as a newish 7.3fx.


Maybe I am just being paranoid.

It looks just like my Trek 7.3FX that I just got a few weeks ago.
same color and all.
it's a 2008 model.

I attached a pic of mine. Not a good pic (that's why I've not posted it here yet), but it may help ya.

It's eBay, you have a right to be paranoid. My stolen tuba showed up there.

The "FX" in the top photo is a gray smudge, but it's there. Looks like an '07 model to me, like JeffS mentioned (or Caleab's own 7.3;)); could've been sitting around at the shop until it got bought this calendar year.

may be. I don't see anything wrong from what I see. Looks like JeffS nailed the year/color. It's entirely possible that the owner has had it a year'ish. I bought my Lemond 4 months ago and it was a leftover 2007.

-Roger

My girlfriend has a 2008 7.3FX just like the one in the OP's picture (though probably in a different size). The "FX" badging is non-obvious; it's in reverse, with the dark grey bit being the "background" to the "foreground" letters in the color of the paint (blue).

So what's the price of this gem?
(just curious... I have one now 8) )

I really enjoy the bike (but I've also started shopping for a xcross bike LOL).

OK, thanks for the reassurance.

I think I can get it for ~$300.

Does that seem like a good price?

That sounds pretty good, yeah. New, they're around $600 - $650, IIRC. I'm not saying that you shouldn't try and talk the other side down, but it's a pretty good price.

$300 for a year old bike that retails for $600? Yeah. that's a damn good deal. Take it...with both hands.

I have to ask this... but who the heck steals a tuba? It's not like you can put it in your pocket and walk out :lol::lol:

I have to hear the details on this one!

Make sure to include the shipping.
and yah.. that's a helluva deal if you can get it "to the door" at ~$300
I paid quite a bit more for mine.

"About my playing the tuba. Seems like a lot of fuss has been made about that. If, if a man's crazy just because he plays the tuba, then somebody'd better look into it, because there are a lot of tuba players running around loose." - Gary Cooper in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.

You asked for it... :lol:

Back in January of 2002, like a dumbass, or maybe because of my Great Plains upbringing and subsequent trust in others, I parked my Civic in the neighborhood at work and left the tuba in its case in the back; I was planning to use it at a tuba conference later that day.

Sometime that morning, I found out that it got stolen. One of my coworkers said that he was walking on that block, heard the sound of breaking glass, and turned to see three guys dragging the horn, case and all, out the driver's door and into their Escort. And, yup, they got away.

I filed a report with the police, giving them the brand, model, and serial numbers of the horn (one on the valve casing, another on the mouthpiece receiver), and a list of the stuff that was also in the case. I didn't hear anything from them -- disappointing since it was over $6000 of stuff altogether, but not surprising since there are always worse things happening here than tuba thefts. Thank goodness I don't use that instrument at work, though.

I also put the word out on Tubenet, a tuba & euphonium message board that I frequented, which reached fellow players around the world. I told them everything that I told the cops, so they knew what to keep an eye out for.

About a month later, one morning towards the end of preseason training in Arizona, I was told that one of the players in one of the DC bands found the horn on eBay. :eek:

This was cool -- one of the Tubenet members in Europe was browsing eBay and came across the horn, which had been posted no more than half an hour before. He posted the listing on Tubenet and said, "Remember that stolen tuba? I think this is it -- can someone check with Leland [me] about it?" Within another couple hours, other "Tubenetters" dug up the info that I gave and contacted eBay about the auction. When I called home to tell my mom and have her check (we didn't have access to a computer at the time), she looked for the listing and quietly exclaimed, in the way that my mom does when she knows what she's looking at, "Oh my God... This is it."

Even before my mom could contact them, the auction got pulled -- the other guys from Tubenet got to it first and had it taken down. By the end of the morning, and before my cell phone battery ran out, I arranged for the cops to go to the shop and retrieve it, and for one of our guys back in DC to pick it up and bring it home.

It was listed by a pawn shop in Prince George's County, across the river from DC. To legally take it back, the PG County cops had to get it, formally hand it over to DC police, and it was then given to us. They did all that in the parking lot at the shop, so it was nice and quick. Our guy called me later to tell me about the pickup and said, "Yup, it's safe and sound, out in my car.." :lol:

The shop paid the thieves five hundred bucks for it. The auction had a Buy It Now price of $5600, which was right about market value. Their usual policy was to wait for thirty days before posting pawned goods online, which explained the month-long wait. And, yes, PG County has probably the worst crime reputation around here.

Here's the threads at the old Tubenet BBS:
http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/jan2...ges/83076.html
http://www.chisham.com/tips/bbs/feb2...ges/86767.html

What a day that was. The stickers that were on the case had been torn off (not all of the United Airlines stickers would come off, though), and everything was still in the case -- tuner, metronome, cleaning kit, and four mouthpieces in another case. There were no dents in the horn (no new ones, anyway :o), but there were smudges, and even the tuning slides were in the same positions I had left them.

That is also exactly what mine looks like. Really lovely shade of blue that shifts from dark to light depending on how the light hits it.

If you got the photo from http://www.blackbearbike.com/photos98.html then the 98 in the url is probably not the year since number starts at 71.

BarracksSI, thanks. That's one for the books isn't it?

-Roger

Interesting tuba story. Did you have to pay the pawn shop $500 to get it back, though, or was it free since it was stolen?

Yeah, one for the books -- it really couldn't have gone any smoother than it did.

100% free to get it back, too. The shop was out five hundred bucks.

That's definetly a 2008 model. I came across one at the shop a few months ago but I got the "white" 2008 FX 7.3. That color has been replaced by a dark blue in the 2009.

Not that it matters too much, but that last photo of the lady holding the supposed 1998 bike is not correct. That bike is either an '07 or '08 as well.

As long as you are over 6 ft tall (that is the 22" L/XL model), the bike sounds like a great buy

Now this makes me wonder is it possible to use say a NYFU chain or such to lock up a tuba? I mean you'd have to sew your own chain cover to keep it from scratching the thing. I've had exposure to the tuba in JHS before. OH MY GAWWWWWDDDD my lips are still tingling from the buzzing our teacher made us do over and over again before even playing that instument. Same deal with the trumpet but still a good exposure cause there were some NIIIIIICEEEEE girls in band class in the clarienets and string intruments you got to pair up with. :) :) :) :love: :thumb: Ah... good music class memories. ;)

I'll never listen to the Vaughan Williams concerto again without thinking of this story. Thanks. :)