When I was learning to cook, I learned that cooking wine was salted to keep the alchohol dependent kitchen help from drinking on the job.

I thought that Portlandia was the land of tolerance of all things, no?

No. Portlandia is the land where people feel the need to label ketchup as vegan and gluten free. It is good ketchup though.

I think passive-aggressive more than tolerant... the whole of the Pac NW seems to be a weird balance of tolerance and nanny-statism. Portlandia seems to nail these themes quite well, that ****e is reality-tv, not a parody.

The high price nannies are one thing, the bikes that are borderline scams are another. You see bikes up that are basically looking to take advantage of a sucker. Those people need to get a life-time ban.

Regardless of the price you list at you'll get dozens of offers of will you take $X-$100.

The funniest ones are the Bikes Direct listings for MORE than you can buy the same bike for from BD.

I think a lot of these people are not so much greedy, as clueless.

I once saw an ad for a Firenze 5000, which the local electronic discount place used to give away when you bought a car stereo in the early '80s... pieces of junk were all over the Bay Area. Guy wanted about as much as a decent entry level slightly used road bike. I wrote and asked him for some specific information like what the tubing decal said and if the components were original... like it was maybe some collectible gem. He got a little excited and then I busted his bubble.

I see no reason to exile people trying to score big on a sale. I live in harmony with casinos every day.

I bought an oversized entry level Centurion with broken road pedals and rear hub for 200$ as my first bike. The Vietnam vet sold it to me without informing of size or the pedals. He may or may not have known of these things when he sold them to me. I am not upset that I got "ripped" off by this old veteran because I now WANT to find the best deals when I do look for a bike to purchase.

I scored a Bianchi Grizzly Celeste from its original owner for 90$

I do not look down upon ignorance.

I agree with the others. If OP is going to whine about being policed, then he needs to share the model and price with us and let us decide if it's fair or a rip-off. Out with it...

There's definitely an aspect of buyer beware on craigslist. The ones I object to are where the seller is deliberately mis-representing a bike. Things like where the component list and description don't match the actual components on the bike, because someone stripped the good stuff.

The reason I object is that a craigslist bike is where many people get their first exposure to a road bike. The LBS shows them a $700 bike, they decide its way more than they want to spend. Then they go on craigslist and spend $300 on a bike that immediately needs another $300 worth of repairs. Pretty similar to your experience really...Its pretty discouraging.

Its very hard to get someone started cycling now. Send them to a LBS and its $700+, but craigslist is like sending a newbie into the woods to face the wolves armed with a butter knife.

This is precisely why I sometimes try to cool down the enthusiasm for responses of "buy used" whenever one of those "which bike should I get" posts pop up around here. Buying used can be a great deal if someone knows specifically what they want or what something is worth and how much it'll cost to get to whatever condition they consider acceptable, but buying used can be an expensive disaster for a newbie who doesn't have knowledgeable, helpful people to help them out in person.

When someone asks where to find a bike, we usually post some links to bikes in their area. Sizing is the real issue. Spending 100$ on a full bike won't need 300$ worth of repairs regardless of how bad it is. As long as we help the newbie out by telling them important things to look for, we can make their purchase more confident.

I recommend newbies use Craigslist. I explain that there's some great bargains to be found there, but there's also a lot of overpriced junk. So they know right off the bat that they have to be patient, and that they should have me, or someone else familiar with bikes, take a look at something before they buy it. And I make sure they realize that they are probably going to want to change a thing or two (e.g., saddle, tires, grips) immediately (not unlike a new bike), and it will probably need a tuneup. It still ends up being much cheaper than buying new.

I bought my bike off of CL years ago in early December from a guy who said he'd fixed it up for his son and the son didn't want it. I came out to look at it and paid him the asking price in cash after asking him some questions about whether it would be a good bike for a guy who hadn't riden since college. I think he was kind of surprised he didn't have to wait longer to sell it and that he got his asking price without any haggling. And after riding it for almost 9 years I still think I got a good deal.

I have sold a quite a few bikes in the last couple years (>20) and I can only think of one instance (though there may be a couple I'm forgetting about) where somebody who actually took the time to come look at one of my bikes offered me something less than my asking price. I think people tend to be pleasantly surprised by the condition of the bikes and how nice they ride and realize the price is usually fair. The one time somebody did offer me a lower price I said no and he decided to buy it anyway at my asking price. However, after he paid me I gave him $5 back just to be a nice guy, rounded it off from $165 down to an even $160.00. I have also never had somebody come look at a bike and not buy it.

On the other side of the coin, I have recently taken to just paying full asking price for the bikes I buy as well. If I want it and it's a good (or fair) deal I would rather not haggle over a few bucks.

The last bike I bought off CL was a pleasant experience. The bike was in excellent shape and the price was lower than most CL junkers so I didn't haggle. I pulled the money out of my pocket to pay and the guy took $10 off the price.

The guy I bought mine from had basically replaced all the wear parts and the wheels as well as done a complete tune up on it. And the 23" frame fit me too. We spent some time going over what he'd done and he seemed to be glad I appreciated what he did. I don't think I could do that well for $125 again.

Ask whatever you want for your bike, OP. Don't let the freedom hating Commies win!

http://i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...50/411/103.jpg

Put a bird on it and double your asking price!

Sometimes I just want to get rid of something and I'll list it at a low ball price to speed the process. Other times I want to try and get the most I can within reason. I'm not interested in cheating anybody. Either way I'm always honest about what it is I'm selling and will indicate any issues it might have.

The only time I've gotten a response from the craigslist police was when I was listing a year old hand built wheel with a Nexus 8 hub. They thought that it was outrageous that I wasn't including the shifter and that no one in their right mind would buy it. I replied that I was getting another Shimano 8 speed hub and needed the shifter. Besides it was one I got specifically for drop bars and it would very likely not work for whoever bought the wheel anyway.

They wouldn't hear it and insisted that I should either include the shifter or drop the price $100. ;) I sold it to someone else the next day and I was delighted to inform the "police" that the wheel had sold when they later emailed me offering me $75 less than asking price.

Ahh.. the bikes section of Craigslist. In our market it is a depressing and hopeless sea of bike floatsam. Almost every posting is for an overpriced, obsolete rusted-out, worn out POS that would cost more to fix than it is worth. Most recent used bikes are listed at higher than mail-order. The problem is CL is that because the transaction costs are so low, the same low-lifes post the same crap over and over hoping for a sucker. We see the same pathetic bikes listed weekly - for years.

I am not in the market for a $500 Apollo bike (that is a joke..) but look for recent high-end product. Even there, there are extreme risks. Most of the stuff that I see is subtley damaged, or recalled, or are pirated fakes. Examples:

• Most of the used high-end wheelsets had some impact damage that was difficult to impossible to true out. Hence the sale..
• I bought a set of race wheels in which the skewers were found to be major safety hazard and were recalled.
• High-end brand-name carbon stems, forks and seatposts are now showing up - most of these are fakes
• Carbon Pinarello frames - fakes. I only buy these from a authorized outlet.

I have bought a few bike things off CL, but always heavily discounted, knowing of the inevitable problems to come. Recent examples:

• A used Alpha-Q carbon fork. After initial prep, the steerer tube on these cannot be cut. After pointing out to the seller the extreme safety and legal liability issues of selling this fork to the wrong buyer, I got if for one quarter of the of the quoted price.
• A tubular wheelset. The tires had not been reglued in the last year. Similar safety and liability risks. The seller almost begged me to take these rather than sell to some newbie who would kill themselves riding them.

Your experience with CL is obviously vastly different than mine, or many people on this forum for that matter. But like anything you buy, whether new or used, it's the buyers' responsibility to know what he's buying, buyer beware, as the saying goes. You understand that there is no warranty or returns when you buy, but you also know that because it's a used item without warranty that you are getting a steep discount versus buying new. That is the risk that you, as the buyer, take. If you don't like it, then buy new.

I have bought and sold tons of things on CL and Kjijij. I am always upfront with the buyer with my own items, and I felt that the sellers with whom I've dealt have always been upfront and honest with me. To paint such a broad stroke of negativity about sellers is unfair, and frankly very close-minded. Again, maybe your own experience has been nothing but negative, but there are actually some honest and reasonable people in this world.

heh...
https://www.ridepdw.com/sites/defaul...?itok=OI5AqiRH