I've found a pretty reasonable deal on a bike, but I have never even contemplated spending this much on something off Craigslist (its about $2500, a good deal on something that was worth about 5k new not that long ago). Anyone have any advice on how to handle this transaction, or any red flags I should be looking for before I agree to meet some random guy in crack-needle park right behind the abandoned sheds with a whole bunch of $100's in my hand? Thanks to the wonders of photobucket, I can see that the seller appears to have owned/sold a relatively large number of pretty high end bikes (about 8 that I can see, all in the $2k and above range), which may be worrying or reassuring, depending upon your point of view.

Anyone have any good advice for this kind of transaction?

Dave

Meet them at a local bike shop and have a 3rd party inspect it, if possible (this will likely make a crook hesitate too). Do a search of stolen bikes of that model online and see if anything is fishy. Serial number, ask for any paperwork available etc.

this seems a really straight forward solution..
particularly if you are not a mechanic yourself.

In general, as others have said, stay away from 2nd hand carbon fiber forks,.
and likely frames too.

To me, a guy selling eight expensive bikes on CL signals stolen bikes. I'd want documentation showing his purchase of the bike.

Well that's pure nonsense.

There's an evil craigslist scam that involves selling of expensive items for a steep discount. Basically it's not stolen goods but a robbery. For craigslist sales, one typically pays by cash so it is easy for the scammers to lure the victim to a seedy place (controlled by them) and relieve them of the cash. A friend almost got nabbed this way but he was a bit absentminded and went with a checkbook instead (for a high-end computer worth thousands). Lucky him. An indicator is that the meeting place is public but out-of-the-way and may involve a dead-end street.

Not that I'm saying your craigslist find is such a scam...

I would most certainly want some really good explanation as to how he has come into possession of so many high end bikes. Closed store, team...or a BF member would certainly clarify...

Bike shop might not want to be involved in a sale that has nothing to do with them. Perhaps they will inspect the bike for a fee ?

Buying used CF bike can be risky. The frames are warranted to the original purchaser only. If it develops a problem you are SOL.

Same goes for steel, aluminum and bamboo fer chrissakes

But CF is more fragile than metal for chrissakes. It is very strong, but more brittle than metal.

Yeah, like airplanes. And the Scottpack air tanks I wear as a firefighter. And my kayaking helmet. And Ducati's 250 HP MotoGP racer's frame. etc. etc. etc.

Meet in front of the local police station if possible. If asked, tell the truth: "I'm going to be carrying a large amount of cash. You will be carrying a very expensive bike. It's for both of our protection".