Is this a deal or not?
 

I'll defer to all the road bike experst here on this one. Is this your typical CL BS or the deal of the century like he claims?

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/bik/2300699093.html

Yeah, that guy seems crazy.

easy way to find out... go to bikepedia.com and research it for yourself. At that price, it's not like the bike's going to be selling in a day or 2. Go check the bike out, make sure it's in as mint of condition as he claims it is. If it is, and if his posted information is correct, then it's probably a pretty good deal. I don't know the first thing about Trek bikes though.

In my shop days we sold some of those Project One bikes. They are definitely different than the current bikes like he claims, but as far as what an older model is worth when you're buying from somewhere other than a shop, is for the buyer to determine.

I can't believe someone would sell such a nice bike just because their doctor tells them not to ride for a year. Unless it also ended up not fitting well or something and he just doesn't mention that part.

Judging from the location, there's a strong chance that bike was sold by the shop I worked at. Not that anyone cares...

:)

A quick check of Ebay completed listings shows that late model, even new, 5.2 Madones aren't selling for anywhere near that price. Here are just 3 examples including a 2010 Project One:

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-2010-TREK-MA...item35b0d98ecb
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-2010-Trek-Ma...item1e62741da7
http://cgi.ebay.com/09-Trek-5-2-Mado...item45f956fc43

My guess, noob bought a fancy bicycle, decided he didn't like riding that much and now he's trying to recoup as much of his money as possible. I bet if you show up with cash he'll get much more reasonable pretty quickly.

Trek's warranty not transferable correct? For that dough I think you could put together a nicer bike.

this is plausible actually.

I just had a similar attempted craig's list purchase. Guy bought a new bike (CAAD9-6) less than 18 months ago, got in a nasty motorcycle accident and lost permanent use of his left arm, so couldn't ride a traditional roadie anymore. Nice bike, pretty low miles, but he was asking $800. He paid $750 for the bike, added two bottles and cages, a rear rack, toe clips, seat bag with tire repair kit... I told him the accessories were essentially worth nothing and the bike was worth about 40% less than new, so $400-$500 MAX. Wouldn't budge. Too bad too because it was going to be for my daughter, but for $800, I can go buy the same bike new/leftover and put my own bottle cages on it.

Ive bought a decent amount of crap of CL and if im not buying I still browse around to see what people are asking and while you really do find some deals worth jumping on and some reasonable people/prices, once in a while you find some guy who for some reason thinks that his whatever it may be is worth as much as it was new.

this is especially true for motorcycles since lots of guys buy new bikes and realize its not for them or dont like riding so they bike is essentially new still which makes them think that they can ask retail and justify it by saying that tax + license was a couple grand.....lol and while thats true, i doubt anyone will pay MSRP for a used vehicle....you made a bad choice, tried something out, realized you didnt like it, you just have to take that hit.

Seems like not everyone is getting that message.