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Sounds like you did as much as you could under the circumstances. Since you have the serial number, and a location for the guy, I'd still go to the police and ask them to run it. If it comes up stolen then they can handle it.

I just sent this email to the add on my 'whatever' address used for sending messages I'll never check back on or opening an account for some silly spam thing:

I demand a photo of the serial number on the bottom bracket. If not, we don't have to communicate through email. Law will communicate soon.
Karma comes around,
NYPD

I think the way to go is to call the police and give them the serial number. This looks like a 2012 CAAD10 5 105, MSRP ~$1600 before upgrades, so, if it was stolen, the owner would have probably reported it to the police and they would have entered the SN# into the stolen item database.

No you don't.

Unexpectedly? Really?

Exactly what you should have done, called the police. You don't really want to be personally messing around with criminals, even low level ones.

the whole story sounds made up

My Dad was a cop. Not a beat cop or anything like that... but a cop never the less. Dad loved police work and never tired of arresting and dealing with criminals.

I guess in some ways I can understand a persons desire to "play cop". But it isn't a good idea.

1. I could not produce a receipt for any of my bikes with out a monumentous effort.
2. The paper receipts my LBS uses are old carbon copy receipts, and have the wrong phone # on them. So even if I found it, the # wouldn't pass muster.
3. All of their filing is paper filing, so calling to verify a sn would be a long wait.

So per your analysis, all of my bikes are stolen.

I'm above average on procrastination+disorganization scale, and I have MOUNDS of paper archives in the house, up to & including paystubs from the job I held in 2001. But I tend to file receipts for purchases worth more than $500, and it took me less than two minutes to locate the receipt for my latest bike (same model year as the one in the ad, and also a Cannondale). It has the phone number of the store in two spots (on the bike delivery checklist and on the credit card transaction slip) and the serial number of the bike, also in two spots.

And If I try to sell that bike for less than a third of original MSRP and a little more than what the crankset alone is worth, I fully expect to be needing that receipt to prove that it's not stolen.

So we are 1 for 2 in meeting the OPs theft criteria. I am sure most LBS'es don't have an out dated phone # on their carbon copy receipt, so I by no means said my comments were universal.

Who keeps reciepts? About the only thing I have reciepts for are my guns. Bike stuff? Have only bought one of my six new and that was years back now. Parts are a mix of ebay, LBS and the two national chains. Too many reciepts to keep around or worry about.

But, I will agree the guy sounds sketchy. Who freaks out about checking a sn? We don't have bike reg here, but checking the sn can verify the bike is what he says it is and not a fake. Add in that those components are high dollar and still current and the price is too low, so yeah, call the cops. If you lived in a free state, I'd advise to never go to pick up a CL find (esp a shady one) without carrying protection, but in NYC maybe just have a friend wait outside ready to call the cops if things go south?

Forget the receipts. If this story is in fact true, the bike must be stolen because you don't sell that level of bike for that price. Anyone that has that much money invested in upgrades would have a general idea of how much the bike is worth, and would list it accordingly. The photo of the serial number thing is also a bad sign. I'd guess NYC has a Used Bicycle Marketplace on Facebook. Find that group and post details of the bike. Chances are someone will know the original owner, and you can PM them the location of the person you interacted with so that the owner can handle this with the police. Again, assuming this is true.

Actually you haven't even provided any evidence that this guy "made up the receipt". I see no evidence of a crime in this story. Both of my bikes were purchased on CL and I couldn't produce a receipt if I were to sell them. It doesn't make me a thief. Whatever "vibe" you got from the guy isn't proof of anything either.

A guy I work with sold a bike that was over $2000 to someone for $500 because he's rich and he really didn't care how much he got for it, he just wanted it out of his house fast to make room for the new $5000 bike.

Wow... you must be like a superhero...

exactly what is a thief vibe?

Here in Toronto we have a bike registration service with the police (this story just made me remember to register my new Cannondale) where you (obviously) give the serial number of the bike / description etc. I wonder in this scenario if OP called and the serial number of the bike matched a registered bike, what would be done about it?

I noticed the posting has been deleted. So either he got scared and/or somebody got a helluva deal and didn't worry about it. Maybe it will show up on eBay for a more "realistic" price and nobody will think twice about whether it was stolen. Some people are less morally correct than others.

...J'accuse !

Interesting that he had the details on the custom built wheels and where they were from since they don't look like they have any decals or other markings on them. Most thieves I've seen wouldn't know all the details of the bike and the small desirable parts like the seat post. NYC thieves are clearly very knowledgeable.

What does rent cost in that apartment building in the financial district?

.
...and in fairness, I'm certain that the island of Manhattan is strictly limited to a catch and release area for thieves. It's against the law to keep them.

...there are people who save screenshots of CL ads ? That's it for me, I'm never running another one.

..the fact that you need to ask means you will gain little from the explanation, but with that caveat:

You decided that the thing was a little fishy at the outset. This is obvious from your story, and I think you will agree.

Your basis for this was that the bike was too good a deal, but you decided that , somehow, you would now attempt to
avail yourself of that deal, if only the seller could meet your own criteria for proper ownership.

You then proceeded to this poor man's door, and not only treated him rather rudely, based on your own imaginary standards
for what is and is not proper in the world of bicycle cycle ownership and resale, but attempted to turn his own NY city doorman
upon him, and anyone who has ever lived there knows that the doorman/resident relationship is sacrosanct.

You are, sir, possessed of a high moral standard and a vivid imagination. The combination of the two often leads to troubles in the world.

While I agree with what you said, I did mention that I understand the relationship between a doorman and a resident. Like I said, I didn't have time to think this through, so I had to act based on intuition, and as you can see mine wasn't very good. It seems to me you initially perceived me as a racist, and tried to make me a villain out of it. You wanna defend the man who you don't even know that's fine, at least I'm acknowledging that everyone has their own point of view. I don't think I'm the only one with a vivid imagination here.

I hate to seem on the "thief"s side, but the fact is that until you have proof that it's a stolen bicycle, ie. reported as stolen with serial number, original owners claim that it's his, or equal, it isn't a stolen bike, and calling the police won't do any good.

Your suspicion that it must be stolen because the price is too low, or the seller seems cagy, doesn't rise to reasonable suspicion or probable cause, so police - properly - will pass on this.

For all you know this is a third hand, or crashed, or whatever bike, and you were dealing with the rightful owner.

As they say, possession is 9/10ths of the law, and the owner (the guy with it in his possession) owes you or the police nothing by way of explanation or proof.

BTW- if the doorman called the police, and they came, odds are that they would have told you to go away without even speaking to the owner.