i they left the car behind you could go street fighter 2 bonus stage on that piece.

It doesn't seem like rocket science to tell the potential buyer in advance what kind of collateral you're going to want before they test ride it. Presumably you have to be in contact with them to tell them stuff like where to meet, what time to meet etc, so why not tell them what collateral they'll have to bring if they want to ride it?

Hence collateral is better than a picture.

Even if you see the car and it's parked right outside your house and you're holding the keys it doesn't stop someone else with a spare set of keys coming by to pick up the car. Then that someone else could claim they lent the car to a friend but the friend has done a runner. So if anything you're worse off than you are with a picture - at least a picture might be used to ID someone.

yeh... i can see how it's not something you'd think of. but when i'm test riding, for example, i'll leave them my keys or ask if they want me to leave my i.d./etc.

(( though it sucks that it's potential money that got stolen, at least it wasn't something that you didn't want to keep that got stolen. does that make sense? i got my bikes stolen but had no intention of getting rid of them (selling). therefore they got stolen and i got left with no bikes. and i cried.

Well I didn't see anyone mention this but if you truely do have his phone than you basically have him,

Via if phone has sim card place the sim card into another phone and scounge for personal info..

If you know the carrier of the phone take it to one of their stores and explain the situation to them have them pull the registered owners info, if you have someones phone you have their ID basically.

If phone has no sim card or you dont know the carrier find the serial number and contact the manufacturer and they should tell you who the carrier is then proceed with step two..

Good luck!

Yeah, man...there's absolutely no way that was a stolen phone.

Best plan = cash in hand
if not, no test ride

yes this sounds like the best plan and would solve the problem of the buyer not bringing cash. Plus discussing collateral before the ride could reduce any weird tensions or feelings that the buyer might have. If you don't mention it until you meet, a buyer might feel that you have "profiled" them or otherwise decided they aren't trustworthy which might discourage them from wanting to buy.





of course


if someone stole a bike from me and they left their car, I would get the plate # and then literally sit on it until the cops showed up. a buyer having their car there isn't a sure thing, but chances are they value the car more than the bike

What area are you in by the way?

Ftw, that sucks. My sympathies are with you. Ive had my bike stolen, but not like that. That HELAL sucks. If you run into him, I don't think anyone here would know (or frankly care) if you took the law into your own hands and exacted retribution...which i dont recommend. But at the same time, I kinda do believe its fairly approrpiate.

Since it was an IRO, isn't there a number on the bottom of the BB shell?

I knw there was a no. on mine.

But yeah. If you happen to be in the SF area, ill keep an eye out. I ride an IRO to so anyone riding the same frame as me will usually catch my eyes anyway.


Good luck sir.

Of course from the buyer's perspective there's a potential issue of relative levels of trust. If you're offering your bike for sale for $500 (to pull a figure out of the air) and the buyer leaves you $500 in cash as collateral to take it for a test ride then you've got about the same level of trust in each other. Presumably by then the buyer has examined the bike and is happy that, subject to a test ride, it's worth the $500 you're asking.

But just as you wouldn't let the buyer take your $500 bike for a ride with only $50 in collateral so the buyer may not be happy to leave you the keys to his $3000 car as collateral for the $500 bike. I know it's not quite as simple as this but just as the buyer wouldn't leave you $3000 in cash to take your $500 bike for a spin so he might not be happy to leave his car keys as collateral. As the seller you want to be sure the buyer will be back, and the buyer wants to be sure he's not going to come back on the $500 bike to find you've cleared off and taken his $3000 and left him with the bike.

What kind of phone is it? If its not a prepaid them it will most likely have information stored in it thatwill lead to the original billing adress, assuming the phone was not stolen as well. If he was dum enough to give you his own broken phone then give it to the police and they can find his adress

When I was selling my Super Pista I had the same issue of concern when allowing a test ride. I met the buyer at my LBS and had him hand over his backpack / wallet. I gave it to the LBS owner and borrowed a loaner bike to ride along with him. If you have any correspondence (emails or cl response ect) try to track him down that way. File a police report and hope you see that guy riding by one day.

Or just keep the oil and coolant someplace safe...

Probably smart; how hard would it be to set up a fake CL account and a prepaid burner phone to get somebody to meet you in the middle of nowhere while they're carrying several hundred bucks in cash?

Sure, which is why both buyer and seller need a little common sense.

Damn right! I always have my trusty .40 S&W whenever I either sell of buy any craigslist item unless I know the seller/buyer. I'm a very trusting person but then again I carry 16 little guys that can outsprint any thief!

If they actually give a crap.
I was able to provide the police with the name and address of the guy who stole my bankcard information and they informed me that unless the charges were over $15,000 they weren't getting involved.

Unless this guy ripped you off for a Pinarello Dogma, you're probably out of luck. Sorry, dude. I had a bike jacked out of my basement once, and I spent the next 2 months watching pawn shops for it (pre-CL days). Pretty sure it was parted out and shipped away shortly after it was taken.

Thread posted back in April. I wonder whatever became of OP's bike. : \

So I disagree with this actually, because I'd be kind of sketched out if some random stranger wanted to take my picture.

This. I sold one bike on Craigslist, and even though the buyer was a nice looking young couple, I asked for the cash as collateral first before letting them test ride. They readily agreed, and I could count the money while they test rode.

I also would be hesitant about giving my car keys to the seller, since, although super unlikely, the seller could steal my car while I was doing my test ride. That's why cash in hand is by and the far the best; collateral and bike are approximately equally valued.

Man, that would suck so effing much, wouldn't it.