Just bought my very first (second hand) bike and… I was sacammed. Need some advice!

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  • May 10, 2014 at 10:49 pm #915291
    ThatGuy
    Participant

    Hello. Wanted to get back into riding after first learning to ride a bike 10 years ago as a kid and I thought I would just buy a road bike on Craigslist and I loved the idea of cyclocross. I found a steal on a 2011 Trek XO-1 cyclocross selling for $400 on craigslist and which I am now realizing was too good to be true. Reviews for the bike were good enough for me, met the seller and made the transaction after riding it and all seemed well. I’m not familiar with bike parts at all but a friend later noticed the crankest was shimano 600 groupset and I knew it was suppose to come with SRAM APEX parts from the spec sheet and then I started to noticed pretty much all the parts were replaced with cheap alternatives except the frame and I realized I just got scammed. The guy took out all the parts and swapped them for old parts. Obviously the guy isn’t responding to text/calls/email/etc. There is not much legal action I can take when it comes to Craigslist. So I was just wondering how badly was I scammed. How much was the bike worth with the parts below?

    Current Set up:

    -Shimano 600 Groupset
    -Shimano WH-RS10 Wheelset
    -Truvativ Elita GPX Crank Set
    -Hutchingson Top Slick 2 Protect Air Tires 700×32
    -Tektro RL340 Ergo Brake Lever Set
    -Speacialized Bodgeometry Drop Handle bars
    -Selle Italia Saddle

    Original Specifications:

    http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes/2011/archive/trek/xo1/#/us/en/archive-model/details?url=us/en/bikes/2011/archive/trek/xo1

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  • May 10, 2014 at 10:57 pm #1000821
    hozn
    Participant

    I don’t understand how this was a scam. Did he claim it was Apex in the ad? And did you not look at the components when you met for the sale? People swap parts on bikes all the time.

    May 10, 2014 at 11:15 pm #1000824
    ThatGuy
    Participant

    When we met he said it was all stock parts. I really didn’t know how to check for parts or tell if it was the original parts. I made the mistake of telling him I was a novice trying to get into biking and I suppose he took advantage of that. And just looking up the prices for the alternative parts it seems pretty much all of the changes were downgrades.

    May 10, 2014 at 11:21 pm #1000825
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    Sounds like he got a new frame and swapped components to it. You do realize that the Shimano 600 groupset was top of the line many years ago?

    May 10, 2014 at 11:39 pm #1000827
    ThatGuy
    Participant

    @DismalScientist 84895 wrote:

    Sounds like he got a new frame and swapped components to it. You do realize that the Shimano 600 groupset was top of the line many years ago?

    Actually I didn’t know that, thanks for letting me know. It’s just that it was advertised as all stock I just feel lied to but I guess I mainly want to know if the parts he did put in are reliable or did my $400 go towards weak components that I will need to replace pretty soon.

    May 10, 2014 at 11:53 pm #1000828
    APKhaos
    Participant

    There’s not much recourse after you’ve looked the bike over and paid for it. Think of it this way; you bought a decent frame with a bunch of custom components. Ride it. If it rides well you’ve done well on a $400 bike.

    May 10, 2014 at 11:57 pm #1000829
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Actually, if you aren’t an avid and competitive racer, it may not be best to have the absolute top-of-the-line components. Those high-end parts are usually designed to be lighter, to reduce overall weight, the idea being that a lighter total weight can provide a slight boost to speed. For an average cyclist who just wants to get around, get healthy and have fun cycling, these tiny differences in weight are completely unimportant. (However, bike frame weight can make a difference, even for a casual cyclist. For example, you will ride much more slowly on a Capital Bikeshare bike than on a much lighter road or hybrid bike.)

    Another important point is that lighter components tend to be more fragile. There is a trade-off in shaving grams of weight for high-end parts. That downside can be shorter product life.

    You don’t want to have a terrible low-quality component set, but a mid-level set is perfectly fine for a casual cyclist. It might even be a better option for you, as long as the parts are in good shape. I don’t know the specifics of these parts (since I don’t track bike components that closely). I’m just bringing up general points about bike components.

    May 11, 2014 at 12:15 am #1000831
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    @DismalScientist 84895 wrote:

    You do realize that the Shimano 600 groupset was top of the line many years ago?

    Dura Ace was always above 600 (which was later renamed Ultegra). Depending on the year, also poor old Sante. But it was higher in Shimano’s offerings than Apex is in SRAM’s. IMO 7 and 8 speed 600 gear is quite nice, though I would not want UG rear hubs now because the cogs are too rare.

    May 11, 2014 at 12:19 am #1000832
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    I should add that it seems rather fishy that the seller said the parts were all stock. I fear the bike might be a stolen Frankenfence special.

    May 11, 2014 at 6:22 am #1000840
    hozn
    Participant

    I would say $400 is not a huge investment (in cycling world, anyway) and what you have is probably still a fair deal and plenty good to get you out on the trails. It is unfortunate the seller lied about the build, but if it was something that was going to matter, you would have known to look for it at purchase. So I would recommend just enjoying the bike, replacing the components once you figure out that you would want something different/better — or just springing for something twice as expensive (or more, if new) down the road.

    May 12, 2014 at 3:17 am #1000884
    n18
    Participant

    The seller may not be the bad guy, he could have bought it from someone else. If I buy any bike from someone, I would ask for the yellow piece of paper that is given with each bike that shows the serial number. This is separate from the receipt. Otherwise, if it’s stolen, the police would take it from me and give it to the original owner. I may get my money back or not.

    You could call the police and provide them with the serial number to check if it’s stolen. There is also the National Bike Registry, but you can’t just search their database, they only let the police search their database. People who get their bikes stolen can register with them for $0.99, and it’s searchable by the police.

    http://www.nationalbikeregistry.com/

    There is also a search box for stolen bikes near the top at BikePedia:

    http://www.bikepedia.com/

    I am not sure though where they get their list from, but it seems to be from here:

    http://www.stolenbicycleregistry.com/

    Good luck!

    May 12, 2014 at 11:24 am #1000889
    mstone
    Participant

    I have never gotten a yellow piece of paper with a bike.

    May 12, 2014 at 1:35 pm #1000900
    Subby
    Participant

    If I knew I was going to get scammed just once in my life, I would pray that this was the scam.

    May 12, 2014 at 2:40 pm #1000905
    DismalScientist
    Participant

    Well, here’s a 2005 or 2006 for $200: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/4466171015.html:rolleyes:

    May 12, 2014 at 3:09 pm #1000911
    cyclingfool
    Participant

    @DismalScientist 84979 wrote:

    Well, here’s a 2005 or 2006 for $200: http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/4466171015.html:rolleyes:

    That’s a ridiculously low price, especially given its “specks” [sic] ;)

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]5575[/ATTACH]

    May 12, 2014 at 3:26 pm #1000916
    n18
    Participant

    @mstone 84961 wrote:

    I have never gotten a yellow piece of paper with a bike.

    It’s probably optional for bike shops. I have gotten 3 yellow pieces of paper from 3 different stores within the last year, and all of them seem identical, except for the store name; which is stamped on it. I have gotten these from Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and one other store. Seems to be the same generic bike registration form. I know that Performance Bike also provide the same yellow paper. If a seller doesn’t have it, a receipt would suffice, but they generally don’t show the serial number, so buy at your own risk…

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