Funny CL Ad - Overpriced Junk For Sale - Available Anywhere

[Joe Monstermaker]

I go to Burning Man... and everyone knows garbage bikes are NOT good Burning Man bikes, you need something cheap but that is in good shape and works!

But my biggest peeve is that nowadays people evaluate stuff based on eBay or CL asking prices. SELLING price is what counts!

There's a guy up here trying to sell a fat-tire bike that he claims to have custom built himself, modified the frame, etc. Its clearly a box stock Beast. I emailed him and asked, saying it sure looked like a stock Beast... he didn't reply.

 

[ozzmonaut]

I know I've posted this one on another thread here, but this is Rule#1 all day. All decade, in fact. This bike has been on CL here for 10 years+, that I know of. That's how long I've had internet access. It was likely on there long before I saw it. He had it at $350 for a looong time, then finally came down to $275. The patience it takes to keep listing this is what impresses me.
http://winstonsalem.craigslist.org/bik/5355246523.html

 

[Jsparks]

Seems like he is ready to "DIE WITH IT"

 

[Thxcuz]

Dear craigslist sellers A "vintage" schwinn varsity is still a varsity.
Millions of them around and they never wear out and not worth more than $20

 

[xray]

Joe M came close to the comment I was going to make, but I'm surprised someone hasn't already blurted this out - maybe I missed it.

"Thrown together from crap parts found in the dumpster" is not the same as "custom built."

Or, some variation on that theme... maybe:

"Putting new tires on a bike does not make it custom built."

And there should be a Craiglist Rule:

"You and I both apparently have an internet connection. Don't tell me the bike you're selling was $800 brand new if Wally is selling it brand new for $250."

 

[xray]

How about "Don't say the bike is brand new" and "new Kenda tire on front" in the same sentence?

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

Seattle CL is chock full of escalated price dreamers lately. Most of the bikes people think are valuable because they are "vintage" aren't half as old as the sellers think (or claim). Most of the bikes people think are valuable because they have a well known brand name are just the new Chinese outsourced piles of junk.
The rest are decent old bikes but just aren't worth $150-$200!

 

[xray]

Here on Fort Myers CL, a seller recently had "1957 Schwinn Le Tour II" in the title. I would have chalked this up to a typo, but he then claimed in the ad that "according to the serial number" it was built between (date) and (date) in 1957. The Le Tour didn't exist until the 70s, and the Le Tour II would have been maybe 1977?

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

Yeah that's what I keep seeing - sellers claiming their serial number says it's a 1957 bike (when it clearly is not). And it's always 1957.

 

[xray]

Equating it with a 57 Chevy? I can hardly tell anymore without seeing the taillights - is your avatar a 57? Looks more like a 55 or 56 to me.

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

My car is a '55.
I don't know why every ad claims 1957 for old Schwinns, I guess it just sounds cool.
I'm pretty excited though, I just saw an ad for a new-in-box 1957 Mongoose, with Motomags!!!

 

[Vipon]

I manage a bike shop that was a Schwinn dealership for years and years. We don't carry them anymore but our sign out front still has a big Schwinn emblem on it.
Once a month I have somebody come in and ask me if I'm interested in buying their vintage Schwinn.
99% of the time its a Walmart bike.

Why would you try to scam a bike shop?? I honestly think they really don't know. Blah blah blah,,," made in America, don't see em like this anymore"
I kinda feel bad pointing out the Made in China sticker, or the Walmart/Target UPC sticker on the side of the head tube.

Just when I thought I wouldn't even look up at them anymore. A guy walks through the door and asks if I want to buy his old Schwinn. "its in really good condition but I took it apart years ago and its in boxes.

$200.00 bucks later it was in the shop and built the next day, but even he admitted it was a 1995.

 

[rickpaulos]

"38) Don't sell a used helmet unless you really did just buy it, otherwise it may have been crashed and is a safety hazard"

What about the resident lice?

 

[Joe Monstermaker]

Are you sure that Schwinn doesn't have a 1957 UPC code sticker?