I feel a bit guilty....

mugensi

So yesterday at work things were on a bit of a go slow and so I was browsing through the buy/sell pages on facebook and I spotted a bike for sale, it was a 2016 Merida Ride 100 in 56cm (my size) The seller was less than a 5min walk from my work place and so I messaged him to ask if it were still for sale. He replied it was and that he was at home at that time if I wanted to call around to see it at lunchtime.

He has the bike advertised as brand new, never ridden and valued at over €700. He had it priced at €400. I done a bit of googling on the bike, spec etc etc and decided to pop round and see it on my lunch break.

The bike was brand new, the chain, cassette were pristine and there wasn't a mark anywhere on it. He told me that he never even changed gear on it and the gear it was in was the one it was in when he bought it. He bought it new in July 2016 and showed me the receipt for €749 from an LBS. The molding line was still on the centre line of both tyres and he said that he cycled it once when he got it to the end of the cul de sac from his house (50m at most) and back again and put it in the spare room and never looked at it again, till now.

I took a quick spin on it, the gears were off and the brakes spongy (but that was to be expected with no name brakes and cheap brake blocks and the gears just needed indexing which I done there and then) Anyway It was a lovely bike, very relaxed/tall riding position but I pretended that it was a little large for me and that I'd have to buy a new shorter stem and possibly seat post with no set back and asked him his best price. He said €300, I said nah, too expensive asi have to spend more money to make it fit me, so he dropped to €250, still to expensive. So he asked me to make an offer, I said I have €160 here and I'll take it with me now. He had a quick think and agreed!!! I would have given him the €250 if he pushed me! As I was leaving he said, oh hang on i'll give you the pump too and went away off to get it and landed back with a bikehut track pump (€30 in Halfords) He also gave me 2 Hutchinson inner tubes and a bikehut multitool!

I already have 3 bikes and have no need for another but I couldn't pass by this. I have no idea what to do with it, I might flip it and make a few easy quid but I may leave it in at my mother in laws place so as to have a bike to go for a spin when we visit (which is most weeks)

I honestly do feel guilty, I more or less robbed the poor bloke.

I still haven't told the missus I bought a 4th bike...I can imagine the reaction regardless of how little it cost.

trivial_poursuivant

TBH, He is still €160 up or the bike would probably still be sat in the back room where he left it. Anyone who buys a bike and then just leaves it to collect dust for 18 months obviously has more money than sense.

tangled_metal

Guilt is forgotten in time. If you really feel guilty and flip it then give half of your profits to a charity, perhaps one related to cycling. Say a youth cycling club or a disabled access club. Charity can help with guilty feelings.

mugensi

Tangled Metal wrote:

Guilt is forgotten in time. If you really feel guilty and flip it then give half of your profits to a charity, perhaps one related to cycling. Say a youth cycling club or a disabled access club. Charity can help with guilty feelings.

I don't feel that guilty!

tlw1

Don’t worry I nicked it and was willing to let it go for €20

Matthewfalle

it may be nicked from a shop .... he's 160notes up and you've got a hooky bike..

trivial_poursuivant

Matthewfalle wrote:

it may be nicked from a shop .... he's 160notes up and you've got a hooky bike..

Then you would have to ignore the line that says "He bought it new in July 2016 and showed me the receipt for €749 from an LBS"

Matthewfalle

I can do you a receipt for anywhere you want for any price if you like. Cost you a packet of pork scratchings and a pint of Edwyn’s finest.

mugensi

Matthewfalle wrote:

I can do you a receipt for anywhere you want for any price if you like. Cost you a packet of pork scratchings and a pint of Edwyn’s finest.

Yeah he went and faked a green carbon copy (with perforated edge) of a receipt book with the LBS letterhead and then stapled a fake till receipt for the transaction to the receipt just to sell a bike for a few hundred quid.... :roll:

Matthewfalle

Sounds like too much documentation there - almost as if he wanted someone to believe it had been bought and not just nicked ......... Brand new bike, selling cheap, negotiations to get it even cheaper just far too easy......

Probably take 6 minutes to get that together... not a bad hourly rate really.

So, not worried at all then.....

If it looks too good to be true, smells too good to be true, then .......

trivial_poursuivant

This guys wasted on flogging stolen bikes. With his counterfeiting skills he should be knocking out fake €50 notes and using them to snort coke out a whores ass crack

Matthewfalle

Well, not really counterfeiting - two bits of paper aren’t exactly the Mona Lisa. Well, it’s one bit really.

Or just grab the receipts book on your way out with the bike.

The latter idea re coke and ho’s ass cracks may help pass the boredom of today though - I like your style

trivial_poursuivant

Matthewfalle wrote:

Well, not really counterfeiting - two bits of paper aren’t exactly the Mona Lisa. Well, it’s one bit really.

Or just grab the receipts book on your way out with the bike.

The latter idea re coke and ho’s ass cracks may help pass the boredom of today though - I like your style

Seems a lot of trouble to go through for €160. Would be more profitable to strip it down and flog it in bits on eBay. Wheelset would go for 100 easily. Then the groupset, finishing kit etc. You could ditch the frame in a skip and still make over €160 . All without the risk of possibly being rumbled by people with the investigating skills of a scooby doo gang member.

Matthewfalle

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Well, not really counterfeiting - two bits of paper aren’t exactly the Mona Lisa. Well, it’s one bit really.

Or just grab the receipts book on your way out with the bike.

The latter idea re coke and ho’s ass cracks may help pass the boredom of today though - I like your style

Seems a lot of trouble to go through for €160. Would be more profitable to strip it down and flog it in bits on eBay. Wheelset would go for 100 easily. Then the groupset, finishing kit etc. You could ditch the frame in a skip and still make over €160 . All without the risk of possibly being rumbled by people with the investigating skills of a scooby doo gang member.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=V7IsIqvo0uU

Matthewfalle

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Well, not really counterfeiting - two bits of paper aren’t exactly the Mona Lisa. Well, it’s one bit really.

Or just grab the receipts book on your way out with the bike.

The latter idea re coke and ho’s ass cracks may help pass the boredom of today though - I like your style

Seems a lot of trouble to go through for €160. Would be more profitable to strip it down and flog it in bits on eBay. Wheelset would go for 100 easily. Then the groupset, finishing kit etc. You could ditch the frame in a skip and still make over €160 . All without the risk of possibly being rumbled by people with the investigating skills of a scooby doo gang member.

But that would involve effort - this piece of thievery didn’t - All nice clean and simple.

And when OP gets busted the fact he got it so cheap from some bloke he didn’t know off the internet and then who gave him loads of other new bits for nothing isn’t going to help him.

And he’s actively publicized the fact that he bought it far too cheap so can’t even claim ignorance as a defense......

shortfall

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

This guys wasted on flogging stolen bikes. With his counterfeiting skills he should be knocking out fake €50 notes and using them to snort coke out a whores ass crack

If the Ho in question has an ass crack like the girl in this thread
viewtopic.php?f=30005&t=12544013&start=12900

then I'm with you!

mugensi

Matthewfalle wrote:

Trivial poursuivant wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Well, not really counterfeiting - two bits of paper aren’t exactly the Mona Lisa. Well, it’s one bit really.

Or just grab the receipts book on your way out with the bike.

The latter idea re coke and ho’s ass cracks may help pass the boredom of today though - I like your style

Seems a lot of trouble to go through for €160. Would be more profitable to strip it down and flog it in bits on eBay. Wheelset would go for 100 easily. Then the groupset, finishing kit etc. You could ditch the frame in a skip and still make over €160 . All without the risk of possibly being rumbled by people with the investigating skills of a scooby doo gang member.

But that would involve effort - this piece of thievery didn’t - All nice clean and simple.

And when OP gets busted the fact he got it so cheap from some bloke he didn’t know off the internet and then who gave him loads of other new bits for nothing isn’t going to help him.

And he’s actively publicized the fact that he bought it far too cheap so can’t even claim ignorance as a defense......

I sold the bike last night (over the internet and to someone I never met or knew before) for €450...but I didn't give him the pump or tubes....

oblongomaculatus

One question I would have asked, out of curiosity… Why did he ride it only once and then leave it?

mugensi

I did ask, he said he was very jittery and unsteady and decided he wouldn't feel safe riding it.

FishFish

Wow - lot of analysis here. I think he bought it and did not want it. Kept it for a bit in the hope that he might use it then got rid of it. His objective was to get rid of all of it - pup and tubes as well. I got rid of my wife - not a good economic outcome either - but it achieved the objective.

ben@31

MugenSi wrote:

I did ask, he said he was very jittery and unsteady and decided he wouldn't feel safe riding it.

If he really had the receipt for buying from a local bike shop. Why didn't he return it then? Get a refund or exchange it for a less "jittery and unsteady" bike?
It does sound too good to be true, one possibility that nobody has mentioned is maybe he has a friend who works at the LBS who gave him a fake receipt for a stolen bike. Or after work his friend is dealing in bikes that fell off the back of the delivery lorry / taking surplus stock thats fell under the radar?

trivial_poursuivant

While we’re on bonkers conspiracy theories, maybe he stole it from Childrens hospice and needed the money for his quest for world domination with the help of the Russians and a North Koreans who obviously forged the receipt.

Guy sells a bike he doesn’t ride. Does it have to be any more sinister than that?

oblongomaculatus

Guy sells a bike he doesn’t ride. Does it have to be any more sinister than that?

Agreed, I think it's probably just as simple as that. I'be bought stuff in the past and realised too late I've made a mistake (not bikes btw). It's not surprising to me he felt jittery. When I got back on a road bike after many years riding mtb's and hybrids, it felt very twitchy by comparison at first, and earlier this year, after a crash, I spent about three weeks on a turbo only. When I got back on the road, having not had to balance or steer (or even keep my eyes open!) for so long, It felt VERY weird and unsafe for the first few minutes. In his position, personally, I'd have persevered a bit more, but maybe he bought it on a whim and was only ever lukewarm about cycling in the first place.

Matthewfalle

Either way we look at it it’s very wuss and probably hooky, but so long as OP is happy shifting on stolen goods then that’s fine - he’s alright Jack, the guy who owns the shop loses yet mor3 money in an industry where margins are incredibly tight, people going out of business, etc, etc.....

mugensi

Matthewfalle wrote:

Either way we look at it it’s very wuss and probably hooky, but so long as OP is happy shifting on stolen goods then that’s fine - he’s alright Jack, the guy who owns the shop loses yet mor3 money in an industry where margins are incredibly tight, people going out of business, etc, etc.....

FFS!!! Can someone not get a bargain without it having to be suspect? I was shown receipts and the handbook that came with the bike, the lad was even offering me the cheap helmet he bought at the time too (I declined)

You really need to get a thicker tinfoil hat but I think it would be more important for you to get off the internet as they can access your brain through it too although I think its too late in your case and they have already got to you. :roll:

rick_chasey

All that coke has made him paranoid.

Wouldn't worry about that.

Matthewfalle

MugenSi wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Either way we look at it it’s very wuss and probably hooky, but so long as OP is happy shifting on stolen goods then that’s fine - he’s alright Jack, the guy who owns the shop loses yet mor3 money in an industry where margins are incredibly tight, people going out of business, etc, etc.....

FFS!!! Can someone not get a bargain without it having to be suspect? I was shown receipts and the handbook that came with the bike, the lad was even offering me the cheap helmet he bought at the time too (I declined)

You really need to get a thicker tinfoil hat but I think it would be more important for you to get off the internet as they can access your brain through it too although I think its too late in your case and they have already got to you. :roll:

so hes offering you helmets, pumps, multi tools, inner tubes, massively cheap bikes..... all on the back of an advert on the internet.

blimey - nothing suss at all there really ......

but at least you made 70EURO - 50 quid - shifting a dodgy bike. 50 quid, ten hours hassle... 5 quid an hour. hmmmm.....

tlw1

MugenSi wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

Either way we look at it it’s very wuss and probably hooky, but so long as OP is happy shifting on stolen goods then that’s fine - he’s alright Jack, the guy who owns the shop loses yet mor3 money in an industry where margins are incredibly tight, people going out of business, etc, etc.....

FFS!!! Can someone not get a bargain without it having to be suspect? I was shown receipts and the handbook that came with the bike, the lad was even offering me the cheap helmet he bought at the time too (I declined)

You really need to get a thicker tinfoil hat but I think it would be more important for you to get off the internet as they can access your brain through it too although I think its too late in your case and they have already got to you. :roll:

He offered you his helmet????????

mugensi

Matthewfalle wrote:

so hes offering you helmets, pumps, multi tools, inner tubes, massively cheap bikes..... all on the back of an advert on the internet.

blimey - nothing suss at all there really ......

but at least you made 70EURO - 50 quid - shifting a dodgy bike. 50 quid, ten hours hassle... 5 quid an hour. hmmmm.....

So a person buys a bike, pump helmet etc etc then decides not to take up cycling and so offers the bike for sale and then offers the buyer everything related (pump tubes helmet etc) as he has no intention of cycling again and that's difficult to understand. It would be more suss if he decided to keep all those things when selling a bike he wasn't going to use, no?

Oh and your maths is rubbish. I bought the bike for €160 and sold it for €450 so yeah that's €70...you really are quite dim.

Matthewfalle

MugenSi wrote:

Matthewfalle wrote:

so hes offering you helmets, pumps, multi tools, inner tubes, massively cheap bikes..... all on the back of an advert on the internet.

blimey - nothing suss at all there really ......

but at least you made 70EURO - 50 quid - shifting a dodgy bike. 50 quid, ten hours hassle... 5 quid an hour. hmmmm.....

So a person buys a bike, pump helmet etc etc then decides not to take up cycling and so offers the bike for sale and then offers the buyer everything related (pump tubes helmet etc) as he has no intention of cycling again and that's difficult to understand. It would be more suss if he decided to keep all those things when selling a bike he wasn't going to use, no?

Oh and your maths is rubbish. I bought the bike for €160 and sold it for €450 so yeah that's €70...you really are quite dim.

No - you're absolutely right. Someone who is not sure about taking up cycling will go out and buy all this stuff straight off then decide after one short ride that doesn't even get the tyres dirty that he's not into it and sell it all on losing - guesstimate - 500 EURO straight off to some bloke he just got off an internet advert so he's not even doing a mate a favour.

Sounds completely utterly normal to me. Something we hear about everyday. Normal occurrence. Yup. Happened twice to me yesterday alone.

Apologies re getting the sale price wrong - I couldn't be bothered to scroll through the thread. Makes you wonder why he didn't do that really - after all, if it's that simple ........... Hmmmm. Strange. But as we say, everyday occurrence.

homers_double

Shame on you all for missing The Post of The ThreadTM

FishFish wrote:

I got rid of my wife - not a good economic outcome either - but it achieved the objective.