Community, Responsibility, and Skeptisim
So here's the thing; I don't like to give run to these sorts threads when they go side ways, and people might not always like to own their words; but if you put it in writing then you have to own what you say. I don't mind people being critical of what I post. But even in this anonymous online world people must take responsibility for what they send other people, once you write it; ti's forever no take backs. If you have a problem with what I say; then tell me; but tell me openly; not in a drive by personal message. Moose tells me when I'm wrong, sometimes he's right, and I respect him. I probably have to write another moose was "almost right" threads in a few weeks; I'm dreading it already.
But Dropping "fabricated lies" and "entertaining to watch people" into a message frankly isn't going to invite me to be a supporter; I've been on the internet since before it was called the internet and it always had this snipper problem even in place of great community.
In the last year we've seen a rash of bike thefts; and even here in our small community we have had one bike stolen from one member and that same bike then sold to yet another member. Only by the graces of the Cruzbike company allowed both people to come out nearly whole.
I have no problem with having called this sale fishy at first given what we knew at the time. The bike appeared on ebay; a world market that as a percentage has a very small percentage of customers looking for a MBB bike. Meanwhile, here, we have a HUGE percentage of people looking for these bikes. Many have waited months and months for them to ship. That group would likely buy the frame for the best possible price to the seller.
I know Larry has been madly trolling ebay for deals, because we've been reviewing back and forth between ourselves figuring out what were good and honest deals. So it made sense that Larry would stumble upon it on ebay, but not know anything else about it. For this thread, we had no indication the seller have already dealt with Larry. Knowing that is a huge plus, while new here Larry has quickly established his persona as a madman Cruzbike enthusiast/I ain't racing against him guy.
So when the seller was asked why not sell it here or promote the sale here which makes clearly the most sense; and the response we get is I'm selling it on ebay and someone will get a great deal... We go Hmmmmm. Why the avoidance of the target rich audience. So we got protective and demonstrated our healthy skepticism, mixed with some humor. We protect our community just in case. We didn't decry the selller that person didn't post here; we commented on Larry's find as possibly too good to be true.
Frankly, the best approach is to come here pimp the sale and see if an enthusiast can help recoupe nearly all the original cost. Not wanting to do that does not make logical sense to us and it sets off our alarms. I still find that odd, since the seller clearly knew of the forum since 2011 by user account dates. Perhaps something went down in the past we don't know. Leaving bike forums for 2 year doesn't happen on accident. And posting a message and closing it by saying I'm not coming back is also somewhat interesting; a hard finality to take back.
I'm still disappointed that I got a raspberry in the form of a PM that wasn't need; I don't understand it; but I also find nothing deserving of privacy in the way it was done. Worst thing I did was not tell the seller of this thread on the off chance that it was truly fishy. Awareness of this thread on it's own would be the counter proof I was looking and not something to point out.
No one attacked the seller; we just where strongly suspicious. At the prices these thing go for, details help even if people don't want to tell them; in general those question will get asked.
So tell the tale here; We are then quickly proven wrong and can get behind the sale; and spread the word for a seller. Tons of us our recovering from injuries that drove us off traditional bikes. Now that we know what's gone down; I say we get behind the sale and find that bike a great home; darn thing is brand new and it deserves a good home.
I'm deleting my previous quoted content because it has run it's course, but this opinion stands for what it is; this was odd from the get go. The actual situation forcing the sale is unfortunate; I hope the bike fetches within a few bucks of what it cost new since it is new. In the end it really sucks that we lost another rider.
apologies for what I'm sure are a bunch of typos which I endlessly torture all of you with.
