Bad Luck Bike
After receiving a tip from a friend that Craigslist has a large market for bicycles in Brooklyn, I did my own research and returned with a 1960s brown vintage cruiser.
I bought the bike from a young lady about my age in Park Slope. My roommate accompanied me and watched as I took the cruiser for a 30-second test ride to the first corner. It seemed like a perfect fit, so I handed over the cash and my roommate and I loaded the bike in the back of her Element and drove back to our neighborhood in Williamsburg.
I became slightly panicked when, after bringing home the bike and eagerly taking it out for a ride, almost immediately there was something wrong with the chain! While crossing a street, I suddenly lost resistance against the pedals and began pedaling like a foolish maniac as my bike sort of just stood there like a stubborn horse in the middle of the road. I managed to drift toward the sidewalk where I checked to see if the chain fell off, but it appeared perfectly intact. Now, I’m not a bicycle expert, but I started feeling that maybe I was ripped off.
This discouraged me, as I always like to think that Craigslist is one of the few websites out there that is still fair and has not been overrun by commercial advertisements. I frantically emailed the girl who sold me the bike, explaining the problem while typing with crossed fingers, hoping I didn’t get scammed! I was a bit ashamed of making accusations so quickly when the girl immediately responded to my email, apologizing and saying this never happened before and suggesting I check the chain while requesting that I keep her posted on the issue. I have a friend scoping out the situation today.
If all turns out well, and I’m sure it will one way or another, I will still use Craigslist as an expedient for finding cool used stuff. After all, I did find a great apartment in Brooklyn that my roommate and I are very pleased with! You can’t win them all, but, at least when purchasing a bike, make your test ride longer than 30 seconds!
-Courtney Centeno, account executive
August 17th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
That shouldn’t be anything serious. It is most likely an “age-related” issue since it is a vintage bike. My story is a bit worse I think. I bought a car from a lady on Craigslist. I saw the car, drove it and it looked just fine. Seemed to be the typical suburban lady ride, to go buy groceries or driven to the farmer’s market. Should have taken it to a mechanic but, for some reason, I trusted her and my own mechanical instincts. So I bought the think, drove it for two days and the transmition goes kaput. Had to tow it to the the mechanic and he gave me the bad news: $1,600 to fix it (I paid $3,600 for the car). I call the lady and ask her if she knew about it. She denies it but seems very dodgy and goes on accusing me of breaking it on the two days I drove it. I do a bit of research on the car history, check with carfax and a couple of mechanics and find out the car had been diagnosed and that’s probably why she decided to sell it.
Now I will never again buy a car from an individual without consulting with a mechanic first. But even if I had consulted with my mechanic, I doubt he would be able to diagnose it. And even if he was, it is most likely he would let me buy it and then hit me with the “whoah, I didn’t see that problem when I tested it” so he could make some money. They are not in the charity business. My advice is simple then: If you don’t want try your luck or have to deal with that kind of trouble, buy new or with a warranty
October 9th, 2008 at 10:35 am
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