Mountain bike on ebay
Posted by: bornwina on 19 July 2004
I've just bought the wife a used Trek Fuel 90 WSD for around half the new retail price off ebay. The seller stated it to be in "excellent condition" and when probed as to the amount of use it had been put to replied simply "one careful lady owner".
Am I naive fool to feel a little disgruntled that on receiving the bike today I find it to be covered in chain and cable rubs, scratched decals etc, non standard stem (it's a womens specific design so presumably the stem is special), wheels needing trueing to avoid brake rub etc or should I have expected this when buying a second hand MTB?
Posted on: 20 July 2004 by Steve G
On Ebay for mountain bikes it's definitely a case of buyer beware. I wouldn't personally buy an expensive bike there unless I could go and pick it up as there are so many scams etc. around.
Chain and cable rub is normal wear and tear and wouldn't bother me and if the wheels are slightly out of true it wouldn't bother me too much - you'll be sticking disc brakes on it at some point anyway surely?
As far as I'm aware there are no actual female specific stems so just get a decent one (e.g. Easton EA50) of the same length and rise as you require.
The Fuel is a nice frame and the WSD version should hold its value quite well. If it's not got a lockout shock already then it might be worth considering upgrading its a single pivot design and can bob a bit when climbing unless a very smooth pedal stroke is used.
Posted on: 20 July 2004 by Rockingdoc
A good rule of thumb is to avoid buying anything on E-bay which may be sold by yoofs e.g. games, software, bikes, guitars, CDs, as they are generally an amoral unscrupulous bunch. My nephew horrified me at the weekend by asking if I thought he'd get away with listing some rubbishy old guitar parts as genuine Fender.
On the other hand I have always been delighted with my e-bay purchases of items from boring old nerds like myself e.g. hi-fi, cameras, electronic test equiptment, etc.
Generally the more specific and highly specialised the item, the safer you are with the description. Apart from professional scammers of course.
Posted on: 21 July 2004 by Bruce Woodhouse
Interestingly I've just started to use ebay when I finally found a hard-to-get part for my broken MTB. Cannondale taking about 4 months to send the right bits so far and still no sign from them.
I've just learned that sellers seem to refuse bids from new members. Anyone any ideas how to get around this-I've mailed the seller with a plea for mercy. Any tips for ebay success, I'm aware that there are various canny tactics but not sure what they are!
Bruce
Anyone
Posted on: 21 July 2004 by Rockingdoc
Easy Bruce
Just make a few cheap purchases from E-Bay "shops" for a few accessories and you'll get star ratings as good as if you'd spent thousands.
Posted on: 21 July 2004 by Bruce Woodhouse
You sly man!
