Stolen Bike?

[dzx]

Lately i've been looking for a motorcycle with the rising gas prices. I was on sportbikes.com and there was an ad for a 2004 suzuki gsx-r 600 for 3000 dollars. Never been laid down, clear title, no damage and barely broken in. Now 3000 dollars set off the first warning signs I think. I emailed the guy and he still has the bike, but he really wanted to rush the deal which made me even more suspicious. I asked him for the VIN number which he gave me, and I had the Boulder police check it to see if it was stolen or anything. They called me back and left a message on my cell phone saying they couldn't find any record of the bike. So i looked into the vin number myself on the internet and it turns out it belongs to a 2004 suzuki like the guy said, but not to a gsx-r 600, it belongs to a 2004 gsx1300r better known as a hayabusa. Does this seem shady to anyone else? He straight up volunteered to pay for shipping which seemed even odder to me since the bike is in Chicago. The way he wanted the deal to be made was I would send the money to Western Union, then fax the information to square trade who would tell the guy it was ok to ship the bike, Then i would have 7 days once it arrived to check it over and cancel the deal if I wanted to. If i liked the bike, I would give the ok to squaretrade and they would send him the info to retrieve the money. Seems pretty safe right? The whole deal seems kinda shady but you would think square trade would be safe. I'm guessing the guy has some way to retrieve the money before square trade gives him the info. Also the seller's address that square trade gave me I was unable to find much info on, It's a residential area but I was unable to find the house number registered to anyone or find the guys name in the white pages.

[Splinter]

Sounds to me like the bike doesn't exist

I presume you'd have to send him the shipping money seperately from the rest, right?

Seems like it might be an easy way for him to get a few hundred bucks for nothing.


If you're gonna go through with it, make sure you document EVERYTHING, including all emails

[evolutionmovement]

100% scam.

People suck.

Steve

[dzx]

Yeh, its a scam. I really doubt that the bike exists. The guy's been sending me fake square trade emails all day saying that they looked at the bike and its in good condition. Maybe the fact that the email address he's using isnt a square trade one, or the fact that he has really shitty grammar might be a good tipoff. Also says on the squaretrade website that they would never ask you to use western union. It'd be nice to set up a sting and kill him with my hands after he showed up to collect the money but oh well.

and no, he offered to ship it free of charge which was my first big tip off besides the price of the bike. The fax number on the fake square trade invoice is a phone number in PA, but i couldnt get a name or anything from it. Also the address he listed as his own on the square trade invoice in chicago exists as far as i can tell but I couldnt get a name or anything on the property.

[BAC5.2]

On a gas note... All of the stations near my girlfriends house were $3.65 to $3.67 for premium, one was $3.79. Guess which one was the only station with anything but regular? I paid like $17 to fill my CBR! It was ridiculous. I remember when I could fill my car with $17!

Hell, I remember when $.79 cents a gallon was ridiculous. That wasn't that long ago, and gas stations only had space on the boards to hold any value over $.99 cents. Crazy.

[evolutionmovement]

That's rediculous! $17 to fill a f'n bike. Gas was in the $.80 range when I started driving and in Detroit when I went there for school. I'm only 28!

I need to build that 3-wheel car (I mean motorcycle, DMV) ASAP! I figure easy high 40s.

Steve

[dzx]

I remember when .96 cents was considered high for gasoline. I guess if gas prices keep going up something is gonna have to happen. I'm sure the gas prices are killing people who have to pay rent and car payments as well as insurance and other crap. I forsee...a revolution lol. I think Bush fell asleep at the wheel. Even groceries are going way the hell up.

[Splinter]

A large fries at mcdonalds has gone up 40 cents in 3 years here

[xtalman]

Yeah, it's definitely a scam. I've heard of other people getting ripped off because they couldn't believe how great a deal they found - free shipping was the common denominator.

If you get a 600cc sportbike, you'll probably save a lot of money on gas, but probably spend a lot more on tires.

[BAC5.2]

I need to build that 3-wheel car (I mean motorcycle, DMV) ASAP! I figure easy high 40s.

Steve

$17, yes, but 40mpg when I spend 75% of the time above 8,000 RPM isn't bad.

If I lug it a gear high, I get 50mpg mostly city. I dig it. I actually just got my girlfriend a helmet so we could ride places on short trips to save gas. It's also better parking at school (own bike lot), and at work it's safer to ride (park on the sidewalk in front of the store).

Tires aren't that expensive, and insurance is bad, but not awful. I can ride all month for the cost of one tank of gas for the Legacy.

[xtalman]

$17, yes, but 40mpg when I spend 75% of the time above 8,000 RPM isn't bad.

If I lug it a gear high, I get 50mpg mostly city. I dig it. I actually just got my girlfriend a helmet so we could ride places on short trips to save gas. It's also better parking at school (own bike lot), and at work it's safer to ride (park on the sidewalk in front of the store).

Tires aren't that expensive, and insurance is bad, but not awful. I can ride all month for the cost of one tank of gas for the Legacy.

Yeah, I get 45 mpg in town on the GS500, and about 27 mpg lately on the Triumph. I'm probably going to turn the GS500 into a commuter bike (windscreen, change sprockets). But I have to replace the tires about 3-4 times as often as for my Subaru, so it eats up my gas savings. Insurance for the GS500 is cheap though, $79 a year for liability only.

A bike has lots of advantages though. Cheaper parking on campus, special bike spots, fewer restrictions on parking, and I can take the HOV lane. Plus, it's just a lot of fun.

[snowboarded]

Yea definite scam.

My brother in law just got scammed with his motorcycle. The dude gave him a certified check, it was either a bank check or a cashiers check. Either way it was as good as cash, ends up deing fake, wrong bank for the check numbers. The teller at the bank didn't even catch it, she deposited it into his account, only to be taken right back out about two days later and long after the guy left with his bike. The police say that its a ring and 5 or 6 others have been hit in the past two months.Worst part of it, is he sold it for money for the baby on the way.

[LaureltheQueen]

a friend of mine on another board posted this very same bike on an ebay auction