Dubious Provenance?

[john a]

Here is a link to a Powabyke currently on sale on Ebay.

Powabyke / electric bike | eBay

The seller states......I bought this to use but never got round to getting a key and charger as it hasn't either.. I've put it in as not working but when I got it there was power in the battery and it did ride.

Bought it without keys & charger?? Then likely it was nicked. Unusual someone would sell it without such vital pieces of equipment.

Next question... how did the seller manage to test the battery and check it was ride-able without either keys or charger??

Everybody here knows how easy it is to obtain replacement keys & charger.... why didn't this seller just buy replacements?? surely it would have made the re-sale value so much higher??

In my humble opinion, the chances of this bike being stolen at some point in its history are so high that it should not be listed on ebay at all......

 

[Goryl]

Hi,

You can always ask for a frame number as well as how come he does not have key and charger.
Better be suspicious of course, but you can give the guy a chance to explain.

Goryl

 

[Morgann]

God, that's iffy. Like you would buy an EBike without a charger. And no keys? Yeah, right.

 

[john a]

Hi,

You can always ask for a frame number as well as how come he does not have key and charger.
Better be suspicious of course, but you can give the guy a chance to explain.

Goryl

Oh yes, I have asked the question already...... no reply or explanation as yet.

 

[Mike63]

...certainly does not inspire confidence

 

[flecc]

An e-bike for sale without keys and charger is almost invariably a stolen one. I have yet to see a single satisfactory explanation for them being missing.

 

[benjy_a]

An e-bike for sale without keys and charger is almost invariably a stolen one. I have yet to see a single satisfactory explanation for them being missing.

Dog ate them?

 

[Morgann]

Dog ate them?

I used to expect intelligent people to believe that dogs ate my homework on a regular basis.

We didn't actually have a dog, so they must have been wild dogs breaking into the house using a skeleton key in order to eat my homework.

Can I just say how traumatic and frustrating it is to have a perfectly good explanation treated with contempt?

Haunted me from my childhood that has.

 

[john a]

An e-bike for sale without keys and charger is almost invariably a stolen one. I have yet to see a single satisfactory explanation for them being missing.

Of course the bike is stolen. Either by the seller on Ebay, or by someone he met in a pub or wherever. Doubtless he has forgotten the name of the guy, and all he recollects is he paid £20 to take it away.

It makes me sick to be honest, speaking as someone who has had bikes stolen. Perhaps everybody reading this should message the seller through Ebay, asking questions. Or even report the item.

 

[tillson]

Of course the bike is stolen. Either by the seller on Ebay, or by someone he met in a pub or wherever. Doubtless he has forgotten the name of the guy, and all he recollects is he paid £20 to take it away.

It makes me sick to be honest, speaking as someone who has had bikes stolen. Perhaps everybody reading this should message the seller through Ebay, asking questions. Or even report the item.

I'm sure that everything you say is correct, but ebay are highly unlikely to take any action without proof that the bike is stolen. Suspicion and common sense don"t come into it.

 

[john a]

I'm sure that everything you say is correct, but ebay are highly unlikely to take any action without proof that the bike is stolen. Suspicion and common sense don"t come into it.

Sure they wont take action. However, the more people that flag such things up the better, and the more people that question the seller - the more chance that person may think twice when buying such an item in future. Its all about awareness.

 

[Goryl]

I am with everybody in the sense that I am also quite sure that the bike is stolen. Still, I would give the guy a chance to explain himself before any definitive conclusion (and check the frame number no matter what the explanation is).

Goryl

 

[flecc]

My being practically certain it's stolen isn't being convinced the seller carried out the theft though. In at least one case I know of the bike had been bought from a third party and them offered on in ebay. There's a similar situation with the vast number of normal bikes stolen in Britain, many if not most being passed through intermediaries before finally offered to end users.

 

[mike killay]

Well I have just put two questions on the site
1 How did you ride it without the key
2 How come you haven't got the key and charger.
Let's see if he/she answers.

 

[john a]

My being practically certain it's stolen isn't being convinced the seller carried out the theft though. In at least one case I know of the bike had been bought from a third party and them offered on in ebay. There's a similar situation with the vast number of normal bikes stolen in Britain, many if not most being passed through intermediaries before finally offered to end users.

Oh sure. I doubt the seller is the thief. However, all sellers should be aware that receiving stolen goods - directly or indirectly, is actually creating a demand for the bikes to be stolen in the first place.

 

[rog_london]

Well I have just put two questions on the site
1 How did you ride it without the key
2 How come you haven't got the key and charger.
Let's see if he/she answers.

It may be a little pedantic, but not all e-bikes need a key in order that may be ridden. Bikes having the Panasonic system only need a key to remove the battery. They may have other 'locking' arrangements which need a key, eg. one of those AXA locks which is bolted to the frame below the saddle and has a curved rod which passes between the spokes when it's in the locked position....

That certainly applies to current Kalkhoffs. No 'ignition' switch.

I'd accept the absence of a charger as being conclusive though.

Rog.

 

[john a]

It may be a little pedantic, but not all e-bikes need a key in order that may be ridden. Bikes having the Panasonic system only need a key to remove the battery. They may have other 'locking' arrangements which need a key, eg. one of those AXA locks which is bolted to the frame below the saddle and has a curved rod which passes between the spokes when it's in the locked position....

That certainly applies to current Kalkhoffs. No 'ignition' switch.

I'd accept the absence of a charger as being conclusive though.

Rog.

Just to point out that having owned this very same bicycle.... you do require a key in order to ride it & establish if there is life in the battery or not.

Either the guy had a key, then lost it. Or he is lying, and has never witnessed it working properly. If he lost it, you would assume he would have said so. In fact he states that he never got round to getting a key. So therefore, he couldn't possibly have ever seen the bike working (unless he means when it was being ridden by its legitimate owner prior to being stolen!!!!)

 

[Morgann]

If he bought it without a key or charger, he must have known it was dodgy. Would you buy anything that needs power without the means to get the power into it?

Would you sell something as 'inoperative' at a fraction of it's value if you possessed the means to fix it by buying a simple part that would boost the value way beyond the cost of the part?

If he bought it and is now selling it on as he claims then there is a chain of at least two and maybe more sellers who couldn't be bothered to do that one simple thing.

Unlikely. Steer well clear.

 

[tillson]

Looking at his selling history, he doesn't appear to be trading in the usual stolen fodder. That is unless he has several accounts and spreads his swag out over multiple identities. The only things that he has sold in the past that are commonly stolen items, attractive to potential buyers and easily sold on are a couple of cement mixers, a manhole cover and a Luftwaffe officer's uniform.

It wouldn't surprise me if he has bought this bike off a, "mate", probably with the intention of using it himself, but without the charger and keys. Its probably got a bit too complicated for him to sort out and now he want to get rid of it. As mentioned before, he's unlikely to be the thief, but if you trace the bike's history you are likely to find a crime somewhere in its past.

 

[rog_london]

How old is that model? it looks relatively old-fashioned (which probably means more than six or seven years old in this context). If it's been hanging around in someone's shed for most of that time it's not entirely unlikely that the keys and charger have been mislaid along the way.

Still, what do I know? I'm not familiar with the model, and have never fancied the Powabyke range.

The implication that there was some life in the battery seems at odds with this I suppose. If he'd said it was as dead as a dodo I'd have more faith in what he was selling.

Rog.