Dubious Provenance?

[john a]

the seller has just replied to me stating he bought the bike at a repossession auction.

he is trying to suggest that he saw it working at the auction before he made the purchase, which would have required keys & charger. despite this, it was apparently sold to him with neither vital accessory.

when i replied to say what he said had not made sense, he then said:

Who are you Miss Marple????? Do me a favour and DO NOT bid and get a life.


draw your own conclusions i guess

 

[Morgann]

The good thing about Ebikes is that when stolen, there is at least a chance that the thief didn't get the battery and almost certainly, not the charger.

As far as I'm concerned Those two markers are enough to trigger 'avoid' flags and I don't care how plausible the explanation might be.

Example:
Alien Electric 18 Speed Ebike E Bike Mountain Bike | eBay

No battery and no mention of a charger, but nice reasonable spiel. Sorry, but there are other conclusions I can jump to and I'm going to jump to them. Self preservation.

Should be everybody's default setting IMHO.

 

[the_killjoy]

Reading his other bikes for sale his wife does seem to be a bit picky about all these bikes he keeps getting for her

 

[smudger1956]

Is this some sort of pursuit ? Trawling eBay for suspicious E-Bikes.....?

 

[Morgann]

Is this some sort of pursuit ? Trawling eBay for suspicious E-Bikes.....?

I'm a trivial kinda guy.

 

[tillson]

Who are you Miss Marple????? Do me a favour and DO NOT bid and get a life.

It was always going to end this way.

 

[john a]

It was always going to end this way.

Alas, yes. However, if he had nothing to hide, and was totally above board & honest, then he wouldn't have minded answering the questions properly, in the hope of a sale. A genuine buyer would have had every right to ask about the history of the bike, after all.

I just think it is quite important to flag up as many dubious instances of likely stolen bikes being sold as possible. Lets not forget how many bikes are stolen each year - and every time a thief re-sells a stolen bike, he is encouraged to go steal another to make more easy money.

The more publicity the better. The more people that are discouraged from buying dodgy bikes, the less will be stolen... why not try to reverse the vicious circle?

 

[john a]

POWABYKE Electric Bike (Spares or repairs) | eBay

Here comes another one..... No keys or charger. The listing states that the seller KNOWS he can purchase a charger from Ebay, but hasn't bothered??? Why would he not, when it adds so much value?

Makes no sense at all.

 

[Morgann]

And here's the kosher article.
Electric Powabyke Euro 6 speed with charger & spare keys, unisex, vgc, 36 volt | eBay

 

[grasshopper]

POWABYKE Electric Bike (Spares or repairs) | eBay

Here comes another one..... No keys or charger. The listing states that the seller KNOWS he can purchase a charger from Ebay, but hasn't bothered??? Why would he not, when it adds so much value?

Makes no sense at all.

This thread is bringing out the paranoia in me! Looking at the 2 photos on e-bay, do I detect a common brick weave and/or wall bricks? Both using female user-id?

Come back Miss Marple … all is forgiven!

 

[eddieo]

And here's the kosher article.
Electric Powabyke Euro 6 speed with charger & spare keys, unisex, vgc, 36 volt | eBay

Hmmm..........38kg NICE!lol

 

[Morgann]

Built from Gurrrrders!

 

[john a]

Hmmm..........38kg NICE!lol

Might be heavy, but very desirable to thieves all the same. In fact you would think that the heavier the bike, the harder it would be to ride away on without keys....

In fact, I recall trying to push one of these down a dual-carriageway after an unscheduled puncture. I can assure you that after a couple of miles you certainly felt the strain.

 

[muckymits]

Ive got 3 of these battery packs in a tray under my bench and you cant move the tray

 

[flash]

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.

You have obviously never seen inside my garage

 

[GaRRy]

Is this some sort of pursuit ? Trawling eBay for suspicious E-Bikes.....?

Well from my experience of other forums its not unique to this forum.

Kite forum = kites
Av forums = audio gear
Etc

But same themes stolen/funny/weird/stupid etc

Guess its just part of human nature