Oddness?

[John Bennett]

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/bik/2507970769.html

Someone sent it our way, thinking so.

John at RBW

[Leslie]

John, 

Aaron saw this on the iBob list and posted here last week, Grant noted it then:  https://groups.google.com/d/topic/rbw-owners-bunch/Aif-z6dEPzY/discussion

It does seem odd, that they would call it an antique, that they'd had it a few years, yet, it was introduced in what, 2009?

Hope things work out....

[Leslie]

FWIW:  that phone number leads to this company:  http://www.pmcconstructionva.com/

[Rex Kerr]

I wonder if Riv keeps track of which serial numbers went to which original owners... if somebody could arrange a visit to view it they could take it for a test ride and call Riv to find out who it belonged to. :-)

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Leslie <leslie...@gmail.com> wrote:

FWIW:  that phone number leads to this company:  http://www.pmcconstructionva.com/

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[Brett Lindenbach]

let's not jump the gun here, folks.  maybe someone at this construction company acquired the bike legitimately, doesn't know what it is, assumes that it is vintage, and wants to sell it.  non-velo people ask me all the time whether my blériot is a vintage bike.  i think that the suggestion to run the serial number is a great one.  someone should just asking the seller for the serial number.  if they balk at the suggestion, then we should worry.  if they provide it freely, perhaps it is ok.

[EastBayGuy]

Here is the Serial Number....shot him an email and he gave it right up...

M1061227     he said he also saw a 1-m88.

maybe this will help

Dustin G

Walnut Creek Ca

[Sean Whelan]

A lot of people own bikes and don't know anything about them. Same thing happens with musical instruments, cameras, etc.
Many a fine guitar bargain was found that way.

Someone owns an item legitimately (through co-worker, family, etc.) and then goes to unload it and doesn't know what it is.

While it looks odd, it isn't necessarily criminal.

Thanks,
Sean

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From: EastBayGuy <goodw...@gmail.com>
To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tue, August 2, 2011 11:48:38 AM
Subject: [RBW] Re: Oddness?

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[Steve]

Agreed. He was originally asking for $2000, which is perhaps a bit
high given that you can get a complete bike sans saddle and pedals for
$2200 directly from Rivendell.. If it was stolen, you'd think he'd
try to get rid of it pretty quickly by selling it for a low price.

On Aug 2, 10:57 am, Sean Whelan <strummer_...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> A lot of people own bikes and don't know anything about them. Same thing happens
> with musical instruments, cameras, etc.
> Many a fine guitar bargain was found that way.
>
> Someone owns an item legitimately (through co-worker, family, etc.) and then
> goes to unload it and doesn't know what it is.
>
> While it looks odd, it isn't necessarily criminal.
>
> Thanks,
> Sean
>
> ________________________________

> From: EastBayGuy <goodwin...@gmail.com>

> To: rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com
> Sent: Tue, August 2, 2011 11:48:38 AM
> Subject: [RBW] Re: Oddness?
>
> Here is the Serial Number....shot him an email and he gave it right up...
>
> M1061227     he said he also saw a 1-m88.
>
> maybe this will help
>
> Dustin G
>
> Walnut Creek Ca
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW
> Owners Bunch" group.

> To view this discussion on the web visithttps://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/SGajPcJ0L1cJ.

[Peter Pesce]

What's odd is that he describes it as "his" bike, yet offers a description that includes irrelevant things like overall length.. describes the tires by the rim manufacturer, etc.
You need to know more than that about bikes just to ORDER a Betty!
He may have acquired it second hand, but as others have noted, he would have to have acquired it within weeks of the original owner taking delivery to have had it "a couple of years."
Benefit of the doubt, of course, but veddy, veddy fishy, too.

[EricP]

Could be he acquired the bike in a swap.  Or maybe leftover from a breakup?  He's also probably not trying to over inform the buyer.  Fishy, somewhat.  But I'd give him the benefit of the doubt unless there is a definite idea it's been stolen.

 

Eric Platt

St. Paul, MN

[Joe Bernard]

What are the chances that a Betty was stolen, and we don't know about it? I'm going with "small".

[Leslie]

Not quite sure about that; it's not like every single RBW-bike rider is a member here;   or if even half are.   (A quarter?  At best?)

I'll wholly agree:  it's quite possible it's legit (and I hope it is);   but, you would think someone who would spend that kind of money on a bike would know enough about it to know if it's an antique or not.  

Could be, the seller told the current owner was told it was an antique, and that it was worth that much, and went with it....

There aren't a large number of Riv dealers, other than RBW directly.   Harris in Boston, Country Bike in Ohio, Hiawatha in Minneapolis, And MSL in Bristol, are the only ones on this side of the Mississippi, and I've not seen any Betty's come through MSL (doesn't mean that they haven't had one come through, I'm not there *that* often, but to date, I've seen Atlantis, Rambouillet, Hilsen, and Hillborne frames there).  

Maybe, if someone at one of those shops has a record of who bought that frame (if it wasn't from Riv directly), could call the original buyer, just to see if they did let it go, as a courtesy call....   maybe?

[Anne Paulson]

On Tue, Aug 2, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> What are the chances that a Betty was stolen, and we don't know about it?
> I'm going with "small".

But we don't know anything about this Betty. That is, no one has come
forward and said "That's my bike, I sold it to X, who gave it to Y."
Given that we know nothing, it's perfectly plausible that it's stolen.

--
-- Anne Paulson

My hovercraft is full of eels