OK, lurk off.
This is the same Cinelli, right down to the pics and serial no, that appeared last month on the DC Craigslist. At that time, I believe Lewis Ting outed it as the Cinelli that was auctioned on eBay last spring to a Japanese bidder for something north of $5K. That listing also had these pics.
I e-mailed the Craigslist "seller" with some questions. He said the bike was in Pennsylvania (a well-traveled ride, that) and the only question he answered was in regards to type of payment. The type accepted was...(drum roll)...bank transfer. What a surprise!
Oh, and he wanted to know if I accepted his terms. It was clear that English wasn't his first language. The next day, Craigslist pulled the ad.
This eBay listing has the same pics, same description word-for-word and presumably the same bank transfer scheme. It's a damn shame, because I /ride/ a 51 to 52.
So we have three different owners in three different locations, all who seem to have rented identical houses/apartments as backdrops to photographing "their" bike. At least the scam is getting more modest with each attempt.
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Phil Sieg
Knoxville, Tennessee