Quick question… I recently purchased a Specialized road bike on ebay… The guy I bought it from said it was an '09, but when it arrived I flipped it over to clean some gunk off and saw a sticker that appears to be something Specialized puts on as part of their final QCC check… There are some numbers that appear to be in date format that read “02/10/08”…
Can anyone from Specialized let me know what the small white sticker is used for and whether I should be going after this guy for misrepresenting the age of the bike?
Thanks for the message. If you can pass my details on, I would appreciate it. My issue is basically trying to reconcile the seller’s comments that the bike has “been riden only a couple of times - must sell to make room for a new bike” with a sticker on the bike that implies could be nearly a year old.
If you want to just send the details of this post on, they can send me a private message.
Are you sure about the dating system they used? In the UK (&other places I imagine) it’s DD/MM/YY, in which case, it could have only been made 3 months ago.
Thanks… That’s why I want to talk to someone at Specialized before I contact them… It’s also possible the frame was built and then didn’t ship for several months…
That said, I have a specialized mountain bike and the same sticker has 09/21/06 on it… If it is a date and not a batch number or other reference, the month seems like it’s coming first…
I’m hoping it’s possible to check the frame’s serial number with the model/year etc…
Look at Specialized web page for 09 colors and see if the color is the same on your bike. Most products prepeared way before their date and checked before shipment. to trace back the quality control they put actual control date deadlines. So it could be a 09 frame which was produced in late 08 summer. This is almost same in cars, most dealers have 09 models in mid 08 summer.
Your best assurance would be either serial number check by the manufacturer but easiest way is looking at the colors from Specialized web page.
I work for a specialized dealer and can tell you 09 specialized bikes were released in late July 08. Those bikes were definitely made in 2008 although they are 2009 models. Post a pic of the bike and I can let you know what year it is.
Thanks. The colors were what got me. The bike/color combo doesn’t come up on the site.
I’ll most likely call Specialized tomorrow and see what they can pull up on the serial number - hopefully they can confirm information over the phone and can pass on when the frame was actually made.
When you couldn’t match the color and bike, were you only looking at US bikes? I bought my Specialized road bike a few years ago in Canada and the particular model I got wasn’t listed for the States that year.
