I will start off by saying this isn't a very "odd" or "crazy" craigslist experience, but more of just be careful what you're looking at. So the guy said in the ad that he had a 1996 CR250 which was running fine and he parked it, then when he went to ride it again it wouldn't start. He already took the top end off (without compression testing it) and said it looked "fine", and gave up figuring out what was wrong. So me and a buddy wanted to go halves on it, fix it, and sell it for profit. My buddy and I went down to look at it and you could just tell it was a total piece of crap. the plastics were extremely sun faded and cracked. the paint on the frame was crappy, and the seat had no cover to it. Thanks to you guys of blasterforum, I checked the connecting rod on the crank for any play, and thank god I did! Side-to-side movement was within spec, however I went to check for up and down movement and it literally moved a centimeter on the crankshaft!! I asked the guy if he heard any engine noise when it was running and he said no...(either he's stupid or lying out his ass). Needless to say we passed, and he took it down from craigslist. So even if you know it's a project bike, be careful it's not too far gone.
