For all you know he's cobbled together his allez with really old 105 components that are 7 or 8 speed. I don't know how old allez are - but he coulda just gotten a frame and built it up with spare parts hanging around.

Maybe the allez is pretty beat up.


Or he really doesn't know anything at all about bikes. I have bought 9 speed 105 bikes off craigslist for $200-250 a couple of times (mostly to give to relatives who wanted bikes). One was a trek with a really small dent in the top tube, not enough to make the bike unusable or unsafe, but enough to lower the resale value. The other was a performance house brand. Neither were stolen, one was a stay at home mom who was giving up triathalons.

Ask for the serial # and you can have the bike shop check the registries. I've had people who are buying bikes from me ask for that in advance before coming over.