How much does the bike really matter?

[zatar]

Yep, I think I could just buy a new carbon fork, but after checking with my bike fitter, she agreed that it's not really worth it for my current frame. We'll try new stems this weekend as a temporary solution, and hopefully I'll be able to find one, so that I can keep my current bike as a "rain bike."

I also found a CAAD9 frame on Craig's List today and was initially very excited, but have a gut feeling that it may be stolen. I asked the seller about what components it has and she answered, "it has a milano seat cero ifs2 cranks." I asked about pedals and she replied that it has, "it has shimano 105 pedals."

I did ask for the serial number and checked it in the national stolen bike registry. There were no matches, but I am starting to wonder if it was a serial number from the saddle or some other part of the bike because it doesn't match the pattern I've found for other Cannondale serial numbers. It's only 6 digits long and doesn't include the frame size.

So, I'm just not sure. I really want to buy the CAAD9 (it's a good deal!), but I don't want to buy a stolen bike. I am trying very hard to decipher whether it's really stolen, or she just doesn't know much about bikes...