My new bike... Cyfac GOTHICA :)

[DocRay]

Cervelo:

First off, one of my pet peeves with any company is when they do not offer a direct method of contact, no phone, no email, no address, nothing. This makes me fee like they think they are too good to be contacted. They also require a pretty heafty up front setup for dealers. This is something that also upsets me, why not get someone who SELLS bikes on your bikes?

I was also confirmed one too many times of reliability issues. No big deal I guess as I am sure Cervelo has a great warranty, but I can not beat the lifetime warranty of my Cyfac and the WONDERFUL service and crash replacement. I also like to ride my bikes, not ship them back for service.

K

Also, their dealer locator did not work well and this furthered my question why I could not easily purchase a frame to "try".

Cervelo is a very small company with some growing pains, and they have good sales for 2006. It is unreasonable for them to personally answer your queries, they would do nothing but that all day. The dealer issue is because Cervelo has had some trouble with "test" bikes and sleazy dealers who misrepresented themselves.
The only reliability issue is with the R2.5s, but the lifetime warranty is not transferable, which means that those with pricey R2.5s cannot sell them, and even those buying brand new frames for $1500 on ebay have no warranty. At those prices, the warranty should be better.

The company is not well managed and my LBS dropped them as a seller because they could not get bikes reliably from Cervelo.

I asked about Cervelo bumper stickers in 2005, they told me I'd get some by september, I asked again in January and Spring, they responded finally by saying they don't have any, not will they get any. Marketing genius. A customer offers free advertising and they turn it down.
The registration page is supposed to inform owners of customer appreciation events, previews and factory tours, but I have never been informed of any of these events in the last year.

I really like my team Soloist, but it will likely be the last Cervelo I own.

[flying]

The only reliability issue is with the R2.5s, but the lifetime warranty is not transferable, which means that those with pricey R2.5s cannot sell them, and even those buying brand new frames for $1500 on ebay have no warranty. At those prices, the warranty should be better.

True both of mine were R2.5's But late 2005 models that they assured me all the problems had been solved on.As for the R3 I hope things would be better but as I said I would wait for a track record before ever dealing with them again.
Yes the lifetime warranty was nice as I got it replaced but shipping frames back is not included & added up to over three hundreds dollars. Overall in the end I felt it was a low quality frame sold at a high price due to the company riding on CSC's coat tails.

If anyone is considering a Cervelo please use a LBS as the warranty is very important or was in my case.

I really like my team Soloist, but it will likely be the last Cervelo I own.

Yes I did like my R2.5 too. But the 2nd one was my last one too
There is nothing special about them really. Poor quality, poor fit & finish.
Perhaps someday they will be a company that rivals the greats but at this time they are not in the same league.

Disclaimer These are only my opinions based on my experiences

[col hicks]

iubike i was just wondering what the actual weight of the frame was , i have found a dealer in the uk and he is sending me some info , i love it

[DocRay]

There is nothing special about them really. Poor quality, poor fit & finish.

What is special is that these are among the most expensive frames available.
They should be better.

[guerciottiman]

What a gorgeous bike

I've had long enough to drool over the bike to ask a question to Cysak (& iubike)....why the huge discrepancy between the claimed weight of 937g and the actual (for iubike's frame) of over 1300g? I appreciate that the claimed weight is for a clear coated frame whereas iubike has a painted frame and possibly also different sizes. Although, iubike's frame does look like a small to medium size.

Even with these possible differences of size and additional paint, I just found it a little surprising that there was a difference of nearly 400g on a frame that is made and sold as a lightweight frame.

[santabarbara]

I AM the LBS

K

I can see how a lot of people would get frustrated by not being able to deal direct with Cervelo but we are in the same boat of not dealing direct with the end user and for us (or Cervelo or any other rapidly expanding company) this works out better in the long run.

Companies like us (manufacturers) use distributors because it is simply impossible for us to have our own reps all over the country that will generate the same amount of sales as using a lot of different distributors to go out and sell the product for us.

I think it's different for a lot of smaller companies that will deal direct because they are dealing at a boutique end of the market and often direct contact is the best way to do things because a lot of this stuff is custom made.

What everyone needs to remember is that if you buy directly from a manufacturer then that is going to piss the distributor off because they are missing out on making any money because they are taken out of the equation. This leaves no incentive for the distributor to sell more of the companies product because they take the distributors sales away and the distributor makes no money.

So in the long run it is in the manufacturers best interests to not deal direct and keep the distributor/supplier relationship on a good level.

That and you should be supporting your local LBS as well.

Cheers

Good man!

[giant man]

Never ridden a Cervelo but I know one thing, how contactable a company like Cervelo is or not, the Cyfac Gothica looks a darn sight nicer and better quality than any Cervelo I've ever seen, and I've seen a lot of them.