Help - I may be on the horns of a dilemma

greg66_tri_v2.0

And jolly uncomfortable it is too.

I'm going to have to eat a lot of sh!t over this, I know. So let's just skip that part of the discussion and move right along to the useful bit (please? Jash? lit? cjcp? Pretty please?).

I was over at the Cervelo forum and saw someone reporting a crack in the seattube of their aluminium Soloist - warranty issue = free replacement.

So (like an idiot) I check bike 1.

FEEEEEEEEEEEEEECCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!

I've got the same problem.

Now Feck isn't because I've got the problem, it's because of the possible replacement. The current Soloist is a charmingly impractical blend of red and white. And white. And a bit more white. Really great for a winter bike. Not.

Condor had until very recently an aged Soloist in black in my size in the basement. Except it's sold now. The chances of me locating a black Soloist frameset in my size are close to zero - plenty of people on the Cervelo forum have been looking for them over the last 18 months.

So, what do I do?

1. Ignore the problem and wait until the frame fails. Under my @rse/perineum.
2. Ask for a warranty replacement and take the white/white/white/red combo. And look forward to bike cleaning on a daily basis over the winter.
3. Ask for a warranty replacement + cash upgrade to another model in the Cervelo range. All of which are CF (aside from the Soloist/S1), thus breaching my self-imposed rule of having an alu bike for wet & a CF bike for dry.

Feck. It was all going so well until the internet came along. CURSE YOU INTERNET!

BTW, as this is a warranty replacement, a non-Cervelo isn't really an option without me stumping up cash big time (vs little time under option 3).

roger_merriman

option 2 and either a don't clean the bike? or b tin of hamarite?

i'd be probably tempted by option 3 really.

jonginge

Option 2 and put mudguards on it, obviously *runs away a grande vitesse*

itboffin

Whites good for the snow

Will it spoil your colour coordinating outfits, that's the big question

Stop whining MTFU and just buy yourself a new bike.

il_principe

Not good news. Option 2 I guess.

Time for my input though:

1: I told you so re Cervelo! Recalls, recalls and now failures. I wouldn't give em my cash. :shock:
2: Get another bike from a different manufacturer. Just think of the money you are saving by not drinking... spend that money on the bike.
3: Black, White and Red is universally acknowledged to be the most lovely of colour combos, and since when has practicality been an issue anyway? 8)
4: Can your children not be trained in the art of bike cleaning?

lost_in_thought

Could you not take option 4 of jumping up and down and shouting until they give you the exact same frame you had before? That would be my first plan. I mean, it's alu... I'm sure they could just redo the paint job for you. It's not your fault they made a frame that cracked etc etc.

You've got all those barrister-y bullying skills, might as well use them for something.

Failing that, I suppose option 2. You could then get it resprayed (insert correct bike-jargon term here) yourself.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Not cleaning it/practicality/: no-no. I like cleaning the drivetrain, and one you've started on that ...

Child labour: I'd like it done properly.

Mudguards: get out. Get out, right now.

New bike: don't really want one. Two's enough, and I'm not really ready to treat this as a worn out consumer durable. Yet.

Failures: Look have had this exact problem on a number of their high end CF frames for a while. Frame failures happen; it's a fact of life. Three weeks ago I stripped it for a major service. Didn't spot this then. Don't think I would have without knowing where to look.

Just so we're all clear on what the replacement offer looks like




Now click on Bike 1. You can hardly tell the difference, can you (Mr Blunkett)?

redddraggon

A proper British winter bike should have mudguards. Hell even The Great Willhub has mudguards now.

lost_in_thought

Ugh, even I don't like that.

Get them to respray a new frame for you. Clearly that's the answer.

il_principe

Greg66 wrote:

Not cleaning it/practicality/: no-no. I like cleaning the drivetrain, and one you've started on that ...

Child labour: I'd like it done properly.

Mudguards: get out. Get out, right now.

New bike: don't really want one. Two's enough, and I'm not really ready to treat this as a worn out consumer durable. Yet.

Failures: Look have had this exact problem on a number of their high end CF frames for a while. Frame failures happen; it's a fact of life. Three weeks ago I stripped it for a major service. Didn't spot this then. Don't think I would have without knowing where to look.

Just so we're all clear on what the replacement offer looks like








Now click on Bike 1. You can hardly tell the difference, can you (Mr Blunkett)?

Fugly fugly fugly. I'm with LiT, can you not use your legal skills and kick up a huge fuss?

How old is the bike anyway? I agree that failures happen but Cervelo seem to suffer more than most.

Gutted for you though, I'd be seriously fcuked off if this happened to me. Cervelo's ain't exactly cheap.

biondino

I think it's prettier in red and white.

Also - can you *really* not see dirt on the black frame? You don't have to answer this as I know full well you can. More than anything, though, surely the mere fact you *know* the bike's dirty should be all the stimulation you need to clean it, not how noticeable said dirt would be to a myopic mole at 200 yards.

Nag over

jedster

Frame failures happen; it's a fact of life.

Clearly they do happen but they shouldn't not when you are shelling out for a top brand. Is what you are saying that the frame is so tuned/lightweight that you have to accept a higher failure rate? If so isn't it a pretty silly choice as a commuter?

J

greg66_tri_v2.0

lost_in_thought wrote:

Ugh, even I don't like that.

Get them to respray a new frame for you. Clearly that's the answer.

They won't. Mine's anodised. They've dropped that because it was too environmentally damaging. Now they're painted. And there's only one place in the world that Cervelo allow to repaint their frames without voiding their warranty (which, on balance, I'd like to hand onto). That's in New England somewhere, and specialises in the sort of crap that you see on Harley Davidsons.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

It's a 2005 model.

What narks me even more is that mid last year Condor had one of the last unsold black Soloist frames - and it was in my size. From what I could make out on the Cervelo forums, there were none to be found in any country.

And now some inconsiderate c*** has bought MY REPLACEMENT FRAME! Honestly. The rank cheek of some people.

DonDaddyD

Greg66 wrote:

So, what do I do?

1. Ignore the problem and wait until the frame fails. Under my @rse/perineum.
2. Ask for a warranty replacement and take the white/white/white/red combo. And look forward to bike cleaning on a daily basis over the winter.
3. Ask for a warranty replacement + cash upgrade to another model in the Cervelo range. All of which are CF (aside from the Soloist/S1), thus breaching my self-imposed rule of having an alu bike for wet & a CF bike for dry.

This is beyond all previously established levels of tart! Its astonishing!

I really should have a different set of morals and chase a bigger salary....

A quick estimate and I'm guessing your bike costs just as much as my entire bike, my car, TV (LCD HD Samsung) and quite possibly half the rent I pay on my flat combined and you could get a free, new one and you don't because it's white not black and because you'll have to clean it a little more often!?

Dude, seriously.

OK me being constructive time:

Cleaning a bike, I find, is relaxing and a great way to escape the girlfriend and 'bond' with your bike on a more personal level. "You care for your bike it'll care for you"

It's a winter hack so it's allowed to get and look a little dirty, it's not like a house, car, suit etc and reflects/suggests/implies how you live or the person you are.

It's a new Cervelo (although I don't think your current one is that old)

So with that I'd probably go for option 2.

To be fair it must be a generational (age) thing because my Dad asks these type of questions in regards to his stuff and I also look at him in disbelief.

il_principe

Hang on, are you sure that Cervelo isn't a Langster:

Slow Downcp

Could you take the warranty replacement, flog it, and replace with another make? You should be able to get a good alu frameset for the sale price of a new Cervelo. Or is there nothing else that you fancy?

il_principe

Slow Downcp wrote:

Could you take the warranty replacement, flog it, and replace with another make? You should be able to get a good alu frameset for the sale price of a new Cervelo. Or is there nothing else that you fancy?

Yeah, like one of these perhaps? Ok ok so it's carbon:

greg66_tri_v2.0

jashburnham wrote:

Hang on, are you sure that Cervelo isn't a Langster:

Quite.

Nor is it this weird looking girl's Giant




WTF is wrong with black? Insufficiently "pretty" I suppose.

*And* paint gets chipped. An anodised finish doesn't.

Slow Downcp

What size do you need? Parkers MAY still have this in stock in 54cm:

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/6 ... Frame.html

greg66_tri_v2.0

jedster wrote:

Frame failures happen; it's a fact of life.

Clearly they do happen but they shouldn't not when you are shelling out for a top brand. Is what you are saying that the frame is so tuned/lightweight that you have to accept a higher failure rate? If so isn't it a pretty silly choice as a commuter?

J

There's some sense in that, I concede. But taking a more objective view than I'm taking at the moment, if the manu stands behind the frame and replaces it, then aside from the hassle factor, it's fine.

My hassle factor extends to a toys-out tantrum over colour schemes. Probably not what a manufacturer really cares about. Probably rightly so.


Trouble with the take it & flog it route is that I'll get nothing like even the discounted RRP for it on ebay or a classified forum. So then it's pocket time again.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Slow Downcp wrote:

What size do you need? Parkers MAY still have this in stock in 54cm:

http://www.parker-international.co.uk/6 ... Frame.html

Good find, but I'm a 56. Thanks though.

lost_in_thought

Greg66 wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

Ugh, even I don't like that.

Get them to respray a new frame for you. Clearly that's the answer.

They won't. Mine's anodised. They've dropped that because it was too environmentally damaging. Now they're painted. And there's only one place in the world that Cervelo allow to repaint their frames without voiding their warranty (which, on balance, I'd like to hang onto). That's in New England somewhere, and specialises in the sort of crap that you see on Harley Davidsons.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

B****cks to that. Screw the environment. If they didn't make frames that cracked it wouldn't be an issue.

I wouldn't give a monkey's whether they said no. They're replacing it and thy can pay for a carbon (teehee) copy of what you have now. And clearly although they specialise in harleys they could probably handle a simple grey-on-grey finish.

However, yes, warranty = very important!!

DonDaddyD

@ Jash: Isn't the Prince, white black and red and too far off the Cervelo and Langster?

@ Greg: In all honesty, if I was spending money or have spent money, from an aesthetic point of view the new Cervelo (white and red) does look bland.

Jamey

Your other bike is also a black Cervelo. Can't you make that the winter bike and make the new (white) one the summer bike instead?

Coriander

Greg66 wrote:

Mmmm... I quite like that. And I do try and choose my bikes by their colour, though the boys I take bike shopping with me never let me.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Jamey wrote:

Your other bike is also a black Cervelo. Can't you make that the winter bike and make the new (white) one the summer bike instead?

Through luck and guile I acquired the other frameset for peanuts.

RRP is >£2.5k. So probably a bit extravagant for a winter hack.

That's not to say I hadn't thought of something along those lines though...

Jamey

Greg66 wrote:

Jamey wrote:

Your other bike is also a black Cervelo. Can't you make that the winter bike and make the new (white) one the summer bike instead?

Through luck and guile I acquired the other frameset for peanuts.

RRP is >£2.5k. So probably a bit extravagant for a winter hack.

That's not to say I hadn't thought of something along those lines though...

Whichever way round you do it, you're going to have a winter bike that's more expensive than most people's summer bike.

il_principe

DonDaddyD wrote:

@ Jash: Isn't the Prince, white black and red and too far off the Cervelo and Langster?

@ Greg: In all honesty, if I was spending money or have spent money, from an aesthetic point of view the new Cervelo (white and red) does look bland.

What?! :shock: :shock: :shock:





Big big difference my Friend.

Clever Pun

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Cervelo-Soloist-Road-Bike-Frame-Fork-Set-56cm_W0QQitemZ280292776043QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item280292776043&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

???

cjcp

Not good. Am I right in thinking that, as regards Option 2, you don't think the 3T fork is up to much. Can you upgrade these to a colour which doesn't clash with the rest of the frame?

If you acquired Bike 2 for peanuts, you should be able to justify going with Option 3. I'm with you about the colour. It's very white.

Alternatively, call Cervelo dealers (e.g Primera in Bournemouth, or Sigma) to see if they have the 2005 Soloist in stock, or if they know where one can be acquired, or if anyone in cycling clubs is looking to sell theirs.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Clever Pun wrote:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-Cervelo-Soloist-Road-Bike-Frame-Fork-Set-56cm_W0QQitemZ280292776043QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR?hash=item280292776043&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1688|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

???

Has to be supplied by a dealer to get the warranty. Doing some googling of phone numbers makes me think this lot might be Tredz in Cardiff (is Cardiff near Swansea? I dunno. It's all Wales), who are an authorised dealer. Not sure how easy it is for the distrib to to pull frames across the dealer network. Might have to look into that asap.