Cervelo R5 VWD Bottle Cage Mount Problems

Velonutter

I'm personally taking my bike down to Madison in the morning, they want it for a couple of hours, if they agree it is faulty then I will strip the frame in the car park and hand it over to them, then they will arrange for a replacement to be sent to my LBS as that is their policy.

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

It will only take me 10 minutes to strip everything and put it in a box, so not unduly worried about that.

I've been dealing with Huw in their warranty department and he's been very quick to reply and helpful.

Will provide feedback when I have returned.

rolf_f

Velonutter wrote:

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

Well that's understandable. It's not as though bike stripping fires are uncommon. You could bring their entire office down.

bernithebiker

Rolf F wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

Well that's understandable. It's not as though bike stripping fires are uncommon. You could bring their entire office down.

'Elf 'n safety innit.

Sorry, but it's been blindingly obvious since the 1st photo that those bottle mounts are simply not right.

smidsy

Rolf F wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

Well that's understandable. It's not as though bike stripping fires are uncommon. You could bring their entire office down.

Whereas they are totally un-responsible for any harm that may come to you or their property in the car park - err, guess what....oh yes they are.

Total cobblers, if it were me I would be stripping it down in the foyer and blocking everyone from getting in/out. I would also do it really slowly

Velonutter

smidsy wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

Well that's understandable. It's not as though bike stripping fires are uncommon. You could bring their entire office down.

Whereas they are totally un-responsible for any harm that may come to you or their property in the car park - err, guess what....oh yes they are.

Total cobblers, if it were me I would be stripping it down in the foyer and blocking everyone from getting in/out. I would also do it really slowly

I ain't worried mate, I know the law is an ass, and the bloke is only doing his job.

I'm off shortly so will let you know how it goes.

danlikesbikes

Velonutter wrote:

smidsy wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Velonutter wrote:

They apologised for not letting me strip it down in their offices, but apparently their insurance won't cover it.

Well that's understandable. It's not as though bike stripping fires are uncommon. You could bring their entire office down.

Whereas they are totally un-responsible for any harm that may come to you or their property in the car park - err, guess what....oh yes they are.

Total cobblers, if it were me I would be stripping it down in the foyer and blocking everyone from getting in/out. I would also do it really slowly

I ain't worried mate, I know the law is an ass, and the bloke is only doing his job.

I'm off shortly so will let you know how it goes.

Glad to hear that your getting it sorted, as you said sounds like an obvious issue that should have been taken more seriously by them in the first place.

For what its worth from your photos it does look like a manufacturing issue but either way am sure that you'll get it sorted.

Don't think it has anything to do with insurance or H&S laws but the companies own interpretation of both & rather than offering to help you out (you could easily do this on an a plastic sheet inside) have thrown up the old "insurance wont allow it" or "cant help you is H&S gone mad" bollox that I see so much these days. You'd have though that the main distributor would have realised their mistake after you went direct to Cervelo.

Just reading this which kind of highlights my point - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22007307

Velonutter

Right, just got back from Madison in Milton Keynes, Huw the Warranty Guy couldn't have been more helpful and as soon as he saw the frame he declared the bottle cages to be out of alignment, but he needed to confirm with Cervelo in Canada if there was any other measurements they needed from the frame to confirm it, naturally Canada being 5 hours behind us, meant me hanging on until about 14:45 so that Huw could get confirmation.

So the long and the short of it is, is that the frame is out of alignment or the bottle cages are out of alignment and as such the frame will be replaced with a 2013 model.....but!

Cervelo have no R5 frames in a 54cm until at least May, in addition they no longer do the VWD, they are all just R5, but what is more annoying is that they will only be producing a Matt Black frame, no other options, which to be truthful is not what I wanted as I tend to ride my R5 through most weathers in the summer and bought the original one on the basis that a gloss paint was easier to clean.

Anyway Huw told me to keep my R5 for now and use it and then they will send the replacement to my LBS and all I have to do is drop the bare frame back to the LBS.

So for any of you that have offset bottle cages it might be worth you also doing a warranty claim as Cervelo confirmed that they should sit central to the frame, their tongue in cheek fix (I'm guessing it was that as it would have been really stupid otherwise) is to fit a metal bottle cage and bend it central :shock: :shock: :shock:

Thanks for everyone's help, much appreciated.

NB. BTW Just read elsewhere that they are producing an R5 VWD but for electronic only, might have to have a chat as I have an R5 VWD and that is what I really should have as a replacement.

http://forums.cervelo.com/forums/t/11330.aspx

smidsy

And the original shop with 'all the other frames the same as yours' needs to junk them all!!!!

Or admit he was wrong and do all the work for you free (including the strip down).

Velonutter

smidsy wrote:

And the original shop with 'all the other frames the same as yours' needs to junk them all!!!!

Or admit he was wrong and do all the work for you free (including the strip down).

Yeah, I will email the original shop tomorrow when I get a chance as I have a load of work to catch up with now.

I wouldn't let anyone build or dismantle my frames, only person I trust is me.

Huw at Madison did give me advance replacements of the BBright cups which saved me having to get them shipped separately.

rolf_f

Velonutter wrote:

Cervelo have no R5 frames in a 54cm until at least May, in addition they no longer do the VWD, they are all just R5, but what is more annoying is that they will only be producing a Matt Black frame, no other options, which to be truthful is not what I wanted as I tend to ride my R5 through most weathers in the summer and bought the original one on the basis that a gloss paint was easier to clean.

I feel your pain. My Orange P7 mtb (in matt black) had to be replaced due to chainstay corrosion. Unfortunately, they don't do the P7 anymore. Or any steel frame 26 inch wheeled hardtail. The only option was a new Orange Crush - in aluminium and with matt black paint. Now I'm not such a fan of alloy bikes as steel but, given no easy alternative, I couldn't refuse it - but I did insist on them respraying it Orange. I hate matt black. As you say, a pain to clean and eventually the paint starts polishing to a gloss. Never again. Luckily, they were happy to do that for me and the bike is very nice.

More practically - are there any sellers with the VWD frame in stock? On the basis that they aren't replacing like with like, it would be reasonable for them to source existing unsold stock. Orange did try this for me with P7 frames and rang around several sites that listed them but to no avail. But it is worth asking.

Velonutter

Thanks Rolf, unfortunately I bought one of the last remaining 2012 Stock as Cervelo had a special deal going at the time.

Madison had already checked for any other stock around and there was none.

Looks like I have no alternative but to accept the replacement, whether I keep it or not is another matter, perhaps another Colnago will be in the calling

StillGoing

As a good will gesture for all the hassle you've had, could they not lacquer the frame for you effectively making it easier to wipe down after crap weather use?

Velonutter

The frames come from the far East and are then shipped direct to Canada for onward shipment, if they were made in Canada, then I would have thought they could do it, but doubt very much that they would even consider it this time round.

paulieb2006

Glad you are getting sorted! What crankset are you running. I was looking at one of the 2013 S5 frames but am unsure if my DA 7900 crankset will work with it! Any thoughts?

Velonutter

paulieb2006 wrote:

Glad you are getting sorted! What crankset are you running. I was looking at one of the 2013 S5 frames but am unsure if my DA 7900 crankset will work with it! Any thoughts?

Hi Paul,

I'm a Campag man so only run Campag, I'm using BBright cups with standard UT cranks.

Sorry I can't help with Shimano, but would have thought you just needed some BBright cups.

rolf_f

Velonutter wrote:

The frames come from the far East and are then shipped direct to Canada for onward shipment, if they were made in Canada, then I would have thought they could do it, but doubt very much that they would even consider it this time round.

If your current frame is still mint, maybe the cage bolt threads could be corrected. I'd probably prefer that to a new, lesser and matter frame!

Velonutter

Nah Rolf, they are miles out, well about 1 - 1.5cm's not really what I'm looking for, so I shall wait for the replacement and decided then whether tom keep or not.

bernithebiker

IS there a bottle mount on the downtube?

If so, and assuming that's straight, can't you just use that one? And then cut a tasty deal with Cervelo for a £500 voucher or something...?!

Velonutter

bernithebiker wrote:

IS there a bottle mount on the downtube?

If so, and assuming that's straight, can't you just use that one? And then cut a tasty deal with Cervelo for a £500 voucher or something...?!

In the summer I use both bottle cages.

I'm not interested in a discount, I would just like a frame that is right.

smidsy

No you want a frame that is correct :-)

You already have one that is off the to right. Or should that be BBright.?

bernithebiker

Velonutter wrote:

bernithebiker wrote:

IS there a bottle mount on the downtube?

If so, and assuming that's straight, can't you just use that one? And then cut a tasty deal with Cervelo for a £500 voucher or something...?!

In the summer I use both bottle cages.

I'm not interested in a discount, I would just like a frame that is right.

OK, fair enough. It's just I never use my seattube bottle mount, I can always get away with just the one.

itboffin

Rolf F wrote:

greasedscotsman wrote:

The tubes aren't straight. The seat tube is cutaway to make room for the front mech and chainset.

But I do think Velonutter's R5 has a fault. One or both of the bottle cage fixings are not correct. Interested to see what Cevelo say about it.

It's interesting that Canyon but of course, in that case the bottle cage would still be centred wrt the cranks.

PS, that Canyon seat tube. Couldn't live with that. It's the top moose of bicycle seat tubes. Even Pinarello haven't made a seat tube that ugly. I think!

Possibly the OPs bike has misaligned bottle boss threads. Might be easy to check that one by removing the cage and reinserting the bolts a single turn minus the cage and seeing where they point.

You know I think that's why I didnt buy the the Canyon CF SLX last year when I made a trip to the showroom in Koblenz everything else about the bike was spot on, still i have a Cervelo R5 VWD now so all good.

to the OP sounds like some excellent customer service, good to hear even if its a PITA right now

lovestheclimb

John,

only just checked this thread after quite a long time and I have exactly the same problem as you with the bolts, furthermore I don't want to change the frame, I really like the colour of the vwd I have.

ahhhhh i don't know what I'm going to do.
I think perfect scenario would be to get a europcar c59 colour way replacement.

Velonutter

Yep, I really, really don't want the 2013 frame, don't appeal to me at all, I am happy with the 2012 colours.

I've checked with Madison and they have said that I can't transfer the warranty if I sell the new frame, but that I could change the size one up or one down.

So will wait until it arrives, but may well sell it and buy another Colnago replacement.

I also asked if I could have an electronic frame and guess what...Cervelo are still not going to make a Di2/EPS compatible frame with internal wiring, if you want Di2 then you have to fit external, otherwise it's tough :roll: :evil:

I'm fast coming to the conclusion that the new Group having bought out the original owners (VWD) really haven't got a clue on what the general public want.

You really should contact Huw at Madison and put a warranty claim in for your bottle cages, let me know if I can help?

lovestheclimb

I will contact Huw, but just so unsure what to do.

the thing is I have hardly ridden it, if i hammered it then I'd be happy to change the frame but its barely been touched.

I will keep you posted on what I do, but definitely keep us posted on what you do.

Crispyapp

What a result...... Well ill gladly swap you my 2012 VWD r5 for the Matt blk if you want when it comes. Mine is brand new....and a size 54?

Velonutter

Crispyapp wrote:

What a result...... Well ill gladly swap you my 2012 VWD r5 for the Matt blk if you want when it comes. Mine is brand new....and a size 54?

Thanks Crispy, but I think I'll wait until the new one arrives and if it appears as bad as I think then I will sell and buy another Colnago.

Velonutter

Just as an update, Cervelo cannot supply a replacement frame until the end of June, which means I won't get it until sometime in July.

Although Huw at Madison has been helpful, I can't help feeling that Cervelo have got to be one of the worst manufacturers concerning their warranty.

What would have happened if I hadn't taken the bike down to Milton Keynes but had stripped the bike down and sent the frame away, I would have been left without a bike whatsoever.

Definitely a manufacturer to avoid for the future. :roll: :x

bernithebiker

One would expect better from a 'Premium' bike manufacturer.

Velonutter

Just a further update, Cervelo still have no idea when they will receive a replacement frame, apparently they have not received any R5's in a 54cm this whole year.

I feel that this is a disgusting service and I will never ever buy another Cervelo. :evil:

So in February I advised Cervelo of the fault and 5 months later they are still unable to provide a date from when they can supply a replacement.

I have told them that if the replacement frame is not here by the end of the month, then I don't want a 2013 frame and will just have to wait for a 2014 one.

If any of you are thinking about buying a Cervelo, then I would think twice as their Customer Service is probably the lowest of the lowest, the quality of their workmanship and quality control is terrible, this frame should never have left the factory and I bet if you look at any 2012 R5 frames you will find a similar problem with the bottle cages being offset incorrectly.