No problems with my 2013 S5 so far.

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It never gets easier, you just go faster.

Take it to the LBS for a warranty claim. Or epoxy it. I think you use the term "poorly designed" rather loosely here...

4k miles on mine last year and no issues

No chance you over-torqued it?

Nope. Brand new bike (1 month old). Never touched the rear brake attachment. The brake worked fine for a month and essentially fell off on a ride (it was still held to the bike by the cable). The knurled area of the nut that holds the bike to the frame is 2mm in depth.

Must be user error since Cervelos are perfect in every way

The S5 has a plate that bolts to the frame. The plate is a replaceable item that has the brake bolt in it. Here's the Cervelo manual, see page 12.

http://www.cervelo.com/...5-9ca24e04ee85-0.pdf

What exactly broke? Are you just talking about the plate?

Cervelos still have lifetime warranties, no?

The fix is to have the frame replaced. Take it to your dealer. Problem solved.

BTW, IMO, this was probably just a manufacturing process error on that insert installation.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

As you can likely see the plate is intact. The threaded sleeve has come out of the frame, with what looks like carbon and paint as well. The mounting plate would add additional leverage to the brake, making a strong bond in the frame more important.

The plate has to be bolted into the frame. The bolt has to anchor into a threaded piece that's bonded into the frame. That threaded piece appears to have pulled out. But it looks quite irregular to me. Looks like it's been deformed somehow.

it is a known problem, your LBS should be able to get you a warranty replacement or fix no problem

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Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
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The plate is not deformed. It is curved to match the profile of the frame in the area of the brake attachment. The plate is attached via a bolt that is screwed into a knurled nut that is bonded into the frame. The knurled area (which is the area that actually contacts the frame) is only 2mm in depth. So it is no surprise that the failure occurred.

I think he was talking about the knurled area not looking uniform.

In any case, under normal braking loads, there shouldn't be much, if any tension on this insert (the braking loads act to force the plate into the bike frame. So yeah...it IS surprising that it failed, which is why I said my suspicion is a manufacturing process issue.

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http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

What Tom said I said. I know the plate has a bend in it. I have an S5 that I built up myself, so I know the ins and outs somewhat. But I've only owned it less than a week ... Not enough time for junk to start falling off yet. I hate when that happens.

The manual calls for the bolt that holds that plate to the frame to be torqued to a MAX of 4.5 Nm. Thats not much, so its quite possible the LBS overtorqued it, and thus pulled out the insert. In any case, as others have said, its Cervelo warranty time.

Happened to my S5 VWD and it was warrantied for a free new frame through the shop that I got it from. Took around 2 weeks total from shipping it from my door till I got my new one.


Hope this helps!

Thanks. That's what I suspected. Even thought there should be little stress on the attachment it is a really small area of contact between the knurled nut and the frame making (in my non-expert opinion) the likelihood of failure pretty likely. Although I'm no where close to a Cervelo dealer I guess I'll make the trip and bring the bike in.

To update: brought the S5 into ATC, they contacted Cervelo, new frame shipped immediately, ATC swapped out the parts, back on the road again. Great customer service from Cervelo and ATC.

This is how my P5 seat post clamp failure happened as well. The inset the bolt goes into came out of the frame before even 1 ride (save for a test fitting for 20-30 mins). Cervelo must have received a bad batch of epoxy that holds those insets in! Just bumping this so Damon et. al can see there might be a trend here ...

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

Perhaps. My P3C has the same rear brake mount design and I have loads of miles on that bike without any problems. Or maybe the production people are skimping on the adhesive. In any event I was happy to see Cervelo take care of the issue in a major way (frame replacement) without any hesitation.

Does anyone know if Cervelo has implemented some kind of fix on new frames to prevent this happening?

Any comment Damon?

Im very very close to pulling the trigger on a new roadie and a S5 is at the top of my list, but this brake problem has me a little worried.
My P3 has been faultless and I know Cervelo would sort it if I had a problem, but Id rather not have a problem to begin with.

Yep. The hole is the right size now (smaller) so the rivnut grips properly. Problem sorted!

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Damon Rinard
Engineering Manager,
CSG Road Engineering Department
Cannondale & GT Bicycles
(ex-Cervelo, ex-Trek, ex-Velomax, ex-Kestrel)

Thanks Damon.

Will visit my LBS soon!

I am experiencing the same issue with my QR and the LBS put some epoxy on it but I can foresee this issue repeating itself frequently. I am in contact with QR to see how then can help me resolve this issue.