In Reply To:
Chip-
I am starting to come around to your view on this as well. It seems as though the only way to get things done right is to do them yourself. In Rod's case, however, I am going to put at least some of the blame on Cervelo for the incorrect installation. Take just a few minutes and read over the thread, "Can you guys check out my fork insert" on the Cervelo forum and you will see that there has been at least 3 different sets of instructions regarding the minimum insertion of the aluminum insert. Even after all of the commotion on the forum and, most likely, at several Cervelo dealers, there is still a disagreement between Cervelo and True Temper/Alpha Q on what the measurement should be. That said, I still think that the shop should be held accountable for the improper installation. From my very limited knowledge and ability with a bike wrench, I am keenly aware that there are several parts of a bike that you simply have to get right the first time and a fork is one of them.
Rod's case is not one of bad luck, but rather sloppy work by a mechanic. Had the fork been installed correctly and a squirrel jumped into his spokes thereby causing a chain reaction of events leading to the snapping of his fork, then I think that bad luck would be the prime suspect. :) What really irritates me is that Cervelo and, apparently Cervelo dealers, did not act proactively to address the improperly installed fork situation. Short of a recall, as has been suggested by several posters on the Cervelo forum, how is a person supposed to know that his/her fork is installed incorrectly? I just can't believe that Cervelo dealers, or Cervelo, have not made efforts to make sure that SL forks were installed correctly.
I think that Rod's case is very troubling because he did not have a ton of spacers above his headtube and really did think that the insert was far enough into the headtube. The usual scenerio is that a customer wants the bike that doesn't fit and gets that giant stack of spacers thereby making the fork installation faulty. I can't believe it happened to Rod since he is obviously on the right bike.
I am going to be good for a day or two and not make too much noise about this. I have an SLC with a Wolf SL fork in my basement waiting to be built up and have spent a lot of time watching this issue. As I mentioned above, I am **shocked** that this is the first time this has come up on ST. Some people have some explaining to do and I'll wait for them do that before starting my own thread(s).
I'm guessing, and correct me if I'm wrong, that you haven't worked in many bike shops, and if you did they were large (as shops go) corporate chains. That probably means you weren't in one that was sued or were and never heard about it being that only corporate dealt with it.
Bike shops tend to have a policy of aesthetic inspection only because of warranty wording and the wonderful legal system. As soon as a mechanic disassembles something pre-assembled from the factory, a failure at that point is no longer the sole responsibility of the manufacturer. The warranty becomes harder to push through with many companies (thinking of freehubs and wheels right now) and damn near impossible in some cases. Not sure how a wrench inspecting the fork would be grounds for a case that it's not Cervelo's responsibility, but I can guarantee you that given an expensive enough lawsuit their legal team would make a damn good case for it.