Photos?

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That's fine. No bike that you will veer buy will be perfect. If you look hard enough they will all have some level of defect.

Regardless of the cost, there will sometimes be defects in any manufactured part. Composites have a little more potential for error then some other materials.

I worked in high end road bikes for 6 years, and have been involved with Cervelo quite a bit (I've been to HQ at least 50 times now). Other brands I've dealt with are BMC, Pinarello Colnago, Time and Derosa.


That doesn't look like delamination, but more of a chip. I would not worry about it, riding your bike in your first IM will do more damage to it. If you really are concerned about the cosmetic aspect, buy some clear nail polish and touch it up.

As far as the top tube deformation goes, that isn't particularly odd. I may think its more than "normal", but certainly not something they will warranty. I could take pretty much any bike and I would find some kind of flaw if I really wanted to, regardless of brand. Even if not readily obvious, they all have their defects.


Just ride your bike and enjoy it.

So what’s the purpose of your post? You’re asking opinions when yours has been formed on your bike issue..if you’re venting because you spent 16k on a bike with a shitty paint then complain away, but why ask an opinion and disagree with each one.

Did this get ordered or was it “off the rack” ?

I wouldn’t accept the delivery upon inspection.

I disagree with above posters.

A $15k bike is in the ballpark of price of an equivalent sporty $100k automobile.

You’d find something on the car also, but the expectation is pretty high.

If I ordered a $100k sports car that came with huge orange peel in the paint, I’d ask them to fix it.

At $15k the “any bike has defects” bit doesn’t fly as well. Especially when we sit around and give Chinese open mold frames crap that have pretty much equivalent initial quality.

I have had two top of the line wetsuits at home for fitting and both had very irregular welding/seams and one even marks from glue. Last year I bought a giant road bike (2k for the frame) and due to an ever so slight irregularity of the dropouts the rear wheel isn't centered 100% between the seat stays so I've had to take a file to it. I have a cervelo p2 that had epoxy on the fork when delivered. Do not get me started on the quality of the 450 quid bont shoes I bought last year.

I don't think I have ever owned any really expensive bike or triathlon related product that could keep up quality control wise with expectations and that I didn't have to convince myself to not send back to the retailer.

I don't have a 15k Cervelo bike (congratulations!) but my opinion is this:

Is this level of quality control ridiculous? Yes.
Is this normal (as in does it happen more often than you'd think?). Probably.

looks okay to me.

So the top tube has a cosmetic defect in an area that's designed to be hidden anyway?

Hoping you paid with a credit card because if you did, just call them up and start a claim. Rarely, if ever, do they side with the seller. My AMEX gives me 6 months to file a claim.