This is a tough one. I’m sorry you are having to wait longer than you anticipated, but I hope you will hang in there a little longer, as I am 100% convinced it will be worth it. People who have ridden it really seem to like it. There is a difference between the model being available and somebody’s frame being available. When we say we start shipping a model on a certain date, everybody seems to assume they will get the first frame. We have started shipping (as you mention some shops already got some, but I would assume those are all sold), and we are adding more sizes every month. By the end of December the smallest four sizes should be shipping, by the end of January all sizes should be shipping.
There is also something else that comes into play. I say should ship, as we do this a little different than normal in the industry. We qualify every single size, so we don’t assume that because the 56cm is OK, all sizes are OK. Every single size goes through pilot production ,testing, etc, before it goes into production. And that also means that if there is something we don’t like (stifness, weight, etc) on a particular size, that size gets re-engineered. Which unfortunately can trigger a delay fairly late in the process, but we think that is better than not qualifying all sizes separately and simply shipping 48cm frames with a 56cm frame lay-up.
"Every single size goes through pilot production ,testing, etc, before it goes into production. And that also means that if there is something we don’t like (stifness, weight, etc) on a particular size, that size gets re-engineered. Which unfortunately can trigger a delay fairly late in the process, but we think that is better than not qualifying all sizes separately and simply shipping 48cm frames with a 56cm frame lay-up. "
With this level of detail evident I have to say this really is becoming the design and production standard by which all bikes should be judged. I’m really hoping that a P3c will fit me…
Just so that there is no misunderstanding, we are not the only ones who do this (thankfully). There are other reputable builders who apply the same strategy.
“Cervelo has done a lot of promo for this bike during TdF and interbike, so six months later from TdF introduction…”
The game has changed a bit over the years. In the past, the promotion that was done at the Tour de France, Interbike and other trade and industry events in the summer and fall was promotion only to the trade and the industry for the following year. Some of this information got out to consumers, but by and large the promotion was directed at dealers, reps and distributors. The consumer part of the promotion would not start until print ads would run in the winter and spring when the product was close to being in dealers shops ie Jan - April, of the following year. Now with the internet, consumers are getting all of this promotional information more or less at the same time as everyone else in the industry and, my sense is that they feel it is directed at them and they are getting very excited about it all. Example: They see a prototype at the Tour de France or at Interbike, with pictures writes-up and reviews, and they want to know why it’s not in stores several month later or even sooner. There is nothing wrong with any of this - it is what it is. Obviously we can’t go back to the days of the past, but it may be best on the part of consumers to keep expectations in check with reality. It does take time to engineer, test, re-engineer, test again, get into production, and deliver a high quality and reliable product.
Fleck,
Well, I kind of considered it would be available when retailers start taking orders and you start seeing delivery dates for the model. So, I get the point consumers get the info at the same time as the retailers but that is different then actually seeing dates of availability.
Well, I can’t speak for dealers and the promises they make or dates that they may publish as to when a certain product will be in the store. That can be a bit risky. The hype and also the expectations from the consumers certainly starts a lot sooner than it did years ago. It’s a question of managing that hype and those expactations.
It depends on the size of the frame you’re looking for and when your dealer actually put the order in the queue. We’ve sold a couple of them and had them delivered but put orders into the system when the frame was first announced back in the summer.
I know that some 56 and 54 cm frame sizes have shipped out to dealers, so other sizes should follow shortly. I’ve been told that there is approximately 4 weeks between each size being released as Cervelo tests out the layup for each size to optimize it.
The short answer is that it depends and there are more variables involved. And the people at Cervelo pick up the phone whenever someone from our shop calls. Cervelo has been one of the best companies for us to deal with so if you’re not impressed by their service you would be very surprised by other companies.
My local LBS cannot even get Cervelo to return phone calls these days and give them an ETA. It is Jan 25th, no bike, LBS knows nothing (claim they could have sold 20-30 carbon soloists by now). I keep hearing comments from the LBS like “great bikes, horrible company to deal with”. Sorry for this comment but as an owner of two cervelo’s and waiting patiently for the third there is not a question about loyalty to the brand.
It is kind of funny that you could have ordered the Cervelo Carbon Soloist SL on several websites (very large retailers so this is not isolated to my LBS not receiving bikes) as early as September and you can still order it now but as soon as you put it in the shopping basket, “call for availablity pops” up.
There must be a lack off communication between retailers and cervelo, which again leads to frustrated customers.
Well, a Cervelo dealer is sent a weekly overview of all his orders and the expected delivery date for each of those orders. So if your dealer doesn’t know anything about when Soloist Carbons would ship to him, there are three possibilities: Either we don’t have his e-mail information to send these updates (unlikely), the updates disappear in his Junkmail folder (possible) or he/she is not a dealer. The comments about not getting calls returned or 20-30 sold Soloist Carbons sound strange, every dealer has two reps they can call, the reps call out to the dealer regularly and we have Soloist Carbons in stock. So I would assume there is something else going on, although I don’t know what. If you can PM me the dealer’s name I can look into it for you.
Just for the sake of completeness, for the SLC-SL sizes up to 56cm have been shipping, although no doubt not at the rate our customers would like as demand for this frame is superceding anybody’s projections. The sizes 58 & 61 had some more tweaks to the lay-up than we anticipated, so they were pushed out a little.
Locally here in Norfolk/VA Beach the Cervelo dealer is Final Kick (http://www.finalkick.com). They had a 56 Soloist SL that went out quickly. One/two each of the new P2C/P3C/R3/P2SL/Soloist Carbon and a lot of Ultegra Duals and aluminum Soloists.
Thanks for that information Gerard!
I am eagerly awaiting my 61 cm, and have just been told it was practically about to be delivered… Just a little more patience is needed I guess
