Lately, a few people have told me that Cervelo’s are poorly crafted, that the paint chips really easily, that the aluminum corrodes quickly, that the front deraillieur bracket breaks off, that the bb area is weak . . . all sorts of stuff.
So, are these valid problems with Cervelos? Anyone have any experience/problems with the craftsmanship of their Cervelo?
Or are they, in reality, just awesome bikes? I’d like to buy one, but after hearind some horror stories, I am having second thoughts. Can you assuage my fears, Cervelo riders?
I have had P2k for 3 years, it is the bike I train and race on so it gets used. I would say the paint does seem to be a bit lightweight but I can’t honestly say it is any more so than other bikes since I don’t own other road bikes to compare it to. Other than the paint I would say I love my bike and have no complaints, including the issues you listed below. It would be nice if Cervelo provided touch up paint though.
That is one I would really have a hard time believing. Visually I don’t see how it could be true and Gerard has made a point of mentioning bb stiffness as a strength of the bikes. I’d be skeptical of any other information from someone who also said the bb area is weak.
One reason there are lots of horror stories is there are lots of Cervelos now. Very, very popular bikes. Some of them are bound to have problems.
Well, seeing as the P2SL you are looking at has no paint (it is annodized) I guess that won’t be an issue now will it. Bottom bracket stiffness? Cervelos are routinely tested as the highest of ALL bikes (see Tour magazine) in that category. Same bike ridden by many pros that can put out a lot more wattage than you or I.
If you are looking opinions - I think their paint is suspect as well (I have a Soloist Carbon). I think they are manufactured as well as any other Tiawanese frame (i.e. Giant, Specialized, Scott, Merck, etc.), but they are engineered/designed better. Bottom bracket stiffness is definitely not an issue I can assure you on any of the new Cervelos anyway.
The P2SL isn’t painted, so paint quality isn’t really a concern. I’ve had one for two seasons and haven’t seen any of the issues you’ve mentioned. Maybe ask this person what percentage of FD brackets break compared to other brands, or how he is measuring BB “weakness”. It sounds like he’s just passing along crap he’s heard without evidence.
The paint isn’t that great. but the more layers and the more high quality of paint the more the frame is going to weigh. And when they are trying to make a super light frame, paint is kinda on the back burner. As you can see from their paint designs this year
I would disagree with each of those characterizations, although it is worth noting that I sell (and buy) Cervelos.
In general you won’t see the level of finish on a Cervelo that you find on a Guru. That isn’t part of what you’re paying for. Guru’s are more expensive and part of what you are paying for is the better paint durability and appearance.
That said, no Guru is as aero as a Cervelo.
Cervelo’s emphasis is on design, function and fit. Those are the *first *places to focus a company’s efforts. As a result, the bikes are very good. They aren’t everything- no bike is. But they are durable, have a wide fit band and work well on the road. Are they meant to be hung on a wall? Yeah- after every ride.
My only problem with the aluminum 2002 P3 is a stripped drive side drop out for the adjusting screw. I have inserted wood pieces in place of the screw for now.
Slightly biased Cervelo retailer here. We haven’t seen any problems with the bikes. Paint on some of the aluminum versions has been an issue but I haven’t seen a bike that was actually ridden for a few years which didn’t have some scratches or chips.
We have seen one front derailleur hanger be damaged. This person brought their frame to us since “their bike shop”, non Cervelo dealer, decided that it would be a good idea to insert washers behind the screw to flatten it out a little. Needless to say the front derailleur hanger eventually cracked which is why they came to our store. We’re in the process of going through a crash replacement for him as that is what Cervelo opted to do to remedy the problem caused by his previous mechanic.
I wondering if this will be very helpful to reply as it would seem that you have not thoroughly read through the Cervelo website which discusses their frame testing in some detail. Otherwise, you would have anwsered a couple of your questions.
So, for what it is worth, I have a 2004 P3, painted aluminum frame. I have somewhere over 8,600 miles on it so far. No frame issues, there is a little corrosion under the paint near one of the cable holes on the top tube. This is not unusual for the P3s and has been discussed previously. I am currently in the process of swapping out chain rings and cassette as I have pretty much worn them out. The bolts on the Syntace C2 aero bars are looking a little rusty. Time to swap them out this winter as well.
I have a paint scheme evolving in my head for repainting the P3 in a couple of years when it is time to deal with the corrosion and to freshen up the bike. I’m thinking it will be pretty cool. But then, doesn’t everyone who has their bike repainted?
I actually have read the Cervelo website very thoroughly. So what my friend was saying didn’t add up with what I had read. I wanted to compare real world road testing versus lab testing done by Cervelo. Of course every company out there is going to make their bikes look good on a website; I was wondering how it compared to real riding.
I think you will find the support from Cervelo and their dealers is truly excellent.
I own a P3-SL and a P3 Carbon. The P3-SL finish seems impervious to just about any kind of abuse. I have few clearcoat flakes come off under some electrical tape I had left on for too long. But I think the finish is quite solid overall. They are very fast, well designed bikes. That’s what’s important.
I have an 8 year old Cervelo Erye Road bike( the predecessor to the Soloist) This bike has had the crap ridden out of it and is still going strong. In fact, next weekend I am riding in in the the annual epic, To Hell And Back ride north of Toronto - a brutal 120 K over gravel and dirt roads, hiking trails, abandoned rail lines and farm tracks.
If you are worried about strength and durability - don’t be!
“The P3-SL finish seems impervious to just about any kind of abuse. I have few clearcoat flakes come off under some electrical tape I had left on for too long. But I think the finish is quite solid overall.”
Hmm… since the P3SL is anodized and not painted and clearcoated that just seems like a crappy anodizing if anything is coming off!
Darrell, I have an '03 P3 with the front derailure got smashed a bit. It looks like someone over torqued the front derailure on it. I get it to work ok and my Cervelo dealer inserted a shim to adjust the cage angle. I was looking at some bike repair shops to see if they could braze on a new bracket. If you know of anyone who could do this type of repair I’d appreciate it if you let me know.
I’ve always thought of the bottom bracket as being fairly stiff without much flex. I’m tall and weigh in at 200 lbs so when I stand on the pedals I get some oomph on it.
As far as the paint, I bought the bike used and don’t know how many miles were put on it. Since I’ve had it I put on 1500-2000 miles and the only problem is some scratches on the chainstay from when I dropped my chain once. My Felt has a lot of chips but I just touch up with model paint.
“The P3-SL finish seems impervious to just about any kind of abuse. I have few clearcoat flakes come off under some electrical tape I had left on for too long. But I think the finish is quite solid overall.”
Hmm… since the P3SL is anodized and not painted and clearcoated that just seems like a crappy anodizing if anything is coming off!
I meant to say the flakes came off the P3C. Nothing has ever come off the P3-SL despite my efforts to ding it up.
I second DD’s recommendation. I own a Seduza for training and Lucero for racing and I have not had a single issue with paint or craftsmanship. I owned both a Cervelo Dual as well as a P3 in the past and they were both nice riding stiff bikes. I, like many others who have posted on this subject on the twitch, also experienced pretty significant paint issues with both bikes. Their paint does chip and flake easily. Almost seems like if you stare at it too long it chips. Now the annondized versions don’t seem to have that problem so if you must join the Cervelo mafia, I’d probably lean towards the P2SL in the aluminum frames but the best bang for the buck in my opinion and DD’s opinion is the QR Seduza. You can still pick up a left over 2006 Seduza for around $2000. Now that’s a deal!
