I have a '03 Cervelo Soloist, and my wife had/has a '01 Cervelo P2k and an '02 P2T. The paint on her bikes had/has lots of chips and scratches, but she traveled extensively by plane and automobile with her bikes and would often just throw them in the back of her SUV to, e.g., drive to/from the track w/o any padding to protect it from other bikes, wheels, pumps, etc. OTOH, I’ve yet to chip or scratch mine, simply because I’m reasonably careful.
You (or anyone with reasonable mechanical skills) should easily be able to re-tap this “one size larger”. I think those screws are pretty small…maybe an M4? If so, a 3/16" tap would be slightly larger in dia and probably work out.
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.
-jens
I managed to get one scratch on my soloist (anodized finish). but other than that, yeah, pretty bomb-proof finish.
as far as the overall craftmanship, it seems good - although it does creak some. i’d say of all the ‘points off’ for craftmanship, though, almost all come from the seatpost and the clamp for the saddle. you have to really tighten the seatpost collar like crazy or the saddle will get lower & lower over the course of a ride.
and the clamp for the seat is crazy. i don’t get it. it’s great having the reversible seatpost, but they really need to find some other way of dealing with it, it’s crazy, you can’t get your fingers to the one thing to tighten it enough, so you tighten the other bolt & it changes the angle, just (imo) a dumb piece of equiptment.
normally i don’t htink about that much but i just had to change saddles so it’s on my mind…
-charles
You get what you pay for… it’s an Asian mass-produced frame.
You get what you pay for… it’s an Asian mass-produced frame.
This is a generalization as bad as ‘Americans are Bush-loving, self-absorbed religous fanatics that don’t care about what the rest of the world thinks’.
Francois in montreal
I had the same issue.
Direct from Cervelo, assuming the P2K is the same, the screws are M3. The recommendations were to either fill the hole with JBWeld and drill and tap back to M3. The other option is to drill it out and retap at M4.
I decided to go the drill out and retap at M4 route. I didn’t feel
comfortable doing it myself, despite being reasonably handy. I actually
have a local machine shop that does a lot of one off work for cheap.
I’m glad I took it to him, he only charged me 20$ and mentioned that
it’s quite soft. He also mentioned that if strips out again, a helicoil
might be the best thing to put in there…
if you desire craftmanship why not buy one from a craftsman ?
cleverly engineered and superhumanly marketed bikes massed produced in a chinese factory do not = craftsmanship.
Generalization?
does it really matter to the end customer? Maybe they are made in Canada, but my guess is that Cervelo goes through an extensive design process with the actual builder, and has thie outsourced in Taiwan or China, including paint and finish. I think we all know how this works now. This larger-scale production is also what keeps the bikes from being 5 or 600 dollars more for me and you. I bet if you gave them a call they would be very forthright with this info, as Gerard has been many times on this forum.
Cervelo makes top quality bikes. As an owner of multiple Cervelo bikes I have never had a problem. I do not baby my bikes like they are a Ferarri or something, I train and race on them. With the proper cleaning and maintenance they have lasted with no issues.
I don’t really understand what all the talk about the paint is. Honestly who cares. When was the last time you won a race b/c your bike had few chips or scratches.
Sean
It really depends on how bad it is. If it’s really bad and the hanger is about to break off you’re probably better off having it cut off and a new one welded back on by a framebuilder near you. If the weld is reasonably sound but the hanger itself is slightly cracked/fatigued in the middle I would try to have a local machine shop make a piece that matches the curve of the bracket. The idea is that by using two of them and sandwiching the original piece between them you would strengthen the regular hanger.
In thinking about it a framebuilder would be a good resource to get a little hanger piece from since they weld them on to frames. This route would probably require you to get a slightly longer screw to accommodate the added width of the plate(s).
Just don’t flatten it out and make the crack bigger. Hope that helps.
My P3 SL takes a lickin and shows no signs of wear.
I have an 03 soloist and while the paint has chipped in some high traffic areas it is no different than something like a specialized or trek.
The BB on the soloist is stiffer than stiff. The P3 I haven’t noticed much since I haven’t done any good climbing on it. I am about 220 lbs so if the BB holds up to me most other riders will have no issues.
B
Thanks WiScott and Mindtrip for the advice on retapping the dropouts. We three must be producing world class amounts of sick wattage in order to blow out the set screw threads. Yeah!
I found an easy solution to the crappy stock paint on my P2K, a trip to the powedercoaters and it was solved. I will probably have it redone this year, not because of any problem, but I am bored with the old color and like the sparkling silver I had them do on my road bike. As far as the other points aluminum will oxidize if the paint is chipped, but not corrode unless you soak it in salt water. I have had no issue with the FD hanger or the BB stiffness, but I am 140 on a 51cm frame.
I regard the aluminum Cervelo’s as being a tool to get the job done. They have great design and “functional” building. They lack the “cool” factor of their carbon cousins, but will give you 99% of the performance a fraction of the price. When I put my P2 next to carbon “aero” bikes from other companies and compare the tubing thickness and aspect ratio I dont feel I am missing anything. What I have found works best for me is the geometry, I can get the aggressive aero position using an adjustable stem I am after on my P2 which I couldnt achieve on other bikes with longer head tubes.
Kevin