hi !
i´m from austria and interested in the tri bikes from cervelo especially the dual. In the european tri forums there are many people talking about bad paint quality and not very lasting paint of the cervelo bikes.
So, because cervelo sells more bikes in north america = more “knowing” people in this forum, I would like to hear your opinions and experience…
peter
I am not sure who in Europe seems to say that Cervelo paint is of poor quality, but for at least 2003 and 2002, the P3 and P2K frames had a powder coat coating as its “paint”. This is an extraordinarily tough, baked-on coating that looks great and is far better than basic frame paint. This is a common process used to ‘paint’ aluminum alloy frames.
As for 2004, if Cervelo is still using powder-coating for their 2-color paint schemes (on the P3 and P2K), you will have nothing to worry about. Check with them and see what they are doing this year for paint.
I’m a Cervelo retailer with a good quantity of their bikes on our floor right now.
Now, you could argue, “Of course this guy is going to say the paint is good becasue he has bikes to sell…”
Or, you could more correctly assume, “This guy buys bikes for a living. He can buy any bikes he wants to sell in his store and since he has to buy a lot of them there is less margin for error for him, he can’t afford to have any bikes with problems.”
The later assumption is true. We sell Cervelo becasue they are well designed bikes with no technical or finish problems. I have sold a lot of Cervelos- I have never seen a paint defect. Not one. As a matter of fact, I have never had a frame returned as defective. We’ve had fantastic luck. I own one myself, a 2004 P3 with Dura-Ace.
Some of the older ones were prone to paint chipping or flaking off but I believe they were repaired under warranty, it has not been a problem on the newer ones.
Shrug - My 2004 P3 picked up two chips on the first ride. And we’re talking clean Silicon Valley roads.
Honestly, I am amazed by this. Three weeks ago I dropped a three-way allen wrench (without the blue vinyl pads) on the top tube of a Dual I was working on: No damage.
Our customer’s bikes have no chips. My bike has been worked on, had component swaps for testing, been ridden, in and out of the trainer and generally used very hard- much harder than most consumers- and no problems.
I read these posts where people get paint damage and think, “How does this happen?” I really wonder.
the problems where discribed in “tour” which is the biggest european bike journal .
So as a maybe new cervelo biker I was curious about it …
Tom - To be somewhat fair (although I don’t think a chip on your first ride is fair) the chip is on the rear of the seat tube where it comes to a point. I’m thinking the smaller contact area of that point makes it more susceptible to chips.
I have a 2003 P2K and the paint is pretty good, held up to one IM traning cycle and no chips whatsoever, but I have seen the older red version 2001 (?) which had a lot of chips and the owner did complain about it, its the last yr before set screws in drop out.
My 2001 (red) P2K scratches and chips when I use a feather duster on it (OK, slight exageration but not by much). I jumped on the Cervelo bandwagon before there was a band. 
My wife’s 2002 (blue) P2K does not. The 2001 also had no clear coat. I believe there were changes made between these two years to correct some problems and the paint is not an issue any longer. They also changed how the cables went into the down tube as my 2001 has some “issues” in that area with the cables pulling out and getting messed up to the point where shifting is affected.
Anyone know if Cervelo will send me some new decals for when I repaint this beast?
What else did you expect? I mean, the Silicon Valley has to be the place where any bike will pick up the most chips!
A friend of mine scratched the top tube (where the sticker is) of his brand new Cervelo soloist today, he is heart brocken. Not necessarily any thing to do with the paint work, but can he get new a new sticker, and can they be peeled off ?
Like others pointed out, the 2001 P2K paint job sux…a two year old bike looks more worn than my 10 year old bike and the decals are coming off. If you want to get decals you have to get them from an authorized dealing because Cervelo won’t sell them direct…Cervelo Customer Service person said because someone might buy the decals and put them on a non-cervelo bike (which I found an odd answer).
A few friends of mine have the newer 2002/2004 bikes and there is no problems with the paint and the decals seem to stay on better.
I have a 2003 P3 (silver) and it has a few minor bubbles in the paint. You don’t notice it until you’re up close. I don’t think it makes me go any slower so I really don’t care that much.