Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Back to California & Goodbye Cervelo - Hello Cannondale

Lots of change!  Here we go!

I've spent the past 7 months in Japan on a bit of a working vacation.  It was excellent - will follow up with more pictures soon. Back in Orange County Southern California now and I've hit the ground running... Errrr, rolling that is!

I have switched off of my Cervelo S5VWD Di2.  I am officially a Cannondale man now - Super Six Evo Bike Religion Team - full SRAM RED and my Mavic Cosmic Carbone SLR's that I had previously. (Love my Mavic...) Review soon to come - put down my first test miles today.



Why would I switch off my beloved Cervelo?  It's been a love hate relationship from the beginning (read other blogs here).  I have included the link to the Tokyo Cycling Club forums where I went into great detail about my experience with my S5VWD while in Japan.  See here... Cervelo Fail Saga - Tokyo Version

I don't want to go into massive depth here (see blogs and forums) why the Cervelo didn't work out.  I feel the company has a lot of work to do with quality control.  The S5VWD is fast and stiff but they need to sort out the BB issues FAST. Bottom line - cyclists need to pedal.  For people like me who have routines and high average weekly mileage and saddle time the most important factor is having a unit that WORKS when you need it to.

I'm really looking forward to putting some miles on the Cannondale and having a great time doing it.  This particular frame is a Team version that was prepared by Cannondale for the race team that Bike Religion is sponsoring.  The frame and layup are factory but the paint is custom, etc.  Will do a shoot soon.

Thanks!


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Cervelo Saga Part 4

Reported from a forum I was writing on...

Long time follow up on the S5VWD build by Seo Lalaport:

Via a communication from Cervelo Canada to Cervelo Japan Seo was told to build the bike. They have a lot of high end stuff there so wasn't too worried. Besides, all of the parts were pre-adjusted and ready to rock on the other S5.

They said they needed a week so I said ok and dropped off both the new frame and my S5. 

Week goes by and it's done! I'm so excited to try finally ride the VWD! I get about 1km out of the shop and stand up to pedal and I hear it... A dreaded pop / knock sound!! 

This isn't old stuff for cervelo. I've actually has a few, yes I said a FEW, frames warrantied because of this mystery bottom bracket technology that doesn't work. For bbright people in the know - yes we put Loctite and followed all the critical steps. So... Knocking bb... I make another appointment and cycle back down to lalaport (45mins) so they can regrease and reinstall the crank and check everything. NOTHIng worked... Same noise. I go home again with the broken bike and go to work on it myself. Checked everything. No fix. So, again, they want me to drop it off and give them ANOTHER week to diagnose and try different bb cups... Again nothing works. 

I don't get any call for almost 2 weeks and finally I call. Turns out they are going to send the bike to the cervelo headquarters in japan for inspection. Without my approval. Yes... Strip the entire bike and put EVERYTHING in a box, including Mavic carbon wheels, and kick it out the door to their rep.  BUT, the rep isn't in japan at the moment and it hasn't shipped yet. wtf? I figured this out when I just showed up one day and asked what the deal was. They had no new info, bike still doesn't work, and they have no idea what the rep will say. So I tell him he's done. Put the bike together, this is out of control, you're finished. I'll pick up the bike tomorrow. 

Anybody dealt with this before?? I already sent cervelo an email about this year long bullshit saga. In the meantime my legs have wasted away. So frustrating.  Advice anyone?

Ps this is frame 4 that hasn't worked correctly. Yes. 4 frames. 

End rant 

上を書いていたフォーラムからの報告.


長い時間のフォロー アップ Seo らぽーとで S5VWD ビルド:


サーベロ カナダからサーベロ日本 Seo への通信を介して、自転車を構築するように言われました。彼らある多くのハイエンドのものはあまりにも心配していなかったので。調整済みと他の S5 にロックする準備のほか、すべての部品をあった。


彼らは ok だし、新しいフレームと私 S5 オフに下落したので、1 週間必要と述べた。


1 週間が経つにつれて、これは !最後に、VWD を乗ってみてくださいに興奮 !約 1 km、ショップから抜け出すし、ペダルに立って、それを聞く.恐ろしい A ポップ/サウンドをノック !


サーベロの古いものはありません。私はいくつかは実際には、はい私は、いくつかの言ったフレーム保証働かないこの謎下のブラケットの技術のために。はい bbright 人々 が知っている - はロックタイトを置くすべての重要な手順と。そう.Bb をノック.別の予定を確認し、グリ ースを塗布しクランクを再インストールし、すべてをチェックできるように戻され、らぽーと (45 mins) サイクルします。何も働いて.同じノイズ。私は再びゴーホーム壊れた自転車とそれで仕事に行く自分。すべてをチェックします。問題が解決しません。だから、再び、欲しい私をオフにドロップし別の週に診断し、異なる bb のカップをしてみてください.再び、何も動作しません。


ほぼ 2 週間の任意の呼び出しを取得しないし、最後を呼び出します。サーベロ本部日本検査のためにバイクを送信しようとしているが判明します。私の承認。[はい].ストリップの全体の自転車と Mavic カーボン ホイールなどを含む、ボックスに入れ、すべての担当者への扉を追い出します。しかし、担当者は、現時点で日本ではない、まだ出荷していません。wtf ですか?私はこのとき私はちょうど 1 日に現れたし、取り引きがだったもの尋ねたを考え出した。新しい情報を有しなかった、バイクはまだ動作しない、彼らは担当者が言うだろう見当もつかないです。彼が行うだから私は彼に言います。自転車を一緒に入れて、これは制御からある、あなたは完成です。明日、自転車を選ぶよ。


誰も前にこのを対処?私はすでにサーベロこの年の長いでたらめ佐賀についてメールを送った。その間に私の足を離れて無駄にしています。だからイライラします。アドバイス誰ですか?


Ps これは正しく働いていないフレーム 4 です。はい。4 フレーム。


年末の暴言