It's also worth bearing in mind that the company underwriting the warranty must still exist for the warranty to be valid! Your lifetime may or may not end up being longer than that of Cervelo in its current form. I think I am right in saying that after Cannondale was restructured a few years ago following Chapter 11 protection, the 'new' Cannondale was no longer responsible for honouring 'lifetime' warranties underwritten by the 'old' Cannondale.

An update on our R3 and R3SL models that we trouble with in Oz. Two frames of the R3SL were replaced very quickly and the third R3 is currently at Cervelo distributor being assessed. My replacement R3SL after 5 rides has now cracked at the rear stay join on the drive side (above the derailer hanger). This makes the bike feel a little loose at the back end and occasionally gives a fish tail feel. It's currently at the shop awaiting advice from the distributor. It's a real shame cause i love the bike and the geometry so much that i purchased an S2 so i could have two bikes set up almost identical. You could say i'm a loyal Cervelo rider, but that will change quickly if they cannot get their manufacturing right with this model (R3's). 4 from 4 cracked so far! Come on Cervelo please let us know some official feedback on this!

 

 

I hear ya Lewy. I absolutely love my R3 and don't particularly want another bike, but I certainly do not want to have to put up with warranty issues regularly.

I took mine into the LBS today. They took some photo's and contacted the Cervelo rep. Now I wait. The shop's opinion was that it was probably a goner. They have dealt with a similar problem in the past with another R3 and that one was replaced.

Lewy, what weight are you if you don't mind me asking? It is bizarre you have cracked 4 frames in a row!

75-77kg, so not heavy. I wouldn't say i'm a hard rider either although i do race. I haven't cracked the 4 myself (only 2) my other friends have done one each. One races the other doesn't. They are both in the 75-83kg range.

It happened to my R3 too. I weight 68 kg and I made 700 km with my new R3 and then I saw a crack near BB: What do you think about that? Should I contact my on-line dealer or should I contact Cervelo Service? Thank you for your advice Marko

 I can't believe so many people are getting this. I'm (maybe was) planning on getting an R3 for next season, but now I'm starting to worry.

Apparently it is a very common problem with carbon frames with this type of integrated lugs.

I've had this happen to two Jamis frames this season alone, and I would say it is a general weakness for carbon frames.

It seems the problem is a lot of filler/epoxy is used in the lugs, because constructing a lug with the correct carbon layup is perhaps the most tricky part of the carbon bike construction. At least so I've been told! :-)

If you could take a look at the lug unpainted, you would see that whatever carbon weave you may see elsewhere on the bike, comes to a stop at the lugs, perhaps indicating a higher density of filler/glue/epoxy in this area.

 

Feedback from Competitive Cyclist. Just hope the replacement frame is from a stronger manufactured batch. It looks as though Cervelo has a replacement frame (frame only) on the way. You will receive the same frame so you may hold onto your fork, headset, and seatpost. Once I receive your frame I will send out the replacement. Thanks John Kaye Competitive Cyclist 5050 Northshore Lane North Little Rock, AR 72118 (888) 276-7130 international (501) 663-8796

Sir Velista--just wanted to check whether everything has worked out okay.  I'm considering purchasing an RS frameset from Competitive Cyclist and would appreciate any thoughts you have regarding your experience with them and/or the RS in general. 

AlpeDHuez:

78 Schwinn Stingray/Apple Krate/5 sp shifter. 

Does that Schwinn have the stick shift type shifter? And do you still have it?

Still have the Apple Krate.  Should have called it the Nut Cracker.  It's painful to recall the number of times that huge shifter clobbered the boys after slipping off the metallic green glitter banana seat.  Talk about Unsafe At Any Speed!

AlpeDHuez:

Still have the Apple Krate.

Awesome. Slap a pic on the board if you can. They don't make 'em like that any more. ('cause they'd get sued). I was already married and into cars by the time that model came out, but the original mid 60's Stingray is an icon associated with the days of my youth.

What I did was to cc Cervelo my letter to Competitive Cyclist regarding the crack issue and the need for advice on the possibility of a replacement. I don't know if Cervelo pushed a button that made Competitive Cyclist act on it but they certainly sent me several positive replies back last week. As of this writing, they've already sent the replacement frame through UPS and as of the last time I tracked it online, the frame is already in HongKong on route to the Philippines. It should be here any day now. I do however have to send the cracked frame back to them to get a refund for what they charged me plus pay for the freight both ways. Hope this new frame holds up.

AlpeDHuez---Competitive Cyclist did send me an R3 replacement warranty frame within about 2 weeks from the time I first wrote them. As of this writing, I'm supposed to get the frame out of customs (that's another challenge). I rode the original bike again today for about 30 km or so after about 2 weeks off it only to find another larger crack, this time on the drive side of the bottom bracket. See pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/43835965@N04/ Check out the size of this other crack. And I'm sure it happened only this morning because I do check the bike thoroughly the night before every ride. I even asked my riding buddy if he could hear some weird noise just as we were starting off but didn't mind it until after the ride. Regrettably, this leads me to now be in serious doubt as to the quality of this bike. I've barely put in 500 km on it in a span of 5 months and I regret to say, it seems to be slowly disintegrating on me.... I think, paint crack or not, Cervelo should stop dragging its feet and get this quality issue resolved asap, man. For now, I can feel a Tarmac SL3 somewhere in the universe with my name on it......