fbxcore

Hey guys,

I ordered my CAAD9-5 from the LBS on last month on the 4th. It's been over a month now. If I was going with their expectation of when to have the bike, it would already be in my hands by now.

As you can probably guess, that isn't the case and I just got off the phone with the LBS and they said that the bike hasn't even shipped out yet. They said some reasons for the delays can be attributed to the fact that they're not a very large volume Cannondale dealer any more, so they're basically at the bottom of the food chain on Cannondale's priority list. I asked if there was anything I could do or they could do to speed things up and they said no, if anything trying to call them and see what's going on would probably just slow things down even more.

So, should I believe this? I'm getting sort of irritated because I know people who put in their orders a full 2 weeks after me (khatfull) have already had their bikes for over a week now.

Does anyone have suggestions as to what I can do to get this going, or am I just stuck with this until it happens to show up?

enjoi

My lbs just got a shipment of caad-9's that they had been waiting for for a long time. Cannondale is just really slow at getting orders filled it seems.

huytheskigod

Did you get the bike through our sponsor or a different shop? When we put our team order in, it took almost 2 months for us to get the bikes. But, there was an issue with changing of reps and lost orders.

artifice

have you tried to access Cannondale's website? Its slower than molasses, and some days won't even load. I'm beginning to suspect that is reflective of their business practices, too.

Is there another (bigger) dealer you can go through?

Mellow Johnny

Personally, in this economy, if I am making a big ticket purchase and I do not get 100% customer satisfaction then I simply take my business elsewhere, especially if I am paying retail or near retail.

The customer pool is rapidly shrinking and I expect more for my $$$ than I have in quite a long time. If your LBS doesn't feel the same and isn't working on your behalf then there are others that will.

JonnyV

The Cannondale factory is fairly small for a big time manufacturer. You are also ordering one of, if not the most popular bike they produce. Don't get me wrong, I understand your frustration. But after working with a small business I have a better understanding as to how some of this stuff works. Shipping costs can cripple a small business. Last year alone the store I work for could have saved $35K in shipping if we could've prepaid for orders OR had orders large enough to get free freight. That's not always possible. But your LBS might be trying to do just that. It's not their fault either, I hate to blame the market but if I were a betting man, I'd say they're just trying to get the most from their orders. Give it time, you will get your bike and with a little patience you might get something in return from your LBS.

bdcheung

Please, explain how it is the shop's fault that Cannondale hasn't shipped the bike.

khatfull

fbxcore, I feel your pain. Obviously I didn't feel it as long and I was TOTALLY shocked when they called and said my bike had arrived. Conversely, my LBS has 16 locations in two states. I don't know if that makes any difference and I'd hope that Cannondale works on first-come-first-serve but in the reality that is business, probably not.

Not that these are any words of consolation for you but, it will be worth it when you get it...trust me. if you lived anywhere close to me I'd have you hop a ride to hold you over

fbxcore

I'm going through Wheelworks, not Mike's Bikes

I've been on their site and have even tried calling them, but they don't really care about you unless you're a dealer and have a dealer number to give them. I already have the deposit down at that particular shop, so I'm stuck.

Kelrod

I ordered my Caad9-5 the first week of November 08 and in came in the last week of February. It took 4 months. I went nuts waiting. It is worth the wait, but I did have another bike to ride during that period.

AngryScientist 

without knowing anything about the shop, i will say that it is certainly not unheard of for the shop to lend you a demo bike to ride until yours comes in under the circumstances. maybe this is possible?

fbxcore

Considering the fact that the CAAD9 is probably one of the cheapest bikes they stock in that place, I don't see that happening.

bdcheung

why not?

AngryScientist 

truth, lbs know that bikes are like drugs. you have a deposit down on a gateway drug. if they are good to you, in 3 years when you get a big bonus and want to buy a carbon fiber superbike, you'll probably go back to them. karma goes a long way in the local shop world.

edit: GOOD local shops subscribe to this philosophy..

fbxcore

I guess I'll go in this weekend and talk to them in person and suggest it. It's just really frustrating because I literally have every other thing I need for the bike sitting all around me waiting for the bike to come. I go out and ride my Fuji on occasion outside of getting around town because there's nothing wrong with it and I figure I have no excuse but it's just not the same. Oddly enough some roadies gave me the thumbs up and asked about the Fuji haha

roadwarrior

First, the customer website will tell this person nothing about the bike order. You need to be a dealer to access that information.

Second, I use this site many times a day and it never fails to load.

Val23708

the next cheapest bike they carry is a S1.

wheelworks used to stock a lot more cannondale, but recently they've been selling cervelos and look bikes left and right. they dont have any cannondales actually a display - the few they have are on the ceiling.

RoboChrist

The dealer search is a good way to find one if you don't mind the travel. I had to go 30 miles to get one in my size.

bdcheung

Neither of you have really explained why the shop won't lend you the bike.

roadwarrior

Us too...but we are one of the top 5 dealers in the US.

Here's basically how this works, and this applies to everyone...

They are making, say, 30 58cm CAAD9, fill in the model, in whatever color. Your shop sells few of their bikes. My shop sells hundreds of bikes. If we both want the bikes, guess who wins?

I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm just stating facts. Now the good news is that in the next wave of bikes, whenever that is, a bigger shop will most likely not put in a big order.

They had stoppped production for a while...unlike a car factory they can only make so many of these frames, but I"ve heard that they have actually picked up the production pace to stockplie 9's when the word of the production move came down the line.

My suggestion is to have the shop check the dealer site or call Cannonadale or their rep to get a new ship date.

huytheskigod

It's a possibility. Talk to Joe (owner) or Kevin (LONG time employee). The problem I see is that they mostly stock really high end bikes that they turn around pretty quickly. It's unlikely they will have something in stock to loan that a CAAD9 5 can be used as collateral against in case of damage to the loaner. They're ulikely to loan an S1 (their lowest priced bike) against a CAAD9 5. Now, Mike's is a major CDale dealer and has a little more pull with the factory/rep. I don't know what price you're getting from WW but if it's not too far off from what the discount is from Mike's (sorry you missed the team order) I might pursue that route.

topflightpro

It's also possible that Cannondale is still making your bike.

I had a Six-13 that cracked and Cannondale agreed to replace it with a System-6 since they no longer made Six-13s with a BB30. It took about 5 weeks to arrive, and the little tag on it listed a manufacturing date that implied the frame wasn't made until my order was placed.

jesspal

Mine took a month, the outlook that the LBS I ordered from was not very optimistic though. I ordered my bike on Oct 25th and picked it up Dec. 5th. They were expecting it to be in after christmas.

jesspal

This is exactly what my LBS told me when i ordered my bike. They don't have them sitting around in a warehouse, they make them as they are ordered.

ImRael

Mine took over a month (about 5 weeks) through a very small dealer.

If you are not getting anywhere with your LBS, ask for the name and number of their Cannondale rep.