Jed19

Very very nice.

Me want!

ColorChange

My two big concerns are warranty/customer service and development. On the warranty front, Cervelo maybe wasn't the best, but they sure weren't bad. A large company can really slash costs by cutting support. Aslo, another big department to take an axe to is development/engineering. The founders based the company on sound and advanced engineering to drive performance ... and therefore premium sales. It's very common to take a high end name, milk it out to the middle market and below, and therefore effectively destroy it. This can make a lot of money in the short run, especially when you are trying to recover acquisition costs.

Waiting to hear ... waiting to hear what the strategy is. They really need to jump on this in a hurry. In fact, I would have addressed these issues immediately. The fact that they do not see them and/or didn't address them, really bothers me. Combined with the volume blow out $2,000 discount ... and this really doesn't look good. Not good at all for the future of the brand. All of our lifetime warranties are now in question and then some.

bostongarden

Some lbs in the Boston area (who did carry Cervelo) appear to no longer be carrying Cervelo.

surgeonstone

A good friend of mine working in a Cervelo dealing LBS would concur. He is astounded at the number of frames that come back with cracks, breaks from trivial incidents. He wonders why this conspiracy of silence. Any mention of this problem to the stores owner is greeted with avoidance. Interesting.

DropDeadFred

my friend and lbs owner told me they take a 500 dollar hit on the deal, yeah they get a frame...but he has no need for an extra cervelo frame on his floor. they just started carrying cervelo within the past 2 months. sucks for them, he's hoping nobody takes them up on the deal.

GlennR

My son works at a Cervelo dealer and purchased a P2C 3 years ago. After the 1st year we noticed a crack in the framehead which cleaning it at the end of the season. The Cervelo rep came, inspected the frame and gave him a new replacement frame a few days later. Both the shop owner and rep said it was the first "non accident" crack they've seen. In the 2 years since, he's not seen another non-accident crack.

Just 2 days ago my son ordered a new S5 VWD Red since his personal experience is that Cervelo has no more problems than any other high end carbon bike.

i'm not disputing anyone else's finding, just passing along my son's 1st hand experience.

v70cat

I have to say that it amazing how quickly people want to throw Cervelo under the bus. The S5 is cutting edge! It might not look like a traditional bike but if it makes you faster who cares. At the present time it a better road bike than the other brands because of its design.

If Cervelo becomes part of a larger company they may broaden the line like Trek and Specialized but does not mean that any of the high road bikes from the various brands are bad.

DropDeadFred

I have personally looked at 2 S5s and the quality is atrocious. the flat suraces on the downtube are wavy and unfinished feeling/looking. The idea is "cutting" edge...not really. they took a tri bike design with a wider wheelbase and threw some aero bars on it. IMO the Venge looks better and has a higher quality finish overall and would get my vote any day.

Velo Vol 

Why?

ivan_yulaev

I'm pretty optimistic about these things. I think Raleigh bikes, as an example, in the last few years have been pretty cool an unique, like their touring / sport-touring oriented models. They do offer something that addresses the concerns of the touring community (steel frame, stock B17 saddle, fenders & rack) at a reasonable price. Same with Cannondale - although I am upset that the CAAD10 is not made in the US, the SS Evo is a really really cool bike, both performance and looks wise (classic non-sloping TT FTW).

halfspeed

Incorrect.

Garfield Cat

I would think that the Dutch company is providing major financing to Cervelo. With that kind of commitment, any moves like the $2,000 discount is not an isolated event. The Dutch company would have known this. What's interesting is that Pon Holdings, B.V. is family owned.

https://www.pon.nl/over-pon.14.lynkx

An option to buy is usually exercised some time in the future when certain benchmarks are met or not met. I don't think Cervelo should be considered "sold".

gerundium

the PON family was number 9 on the dutch quote 500 (list of richest people in the country) with an estimated worth of about 1.6 billion dollars. By origin they built their empire with car dealerships but i believe they hold an enormous number of different companies these days. This is an alphabetized list of companies they own: https://www.pon.nl/pon-ondernemingen/...lijst.22.lynkx

surgeonstone

Interesting, he says it has been impossible getting through the phones the last couple weeks. Wonder why.

surgeonstone

That is odd, guy I know who works in a cervelo shop has seen 5 non accident cracks in the past year, several of them requiring 1500 dollars to replace.

Jed19

No, when a company buys another, they assume all liabilities of the purchased company. A deal can however be structured in a way that lets you just purchase the assets of a company without acquiring the company name and liabilities etc.

Most likely though, Pons is gonna be responsible for all "lifetime warranty" issues that might come.

gregf83 

Agreed. The existing Cervelo customer base are the most likely future buyers so it wouldn't make any sense to piss off existing customers.

GlennR

I don't dispute what you're saying, but i know of a half dozen people that own Cervelo's and none have had any problems. In fact i was seriously considering a RS but got a much better price on a Madone 4.6.

I guess is there are problems, more people will post actual feedback and then we'll all know.

CCrew

Not always the case. They can buy the trademark without assuming debt or liability for one.

Jed19

Read post #41's second sentence again. A trademark qualifies as an asset, does it not?

LemondFanForeve

Maybe thats why they were giving the $2000 deal off bikes?

Garfield Cat

This is interesting because on the chain stay, its clearly marked "Vrooman-White Design". To me that indicates a separate entity holds the design features of the frame. Without VWD, Cervelo wouldn't have much.

There are tangible assets as well as intangible assets. By looking at the Pon Holdings web site, its clear that Pon is acting like a holding company with an impressive list of subsidiaries. The option to buy Cervelo would be a stock option, not an asset purchase. Of course, VWD would be part of the deal.

StanSeven

Vrooman and White are the founders of Cervelo. That's just something that is put on all the chainstays. I doubt it means much of anything

milnerpt

It may be different circumstances, but when the Ironhorse brand was purchased, I sure as heck didnt get ant frame warranty support. They washed their hands of all of us with cracked rear triangles.

Again, different circumstances, but the new owners have the name and brand.... ps - a big 'i hate you' to RScycles and their family for their backdoor, deceitful practices

bbattle

Ah, Donna from "That 70's Show". Very nice.