patentcad

The bikes rock.

patentcad

Appropriate post for 52K.

patentcad

Effin A. These stupid Freds are unworthy of our Velo Wisdom you know.

patentcad

Tell me about it.

caloso

Once they got the cable routing sorted out, that is.

WHOOOSSHHH...

I have one. No better or worse than previous CF bikes I own or have owned. Most people have the perception, at least around here, that they're top of the line bikes. I thought they were sold, and now they're owned by Raliegh? Or is raliegh Cervelo?

patentcad

Di2 doesn't have cables.

nhluhr

Yes it does. An electrical wire, housed with others, inside a protective sheath is a cable.

Bye Sickle

I'll chime in too, although I already agree with what a bunch of others have already posted.

From the consumer perspective, they are perceived as a serious/competitive cyclist brand. They don't have any beginner models with lower end components. So if you are trying to appeal to the casual cyclist demographic, it might not be the right choice. But aspiring serious cyclists covet the brand.

Also, I read online that some Cervelo dealers were pissed off by Cervelo's 2011 "Share The Ride" promotion where people could get $2,000 off for buying two bikes. Dealers were complaining that it was discounting a product that did not have any trouble selling at full price.

LowCel 

Only thing I will add is don't plan on selling them through your ebay store. You will find yourself an ex Cervelo dealer real fast.

Hiro11

This is an enthusiast brand. I can't see too many casual shoppers winding up with an S5. People who buy Cervelos seek them out and know what they're buying. This is true of lots of bike manufacturers, but the major brands generally produce some lower priced bikes with broader appeal. Cervelo doesn't play in that space. I've never owned a bike store, but I imagine the revenue generated by high end enthusiast products is pretty low compared to something like selling a bunch of Schwinn hybrids in the late spring. I'll bet the margins are pretty low as well. Lastly, you're dealing with educated consumers on a mission. Showrooming should be a concern (not sure if Cervelo is sold online any more, but they could be).

One concern I'd have is that as Cervelo is now owned by Pon, it might start to be seen as less exclusive. Enthusiasts care about that kind of thing. Also, I think carbon frames in general are on the verge of become a lot cheaper and more commoditized. High end carbon like Cervelo might start making less sense to the enthusiast buyer in the next few years.

eduardo76

my personal cervelo experience, as a customer, is that i like everything about the brand...engineering focus, design aesthetics, branding, etc...except the way they ride (test rode the R3 and S5 and was dissappointed by both) - could've been too high of expectations...i really really wanted the cervelo s5, but a back to back test ride against the scott foil convinced me otherwise...(although i bought the scott, it was the cervelo that got me into the store for the test ride, though!)

RoadMike

They make pretty high quality bikes and have an easy to understand model structure. They are popular with many road riders and focus heavily on aerodynamic bikes, where they are an industry leader. Their non-aero R series road bikes are no slouches either. Overall a solid enthusiast brand with a decent reputation. I don't think you would be doing your customers a disservice by carrying this brand, and if you have a large base of triathletes as customers or triathlon is a growing sport in your area, their P series could be a big seller for you, as Cervelo's P series is often used as the industry standard to which other Triathlon/TT bikes are compared.

patentcad

STFU Fredly. It's a friggin wire.

nhluhr

Your pelvic wall emailed me to say you're wrong. It must really suck to be so old and irrelevant.

https://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830676703.pdf

patentcad

Semantics are for imbeciles.

Bob Dopolina 

...and Semants...

mpath

FIFY but still not quite correct. They're part of the Pon conglomerate out of Holland, owning several bike companies, including Raleigh.

eja_ bottecchia

I don't think that you can do accurate market research here.

What sort of deal is Cervelo offering you?

How much inventory do they expect you to carry?

Is the profit margin decent?

Do you have to modify/improve your in-store display area?

Will you be allowed to carry/adverise/sell competing brands?

How is their distribution network in your area?

How is their tech support/warranty service?

Do you like the sales rep that you will be dealing with?

These are all questions that you should be asking before you ask our opinion about the bikes themselves.

Cervelos are good bikes...from my observations, however, riders on Cervelos don't smile much. I have no idea what that means.

RollCNY

This warrants repeating. I don't sell bikes, or work for a bike shop, but loiter in many shops. The folks I knew that sold Cervelo before this deal no longer do. The dealers bore the brunt of the costs associated with this sales promotion. The short term flood of bikes devalued the bikes currently for sale locally, and many formerly loyal Cervelo riders felt that "their investment" lost value (which is dumb, since it is a bike and not a Treasury Bond). In the local club ride, Cervelo's were the most popular ride, and were always praised. I haven't seen a new one join in the past year, and the current riders no longer seem to sing their technical praises as much as they formerly did.

I think Cervelo ended up alienating a historic customer base to pick up short term sales. Just my opinion based on a small local sampling.

Jandro 

It must suck to have to resort to making irrelevant arguments to make yourself feel cool on the internet. Caloso was referencing the fact that earlier models had issues with the internal mechanical cable routing (rubbing, catching, difficulty of maintenance, etc) which have nothing to do with electrical cable routing.

Anyway, I love my S2. Great bike. As other have said, though, as a business owner, you should be more concerned with Cervelo's future now that it has been sold to Pon.

StanSeven

The company definitely went a different direction from their past. A couple years ago Gerald Vroomen switched the design to a more relaxed upright geometry with a tall head tube. That is fine since many riders prefer that, but he took the entire line that way. Then they continued to offer three models of the same frame like the basic, team, and VWD of the S5. They did something similar with the R5 with the basic, VWD and Ca models. So instead of offering two geometries and a couple or one model of each, they abandoned the aggressive geometry that made them successful in hopes of selling to older riders with money. Pus it was Gerald saying he knows more about what's better for riders than they do themselves

hamster

Stll not correct. There's a lot of conflicting information in the net, but this seems to be the real situation:

Pon owns Derby Cycle Werke, which is a German bike manufacturer with the rights to sell Raleigh's bikes in much of Mainland Europe. It is one of the few companies that actually makes bicycles in the First World.

Raleigh itself is owned by Accell Group. Raleigh is historically an English brand but it does not have any manufacturing capacities in the UK or anywhere else (it laid off its last assembly workers in 2003), it's purely a sales and marketing company that outsources manufacturing to its Chinese and Taiwanese partners.

TDRILL

When shopping for bikes recently before trying any out, it was on the top of my list and an absolute 'must try' before I could make a decision on any other bike. I didn't end up caring for the way it rode compared to others but it still says a lot that I wouldn't buy another until I at least took one for a spin.

Aero is huge and Cervelo basically started it. The sale they had alienated a lot of customers and dealers but they were bailing out and I assume liquidating all of their inventory prior to sale and pretty much the guy making the decision didn't care about future PR. I don't think you'll ever make as much selling high end like Cervelo by itself, brands like Trek and selling comfort bikes to the older crowd probably brings more money in, but Cervelo is a great brand to have for your higher end users (the majority of rider types on this forum)

You must have enough customer feedback by now. If the business end as mentioned earlier works out, I don't see where there is much risk anyway. From what I've seen, it appears rather easy to add / drop different manufacturers from your lineup year to year anyway. Try them out for a couple of years and if they don't work out, bring in another brand that no one nearby is carrying

Hiro11

I think the tall head tub has more to do with "slammin' that stem" than giving riders an upright position.