Koyote

This.

It seems like the OP is looking a gift horse in the mouth.

meditationride

hey everyone, good discussion and opinions. it's good to reassess through the process.
regarding speculation that I'm looking for a freebie; it would not be of sound decision to attempt that while there is no stock of anything available. cycling is a part therapeutic activity for me and this is a hassle and waste of time. Best warranty is one that's not needed. It developed a raised vertical crack in the inside aspect of the fork within two seasons of riding. Point I was trying to make is that these companies need to operate at a higher standard and be accountable to their warranty policy vs skirting away with a non-equivalent replacement and attempting to justify their actions by positioning themselves as good will.
Take my experience as you will. This was purchase as a complete bike and was never taken apart. If I were to make a wild speculation, I would suspect the cause is the incorrect torquing of bolts where the disc brake calipers attach to the fork. The crack overlaps that area very neatly.
I've moved on with the help of some suggestions here, will get it replaced, sell second hand, and look for something with higher reliability.

meditationride

close to the dropouts but sort of lower 1/3 of the fork, on the inside surface. right where the bolts for disc brake calipers attachment screws into.

mprince

I would accept the good faith offer and move on.

shelbyfv

OP, if you feel you've made your point, use the red button and have a mod lock this for you. Adios.

tomato coupe

What did Cervelo say about it?

maartendc

In this whole story, what boggles my mind is that Cervelo would not keep a stock of at least a couple of forks around? Even if the frame has been discontinued, surely, you can keep a few spare forks and (in case it is proprietary) seatposts in stock for exactly this reason.

Perhaps what others have posited is true, and the fork is just the same as the other model C2 fork. Or interchangeable at least.

I will say as others have said: It sounds like Cervelo thinks this is damage due to misuse that would not be covered under warranty. I understand you'd be upset if it wasn't and treat your stuff carefully. But if I were you, take the free replacement fork and consider yourself fortunate you don't have to scrap the whole frame (or pay for a costly fork repair out of pocket). Lucky they have a compatible fork at least. Hopefully your bike is a neutral color and they can just give you a black or white fork or something. Good luck!

Iride01 

That be a pretty big warehouse. And quite possibly, if they did keep two as you suggested, they probably used them long ago for some other claim.

Even just sitting in a warehouse that's a big cost for any part or component for every day it just sits there.

maartendc

Really?

Let's say they keep stock for 10 years after a bike has been sold. As reference, they currently have 4 types of road bike in their lineup: R5, S5, Caledonia-5 and Caledonia. Even if they keep 10 forks in stock for every model, for every model year over a 10 year period. Over 10 years that would be only 4 models * 10 forks * 10 years = 400 forks. A bike fork is not that big. I could keep 400 forks in my home basement easily. They could easily do this for every market where their bikes are sold, every country even.

Question is, is it in their interest to do this? Perhaps they'd rather sell you a new bike with some "crash replacement discount" rather than be able to replace a fork or seatpost for someone.

tomato coupe

You're conveniently overlooking gravel, CX, TT, and track models and all the different colors. Your 400 forks is actually thousands of forks.

Seattle Forrest

If they did keep two, they could just breed a new one when needed.

datlas 

Late to the party, but am I the only one who thinks of a Cervelo that has a drinking problem when reading the title??

phrantic09

no, first thing I thought

veganbikes

From what I have read here it sounds like they were quite accountable and offered you a replacement fork. If your fork is cracked and they offered a replacement that sounds like you got what you want! I know if that had happened to me I would have been happy. The reason they said good will rather than yeah it is a warranty is probably because the fork damage is not one of manufacturer error but user error and they were nice enough to say hey we are going to help you out. A lot of manufacturers are doing that because they actually care about their customers, they could have said not covered at all we can't send you anything, but they didn't and that is pretty nice of them. Regarding the difference in fork who knows and who cares, these days if you can get a working part you are lucky, who knows if it is an actual downgrade and without the info from Cervelo it is tough to tell. A different serial number means absolutely nothing other than it is a different serial number. If it were the same serial number I would be worried. If the part number had changed I wouldn't worry too much as they do change over time on some stuff and as long as it is similar enough and compatible it is a win win. They cannot stock every part for every bike forever to fulfill warranty but if they can get customers satisfied that is a good thing.

If the fork cracked after 2 seasons of riding and you believe it was improperly torqued bolts than I would not consider that warranty. If it cracked after a month of owning it then yeah maybe but who knows how you are riding and caring for the bike if at all. Bikes are not build it and your done, you still have to do upkeep and maintenance and especially with brake bolts but really any bolts you should check torque and regrease or anti seize or thread lock as needed.


In terms of those who are worried about this fork, I wouldn't worry too much, just make sure everything is properly installed with all the needed greases and compounds and torqued to spec and check it once and while. If you are a bigger rider or harder on equipment do it more often and if not at least do it once a year which you would want to do with any bike. It is a good thing to tune up a bike every year and replace any worn out parts and if you are a heavy sweater replace that bar tape even if it is black because it is not about looks but about safety the tape soaks the corrosive sweat and you cannot see the bars underneath but for sure the corrosive sweat isn't helping things.

topflightpro

I'm going to have to agree that Cervelo met their warranty obligations with the offer of a replacement fork.

Yeah, it may be a lower spec replacement, but it's also a replacement on a discontinued product. And for forks, it's pretty common that a replacement will be the wrong color. Also, as noted by others, even if the fork is different, the difference is most likely in weight.