cfblakeman

I bought my SL2 Pro in April 2009. From the start there were cracking noises and slippage coming out of the bottom bracket, and the chain was unshipping in both directions, chewing up the carbon frame as well as the carbon crank almost immediately.

I reported the cracking/slippage and was told it was just a maintenance issue - just take the bike in for regular maintenance (w/ a hundred miles on it??). This was repeated many times. 10 months later Specialized admitted the original build instructions they gave to bike shops for assembling the bottom bracket was wrong. I had already spent a lot of money getting "maintenance" that was unnecessary before they grudgingly rebuilt it. The shop charged me to do it - I refused to pay it.

Also, from the first few weeks I was taking my bike in and paying to have the front derailleur adjusted (bought the bike in Mass. and moved to CO - so no sympathy from the bike shop that didn't get the original sale). I took it in almost every 3-4 weeks, regularly paid to have the derailleur adjusted and nothing worked. I finally took it to a non-Specialized shop in the area and they immediately identified that the chain rings were too flexible and that no amount of adjustment would fix the problem. I took it back to the Specialized shop and challenged them on this and Specialized admitted the rings were bad and grudgingly replaced them (the shop was originally going to charge me to do it). The shop charged me once again to adjust the derailleur to the new rings. I'm left with a chewed up frame and crank.

A month after buying and setting up the bike I noticed the seatpost had slipped down from the original position (had it marked). I readjusted it back up and a few weeks later noticed it was down 1/2" again. This continued for months, getting shorter and shorter between adjustments until at about 11 months I was pushing it back up every other ride. The Specialized shop always said I just wasn't torquing it high enough. I finally convinced them to torgue it and they finally admitted the S-works seatpost bracket was faulty and replaced it with a generic one.

I spent hundreds of dollars, countless trips to the repair shop and many days without the bike in the first year. This bike is priced in the bike market about the same as a Rolls Royce in the car market. If this was a Rolls, in the first year alone I would have had the engine rebuilt (bottom bracket), the transmission replaced (chain rings), a dozen clutch adjustments (derailleur), and the seats would have been pulled because they don't stay where they are adjusted. By any measure, that would be called a lemon, which is what this bike is.

It continues. At 1 yr 3 months the back derailleur cable broke at the shifter cable and the broken piece fell down inside the shifter, rendering it useless. The Specialized shop told me I would simply have to buy a new 7900 Dura Ace shifter because it was badly designed and "this happens all the time". Shimano says it isn't faulty, then is giving me one for free. I talked to two other bike shops who both said these shifters pull on the wire with distortion and needs to be checked every couple months! Specialized put this badly designed component on their bike and washed their hands of it because my lemon was 3 mths beyond the warranty. They couldn't wait for that date to arrive - I'm guessing the SL2 Pro is killing them nationally with all these built in design and assembly problems.

This bike was obviously hastily designed and built and Specialized wants to run away from it as fast as they can. But a $7,000 bike should not experience problems like this and a reputable company should go the extra mile for customers who have problems like this, not hide behind the legal argument that the warranty expired a couple months ago. I could see that argument if the brake shifter was my first problem, but it's a year+ of this nonsense.

They are right legally, but they are wrong ethically, and the best way to create dissatisfied customers is to ignore a year and three months of problems with a Rolls Royce and fall back on legalities. Any time a company has to begin to pull the legal card means they have no ethical argument left. They know this bike is a lemon but don't want to admit it and expect the customer to pay the ongoing price of their bad design and assembly.

Specialized is perfectly within their legal rights to wash their hands of this bike and they couldn't wait to do so. But in doing so they are also washing their hands of basic, fundamental good customer service. A good company would never do that with a lemon. I'll be telling this story for years and will do my best to keep others from making the same mistake I've made buying a bike from Specialized. The cost of poor customer service can be very high - it's surprising that Specialized doesn't recognize this.

FlashBazbo

It's an "SL2 Pro"? I thought those were two different levels of certain Specialized models. What model is your bike?

Edit: Never mind. I see that, in 2009, there was a Tarmac Pro SL2.

tagaproject6

Sorry to hear about your horrible experience. Have you decided on your next bike?

cshell

here we go again.

MCODave

I was under the impression that Dura Ace components had a 3-year warranty. So regardless of the bike itself being outside of warranty, your shifter should have still been warrantied at 1 yr 3 mos.

palu

Ouch. I've heard only good things about Specialized customer service. Sucks about your experience. What's your next move?

waltersc

WOW!, sorry to hear about your troubles. I have had nothing but great service from Specialized. I had a crack develop in my Tarmac Pro. After some pictures at the local shop, Specialized sent a new frame. The frame was shipped within two days of the pictures.

Sounds like some of the issue is with your LBS, the relationship your LBS has with the local Specialized rep is important.

Blaming Specilaized for a bad shifter is like blaming Ford when your BF Goodrich tire goes flat.

brian416

My 2009 SL2 is the most amazing frame I've ridden and has been flawless. I haven't had any problems with my Specialized rings so I can't comment on that, but as far as the shifter cable problem. That is a lack of maintence, you have to really keep on top of replacing cables in shimano shifters, I replace mine every 3000 miles or so. You can get lucky and fish the end of the cable out of the shifter if you get lucky.

Varina Drag

I'm a bit confused as to whether the customer service in question is from the Specialized factory or getting the run-around from the LBS that didn't get the sale. Maybe it's both but two different issues, in my opinion.

That said, I feel for you OP. Regardless of who is at fault, $7K is a big investment in a bike and shouldn't leave you feeling like this!

tagaproject6

There is a lot of admission on the part of Specialized and it is surprising that they are not correcting any of their admitted faults don't you think? Did they really admit to anything, and if they did, wouldn't you have legal ground for proper resolution?

I doubt however that your claim on its hasty design has merit, seeing as you are angry at Specialized and the way you have been treated, which is, of course understandable. $7K is a huge expense and there should be an amicable resolution if it went the way you say it did.

WCroadie

That sucks bro, sorry to hear about your troubles.

I thought only Trek built crappy bikes and and lousy customer service. Now I've read about specialized and bikes direct. What's the world coming to?

Paul Barnard

Just think of what a pain in the butt that would have been if you had bought the bike from a major online marketer. LBS's rock!

RacerOne

The flexible chainring thing.. what's up with that?

W Cole

If faulty parts caused (cosmetic) damage to your frame, then they owe you a new frame. Good luck with that though.

So far I'm not super impressed with the Specialized warranty myself, they are giving me the run around. The shop made up a laughable story about how the problem is my fault, so I called Specialized and they told me that I can only go through the shop for repair.

dbf73

have you had the talk with the dealer about their less than stellar treatment indicating that while you didn't buy the bike there, it wasn't because you bought over the internet or somesuch, it was because you moved from the area where you bought it from THE LBS. If they're blowing you off this way now, what makes you think they'd do any better if you bought a bike from them - what incentive is there for you to give them your business? A couple of suggestions, give the selling LBS a call and see if they'll help you out by going to bat with Specialized. Also, even if you have to travel a bit, find another Specialized dealer and see if things improve.

good luck
Doug

BikesAreCool123

Woah. Specialized is selling bikes with dura ace? What kind of bike company would do something crazy like that**********??

Psimet2001 

- the fail is strong with this one.

Eclectus

We bought an MB in the Midwest. A part broke down 4000 mi beyond 50,000 mi warranty when we had moved back to the West Coast. Fixed, no charge. MB is a high-quality company, and its dealers are first-class. It was instructive: legally MB could have said, "It's beyond warranty, you the customer have to pay for a fix." The dealer from whom we didn't buy certainly could have said that. But MB covered the dealer's repair cost.

But then again, Specialized isn't Mercedes Benz. For example, Mike Sinyard, a bike parts importer, allegedly bought a Tom Ritchey/ Gary Fisher bike, and sent it to Japan, to copy it and make it cheaper. If that's true, his mentality may be different from people who build bikes as craftsmen, and totally stand behind their products ("the customer is always right".)

There could be a statistical ethos, "We build good products for the most part, we satisfy most people, we can ignore our lemons, since they don't happen too often." That's sort of like the old GM ethos. It worked so great they didn't need a government bailout or anything to keep their plants open.

RUOkie

what the heck does this have to do with anything?

umd

wow

briscoelab

LBS do not get reimbursed for the labor on warranty work. Usually if you aren't a jerk about it, they will do it for free though.

If you're needing your FD adjusted every couple of weeks, it's time to either find a new LBS or learn how to do it yourself. Honestly.... a FD is about the simplest thing on a bike to adjust.

Seat post slipping is a hassle, but also something that you should stay on top of or put some carbon paste on it. Sounds like they fixed that for you though.

The chainring flexibility issue has been well documented for years. That one is partially your fault for not doing the proper research. But again, it sounds like they warranted the rings for you, correct?

The Shimano warranty should cover your shifters.... so hopefully they will get taken care of too.

Lastly, a Pro SL2 isn't a $7000 bike.... just sayin'.

If you are really getting the run around, I would call the LBS that you got the bike from and see if they can help you out. Good luck!

Phil85207

Good luck to you, OP. Have you tried to contact your original LBS where you bought the bike yet? I just hate to hear stuff like this. I have had great luck with my last two Felt bikes with the factory warrantee issues, and I am sure it's has to do with my bike shop. I will be loyal to them as long as they treat me well. There are other bike related forums to post on and I would plaster the internet too with how you were treated.

Eclectus

There was a difference between S-Works SL2 Tarmac frame and Pro, but in 2009, S-Works Tarmac went to SL3, so Pro got the old SL2 frame. In other words, when S-Works went from SL frame to SL2, the Pro model got the SL frame, and similarly when S-Works then went to SL3, the Pro frame got SL2.

In any case, the frame should work with its attached components. Manufacturing errors can happen. Rider abuse can happen. For a higher-tier bike, the mfr should figure out the difference.

I have a Cervo RS. Not their top-line bike. I mash the pedals, with SRAM Red, and I'm a Clyde. Closing in on 8 k miles, this bike and components are good. I have an old Specialized Stumpy MTB 1995. It's really good. I first bought a junior-sized one for my son 1988. It was awesome. We only gave it away because he outgrew it.

Specialized makes really good bikes. But they can screw up. They should have asked OP for details about his physiognomy (weight), cadences and so forth, and also examined the data on production run for his bike, then told him, "It's your fault, our bike wasn't built to take your parameters " vs. "Your bike was a blem, we had some problems that week (or month)," or "We should have posted some parameters to discourage certain kinds of riders, we didn't, we'll give you a new frame that matches your parameters, and some freebie stuff." Or a refund.

I asked my bike dealer Bothell Bike and Ski, "I'm 220 pounds, I know I am heavy, but I want a light bike, what do you recommend?" They told me what worked for their Clyde customers. And nearly 8000 mi later, I think they gave me excellent advice. It works.

umd

The Pro for 2009 and 2010 uses the SL2 design/molds, but is not made of the same level of material as the s-works SL2 was. Similarly, the 2011 Pro uses the SL3 design/molds, but still uses the lower level of material.

PaulRivers

Just as an fyi, it sounds like they may have fixed your slipping seatpost, but mine had the same problem (was working with a fitter - I kept complaining the seat was to low, he would raise it, I would come back complaining it was to low...). It needed carbon paste put on the seatpost, then it hasn't slipped since (why didn't it come with carbon paste already on there?? I have no idea). My intent in saying this is just to let you know in case you have further problems with the seatpost slipping.