Amusing video about Cervelo being shoddy

[thelawnet]

Here

[youtube]GWDztuezn0g[/youtube]

(There is quite a lot of swearing in it, if you have an allergy to such things)

Basically the upshot is your ~£3,000 frame is cheaply built with poor attention to detail, and that there was a deliberate decision to reduce the quality of manufacturing tolerances to save money/

It strikes me that such shoddiness is an inevitable consequence of the way bicycles are sold and reviewed - to wit without any attention paid to the engineering merits (or otherwise) of the construction.

It is interesting the power of marketing to overcome what should perhaps be fatal design flaws; e.g., Trek has dumped its previous proprietary press fit bottom bracket design and replaced it with a new proprietary threaded bottom bracket design, but this didn't stop them selling millions in the past. The ways in which a design might be 'bad' don't matter that much when there's money in selling it.

[Syd]

British Cycling had to resort to old frames for the Rio Olympics as the Cervelo frames couldn’t handle the power from the sprinters.

[thelawnet]

I think that UCI rules are quite restrictive. So cycling is essentially 'solved'. But that doesn't sell new bikes so they need to come up with new 'innovations' to sell more bikes.

I note that Nike have just come up with a scam to sell their shoes in the form of making their own 'race' without any of those pesky rules, so that Kipchoge could set a 'record' with abnormally low wind resistance.

[CyclingGuy]

I've watched a few of those 'Hambini' videos and find them a bit cringeworthy to be honest.

I've no doubt that the things he says are true, (and as an engineer myself I know some of them are true) but his delivery is far too over the top for me to watch too many.

I guess that his delivery is part of his online persona but I'm surprised that some of his caustic comments haven't got him in to hot water legally with the manufacturers.

[toontra]

I've watched a few of those 'Hambini' videos and find them a bit cringeworthy to be honest.

I've no doubt that the things he says are true, (and as an engineer myself I know some of them are true) but his delivery is far too over the top for me to watch too many.

I guess that his delivery is part of his online persona but I'm surprised that some of his caustic comments haven't got him in to hot water legally with the manufacturers.

Agreed. Over the top, no doubt for clickability effect, and as you say probably with an element of truth, but if you were to believe his judgement then Cervelo would be near the bottom of bike manufacturers in terms of build quality (I forget the expletives used).

As they offer lifetime warranty on their frames that seems highly improbable.

PS A happy Cervelo owner with no build quality issues

[alexnharvey]

I've watched a few of those 'Hambini' videos and find them a bit cringeworthy to be honest.

I've no doubt that the things he says are true, (and as an engineer myself I know some of them are true) but his delivery is far too over the top for me to watch too many.

I guess that his delivery is part of his online persona but I'm surprised that some of his caustic comments haven't got him in to hot water legally with the manufacturers.

Agreed. Over the top, no doubt for clickability effect, and as you say probably with an element of truth, but if you were to believe his judgement then Cervelo would be near the bottom of bike manufacturers in terms of build quality (I forget the expletives used).

As they offer lifetime warranty on their frames that seems highly improbable.

PS A happy Cervelo owner with no build quality issues

You've entirely missed the point - the massive tolerance increase robs you of any remedy if you've got bearing misalignment. What good is a lifetime warranty then? Cervelo would tell you it's in tolerance and then you're stuffed.

Cervelo could have accepted there are tolerance issues, fixed it for all future frames and put right those affected. They didn't and instead altered the tolerance to fit their manufacturing rather the other way round

[toontra]

You've entirely missed the point - the massive tolerance increase robs you of any remedy if you've got bearing misalignment. What good is a lifetime warranty then?

Would a mis-shaped bottom bracket shell (as in the video) not be a warranty issue?

EDIT: You edited your post as I was replying

[toontra]

Maybe I'm being a bit thick but surely any product sold has to be fit for purpose. If not, what would be to stop a company setting their own tolerances ridiculously wide, thus exempting them from any warranty claim?

[Valbrona]

This is the guy who machines perfectly round press-fit aluminium BB cups in his shed and then makes infantile Internet videos about them not fitting properly in imperfectly round BB shells, some of them part of expensive bike frames.

Nothing burger, as they say.

Everyone else is clever enough to use press-fit bottom brackets with plastic/nylon/Delrin cups .. and that do work in non-round BB shells.

[Bmblbzzz]

The poor tolerances of press fit bottom bracket shells are well talked about. No doubt with exaggeration and misunderstanding, but every cyclist talks about them. So as per Valbrona, really, an imperfect shell needs an imperfect bottom bracket. Hambini seems to be seeking excuses for the failure of perfection to function in the real world.

(But I only watched the first 20-odd minutes, maybe I missed some great revelation later.)

[jb]

Have I missed something , he says the frames useless and then promptly fixes it with a simple taper guide.
was the black bit in the frame that was tapered aluminium or composite? If the later then the tolerance seems fair.

[Gattonero]

That brand is the paramount for the foolish cyclist.
Do you know that the previous UK distributor gave up because could not cope with warranty claims? I won't even bother looking about, totally useless stuff unless you have money to burn (which you may as well give to a cycling charity organization)

[Gattonero]

I've watched a few of those 'Hambini' videos and find them a bit cringeworthy to be honest.

I've no doubt that the things he says are true, (and as an engineer myself I know some of them are true) but his delivery is far too over the top for me to watch too many.

I guess that his delivery is part of his online persona but I'm surprised that some of his caustic comments haven't got him in to hot water legally with the manufacturers.

Agreed. Over the top, no doubt for clickability effect, and as you say probably with an element of truth, but if you were to believe his judgement then Cervelo would be near the bottom of bike manufacturers in terms of build quality (I forget the expletives used).

As they offer lifetime warranty on their frames that seems highly improbable.

PS A happy Cervelo owner with no build quality issues

You've entirely missed the point - the massive tolerance increase robs you of any remedy if you've got bearing misalignment. What good is a lifetime warranty then? Cervelo would tell you it's in tolerance and then you're stuffed.

Cervelo could have accepted there are tolerance issues, fixed it for all future frames and put right those affected. They didn't and instead altered the tolerance to fit their manufacturing rather the other way round

Ask yourself why most frames are moving to "press-fit" with nylon/plastic BB cups: the plastic deforms so to rreduce the poor tolerances.
Really, don't bother and stay away from this stuff

[alexnharvey]

I think it's called a race to the bottom.

[Samuel D]

Earlier this year a friend bought a Cervélo S3 Disc around the €6000 region. It creaked like a floorboard from the start.

But creaking, ultra-expensive bicycles of many brands are common where I live. Whether the manufacturer hears about the problem depends on the rider. I am surprised at the noises cyclists tolerate. Some cyclists seem not to even notice.