# 2009 48cm R3 Buyers Beware



## turnerxcerider (Sep 26, 2006)

Recently purchased what I thought - and what was advertised as a 2009 Cervelo R3 from Competitive Cyclist. The deal appeared almost too good to be true: $3990 with full Dura-Ace 7900 (except for the cassette). 

The bike arrived and I noticed the seat post and handle bar spec were different than what was listed online. The bigger issue was the seat tube. This bike had a 30 something diameter seat tube while the 2009 and 2010 models are supposed to have a 27.2mm seat tube. So they basically had sent me a 2008 bike. 

I called Competitive Cyclist to tell them I got the wrong bike and ask for the 2009. They responded that they didn't have any more 48s and offered a bit of a discount. That's fine - I understand that deals can't last forever and I appreciate them trying to work with me. 

Problem is, they're still promoting the 2009 R3 in size 48cm on the web site.

So if you're looking at this deal, you should call in advance to make sure you're getting what you want. If the seat tube thing is of little importance to you, cool. But their assertion that "this is effectively a 2010 bike!" is not at all accurate.

Anyone else in here have a similar experience? If so, how did you resolve w/ Competitive Cyclist? Thanks.


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## GonaSovereign (Sep 16, 2005)

That sucks. Hope they take care of you. That said, if I understand your note, there's nothing actually wrong with the bike, it's just not the bike you paid for. Competitive Cyclist misrepresented what they had for sale. You might want to amend your thread title to call out the issue with the retailer, as it currently sounds like there's a problem with the bike.

In either case, you have a great bike!


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## jrob1775 (Jan 21, 2010)

turnerxcerider said:


> Recently purchased what I thought - and what was advertised as a 2009 Cervelo R3 from Competitive Cyclist. The deal appeared almost too good to be true: $3990 with full Dura-Ace 7900 (except for the cassette).
> 
> The bike arrived and I noticed the seat post and handle bar spec were different than what was listed online. The bigger issue was the seat tube. This bike had a 30 something diameter seat tube while the 2009 and 2010 models are supposed to have a 27.2mm seat tube. So they basically had sent me a 2008 bike.
> 
> ...


Cervelo made a running change on the seatpost diameter of the R3 bikes in 2009. If the bike was made early in the production run it should have come with the larger seat tube on the frame, a shim, and two different size seatposts. When I was working for a Cervelo dealer, I bought one directly through Cervelo and that is how mine came. Later in the year the frames were coming through with the smaller diameter seat tube and post. If you look underneath the bottom bracket there will be a sticker and in the serial # it will say the year of the bike. It may "technically" be a 2009, but if they show the smaller diameter in a picture for the bike then it is most certainly misleading and a questionable business practice.


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