hi all
went to my local specialized shop today to pick up my Carve Pro which was going to cost me £1600.

i recently refused a bike due to bad finish on main top tube. in false light i must admit it was hard to detect but when i got the bike home OH GOD!!! you could clearly see paint runs and poorly finished.
today i was hoping for a perfect bike- BUT NO! same.

so now im after a bike again. i would like the same geometry of bike, not too aggressive but capable. im 6ft 4 inches tall and like a relaxed kind of mountain bike due to riding on the road and trail.

what do you recommend?

thanks all..

I suggest you take the bike with the bad paint work but ask for some discount?

they offered me £100 in goods. but why you say take it?

more than one manufacturer.

I agree for £1600 you want the bike to look good but is the paint work so bad you want to give back a bike that fits well and rides well?

I agree with klunky – use it to get a £200 off and you’ve got a bargain…

Cheers

Danny B

I’d have blagged cash off the rrp for the imperfection and ridden off happy with the bike I wanted.

Its gonna get gnarled up anyway.

I got £100 off my heckler as there were a few tiny chips in the paint on the headtube, I’m sure it rides just as well as one would in perfect condition.

you aren’t chalky46 and ICM£5

Dale f29 is taking my fancy for 1800. Or as suggested get money off and ride the thing.

Shows how different we all are.

Assuming I could use the flaw to negotiate money off, I’d be chuffed to bits about it 🙂

Get discount, Or

buy a better bike.

Tbh if you try hard enough there are defects in te finnsh on almost every bike
But some people tolerate / don’t notice and for some it has to be perfect , and if there not going to be happy with there new toy then no point in keeping it no matter what the discount.

For me personal I’d go for damaged and discounted every time

Pauls have got the 2012 Flash 29er Alloy 2 with Lefty with £600 off in medium and large

What do we recommend? For riding on the road and trail?

Personally…a cyclo cross bike. Especially as you’re tall.

Don’t buy it mail order tho. Seems like that would just be asking for trouble.

Just barter for money off, it’ll only get scratched & chipped anyway

Get £200 off and then spend £100 get it powder coated just how you like it and the other £100 on beer…

Cheers

Danny B

Get it covered in mud then you won’t notice.

if you could buy a brand new car for £1600 you would not drive away with it!

how much is it too get a frame powder coated properly?

Buy a carbon frame bike. But surely it’s about the ride? I’d barter some discount

You’ll lose the warranty if you get it powder coated or repainted.

Every Specialized bike me or my mates have had haven’t had any obvious paint defects. No other lbs you can try?

I’ve got a 21″ Carve pro and at 6’4″ I find it pretty near perfect – its actually quite usable on the road, its reasonably light and real blast in the woods.

It does scratch and chip easily though.

I’d go for the haggle for some money off option and then ride it hard and not worry too much about it. Most of time mine is covered in mud anyway.

Are you an iPhone user? Sounds like it as the final look is important to you…to many, the discount and the chance to ride the bike they wants far more important. Personally, as long as I can’t see it without looking closely then I wouldn’t care…I don’t look at the bike whilst riding it. I’d take the discount if that was the bike you really wanted.

You sound like a big girls blouse to me; it’s a bike, get it and get it ridden.

they offered me £100 in goods. but why you say take it?

more than one manufacturer.

I work in a bike shop. Believe me, this happens to all brands. You should have taken the goods. It’s an MTB and in 6 months you won’t give a damn about the paint but a new helmet and track pump would be really handy!

Unless large chunks of paint literally fell off as I was walking out the door I don’t think I’d give a flying f*!k.

If you got offered money off then sounds like a good deal to me, or are you one of these people that worries about ‘residual value’ of you bikes? I’m assuming you picked that bike due to the way it rides and the spec rather than the paintjob?

It’ll be chipped scratched and possibly even dented in a few months if you use it properly anyway…

Shops aren’t allowed to discount until they are told to 😉 Hence the give aways 💡

I kind of sympathise with the op here. If you want it box fresh and shiny then he is perfectly entitled to shop elsewhere by brand or shop.

Having said that a new camelback and some sealant for nowt and I would have been on my way with a big cheesy grin.

OK thanks for the feed back.
Obviously its a good bike otherwise someone would of slagged it by now.

I’ll phone them tomorrow and see if I can get £££’s off instead of products.

Cheers.

tip – buy last years Carve and get it resprayed,

Spesh have just re-marketed the Carve as a race hardtail for 2013, last year it was a budget 29er, buy an insurance replacement one on ebay (there are a couple every week)

Avoid Specialized. They need to learn thatthe customer deserves service. Turner go too far 8) but spesh UK dont even start.

And a turner frame will only cost the same as the spesh bike good shout!

Take the vouchers and the bad paint job, tho I’d maybe ask for 10% value of bike in vouchers

And what’s wrong with Spesh customer service ?
Always found them helpful tbh

You maybe able to get a discount off the shop also as well as what ever vouchers Spesh have offered

I have to say that if I were the bike shop owner I’d be more than a mite miffed with your attitude. What you have done is decline the goods offered. You were then offered a different arrangement (the bike plus accessories) which you also declined and you left the shop.

At this point any contract that existed between you and the bike shop is surely null and void. Therefore going back later and asking for the bike AND the £100 of accessories simply because you can’t get a better offer elsewhere is pretty off in my opinion.

Oh…and Spesh customer service was first class, indeed industry leading, when I worked in the trade, albeit some years ago now. Although I hasten to add that I continue to hear good things about them from friends I still have in the trade.

OP
MTFU and ride your bike with a smile on your face

Roadie,
Your just the reason why we carry on getting crap quality. Because people like you accepting what ever is given. If there was more people like me then manufacturers quality would be better. As I’ve said before you would not drive away a badly finished car! Even thou in 6 months it will have scratches and the odd dent.

Donk. It was a halfprice sale Turner frame. I’ve experienced Brant/good service over a frame, RS but only Spesh acted slowly.

Go back get the bike and the discount and ride the damn thing! or you’ll look around for a month fir the perfect bike then scuff it up on the first ride….

Jacob, I must offer my sincere apologies to you and the entire mountain biking population for accepting sub standard quality.

I’ll ignore the fact that I’ve been mountain biking for 17 years now. That I spent five years working in an assortment of bike shops. That you’ve never met me and don’t know me from Adam…much less know how many bikes I have or what my cycling history is.

I’ve disagreed with folk on here before, but that’s the first time I’ve had someone make a comment that personal.

Finally I suggest you go back and read what I wrote. If you don’t like the finish on the bike then fine. The point is that you declined the original ‘deal’ and then the amended ‘deal’ and left. Now for some reason you think you can go swanning back into the shop and pick up where you left off. I suggest you examine your attitude before you do so.

Anyway, I’m off rock climbing now. Enjoy your day examining paintwork.

I wouldn’t accept a bad finish on a brand new fairly expensive bike unless it was advertised as such with a significant markdown.

Surely this is a manufacturing defect?

As such the manufacturer should either expect it to be returned by the dealer, or offer it to the dealer at a marked down price which the dealer advertises is due to the finish.

That said though, I think paint may be excluded from some warranties, but I don’t think a manufacturer should be relying on such positions (if they’re taken) to sell seconds quality for new prices.

Anodizing FTW!

you aren’t chalky46 and ICM£5

Exactly!