[sticky-bottle]

Im sure similar topics been brought to daylight million times and its just me who’s not up to date where is the bike manufacturing heading nowadays, but this is just sad…… I was looking to upgrade my road bike to something a bit more aero and fresher look preferably Italian made, and one morning i stumbled to a last piece in stock of large size De Rosa SK Pininfarina 2019 edition on Wiggle for only £1100 (knocked down from £3800 like 70 something % discount!!) so thats bang on. I purchased it and the frame turned up only a few days later as you would expect from Wiggle. I was super pumped to open up the box and see the frame designed by legends Pininfarina and eyewitness the Italian craftsmanship put in to it. And then thats when my jaw dropped… First of all i was looking for the intro booklet, warranty card or any sort of piece of paper saying thanks for buying our frame etc but nothing at all. Then there was a small ‘ounce-zip-bag’ with small parts chucked into all looked like made by a blind man on a CNC machine. Not a great start but frame next. Overall the frame looks good, nice paint job but upon a closer inspection, i’ve started noticing some imperfections, the bottom bracket, seat-post, brake mounts etc all had a bit like smeared and inaccurate paint jobs and the head-tube logo looked suspicious too. I was really disappointed how this is possible from such an established bike manufacturer (i know with a few exceptions all frames made in Asia somewhere but still how this has passed their quality control??) especially the one who’s pride themselves on the beautiful details of their bikes and quite frankly for a frame-set that normally cost around £3.8k. I got in touch with De Rosa to find out a bit more if the frames is actually original and not a cheap crap copy i can hear about in forums and all over the internet. Sent them a bunch of photos, frame number etc and Nicolas De Rosa got back to me straight away saying, yeah the frame is looks good, legit and is registered in their system plus he added “Wiggle buy stock of this SK” and “The other client and the distributor never tell to us nothing for this” Wait, is there different quality stocks of the same bike? Cheap or expensive? One with nice details one with crap? Of course, i’ve e-mailed Wiggle as well questioning the originality of the frame and here is their reply: “We would not sell any fakes, and judging from the photos that you have sent, it looks like there was an issue with the manufacturing of this frame.” After all, even Wiggle thinks the frame looks sub-par quality opposed to De Rosa. I’m struggling a bit to attach the photos but ill try again..

Topic

[Xenophon2]

When I read ‘70% discount’

When I read ‘70% discount’ and ‘finish problems’ my first thought was that the OP had bought a ‘chinese’ de Rosa.  But -to my surprise- that seems to have been excluded.  Regardless, the logo is NOT supposed to have the smearing that’s visible in the pictures.  I’m  not sure why posters here seem to think that’s the way it is because it’s simply not true.  The logo has changed a bit over the years and you have the latest iteration but it’s always crisp, no smearing.  I didn’t know that de Rosa sell seconds either.  But really, a 70% discount indicates that something’s off with this frame.  And I concur with the poster who mentioned that this appears to have already been built up.

[Secret_squirrel]

My bet is that the frame has

My bet is that the frame has been partially built up at somepoint.  Strange as most CRC/Wiggle returns are sold on ebay.    Otherwise nothing too iffy.

[Biggie Smells]

A quick google would have

A quick google would have shown you that the headtube logo is meant to look like that. 

[Recoveryride]

I could be wrong, but isn’t

I could be wrong, but isn’t the logo meant to look like that?

It’s not terribly clear from the photos, but I might be irked to get what sounds like it may be a slight cosmetic second if it wasn’t described as such. That said, at a 70% knockdown, I think I’d have regarded that as a fair discount for a NOS, slight cosmetic second, if I’m completely honest.

If Wiggle have said it’s not what they’d expect, you’re presumably within your rights to ask for a refund, but I don’t think i would be doing that; it’ll build up into a beautiful bike and you’ll never notice the minor blemishes. Then again, it’s not my money, either.

[sticky-bottle]

Here are couple of shots
Here are couple of shots

[Author]

Replies