Quintana Roo Claimed, We Tested
Direct to Consumer has been the direction for some time now. It started with the Milk Man and then Amazon made it really easy. And, for better or worse, it’s a massive part of our lives. The ability to get online, hit a couple of keys or make a few finger presses on a flat digital screen, and boom, the ordering process has started.
A whole bike though? That was the question people asked years ago. While it was a gradual progressing stepping stone. 2018 was the first full year that American Bicycle Group (ABG) went all in on direct to consumer. Today it rings the same as it did back then, if a lot of people can’t even change a tire on a bike, how can a bike company sell you a $4,000-$15,000 bike and have you put it together? And should they?
We put the process to the test with a new Quintana Roo V-PR. And to be frank. It’s as smooth as I have seen.
Dont let this fool you. This box is NOT small. Coming in at 59 x 22 x 30 it’s the largest box allowed by Fedex trucks.
Since we needed to send this back, we took the “Slide” approach, but one could open the box at the seams.
Step 1 is a QR code link that sends you straight to a step by step set up video that will give you all the information about what you are in for next.
The exposed rotor was the one thing that got me asking “why?” Everything else was shockingly perfect.
All the equipment you’ll need is precisely placed in the front of the box under the aero bars.
There are four main boxes. One of which reads “OPEN ME FIRST.”
Tools, spacers, stickers, charging cords, even “Directions”- everything you need for bike assembly success.
There are more than enough spacers to make sure you can get just the right fit.
FuelBay (Water Bladder)
You even get a T-shirt with your purchase 🙂
Once you figure out where this extra large box can go and you get everything out, putting this together is about as simple as one could ask. I would say it is even easier than taking your bike out of your own bike box after your last race. (Mostly because nothing is broken and you don’t have pee on the bike.)
Install seat post.
Install wheels.
Adjust your fit, and go ride.
9.8 out 10 stars when it comes to easy set up.
My only issue is that you need to make sure you watch out for the double sided sticky tape that is on the boxes – this will 100% give you problems assuming you don’t put something between it and the floor.
When I ordered a $5,000 Treadmill last year, four people came to my house to deliver it. They put it together, plugged it in and made sure it was working probably. (Or, I should say, they tried to do all that.) Same goes when I ordered a Tonal. Why cant bike brands do the same? Once upon a time we had a company that was trying to be the delivery middle man in the space, but sadly they shut their doors, and just when D to C bike companies thought they had found that last pass off consumer solution, it was gone. Until the time comes when it makes more sense for another company like that to start up again, this will be the new norm. I give QR a high five for making it about as easy as it can be to receive a large complex piece of equipment that needs final assembly by the consumer.
I love this sort of stuff - and honestly a detail that I want to see from all the direct to consumer brands.
My question with QR is why they are not on price parity with Canyon. It seems like they are going to have to drop the price of their Ultegra model if they want to compete in that space.
We will try our best to get more of this stuff up.
I wanted to buy a QR VPRi so bad, after emailing them about sizing and getting no response back I had to look elsewhere and bought a Trek. Too bad though, I really love everything about that bike and the company.
My first ever tri back that I bought way back in 1999 was a canary yellow QR Kilo Private Reserve that I bought from John Cobb at Bicycle Sports in Shreveport LA. It would have been pretty cool to get back on a QR 25 years later!
That is something I hardly can believe. Every single one of my fit customers that I guided to them were shockingly surprised how super responsive they are by chat and email.
Jeroen
Yeah their Chat function is great, immediate response.
x2… I just bought an XPR and made extensive use of the chat leading up to the purchase. I never waited longer than a minute or so for a response.
I have a QR X-PR, too, shipped to Europe. It was fantastic service all around (much different to my normal Canyon bike…), even got a free t-shirt on top of the free carbon wheels they offered back then. Very happy with the bike. I only wish I had spent some extra bucks on a nice paint job. Fantastic brand.
I also recently set up the bike for my wife (a canyon), was arguably more difficult than what I had to do with my X-PR back then.
It’s funny you mention this…
I’m currently recoving from back surgy (long story) and without a TT bike. To cure my boredom - and dream of a day I can ride again. I have been pinging bike manufacturers with questions. Just to see their response time.
In every single case - Except canyon. I either got no response or just an auto response. It was to the point that I thought maybe something was wrong with my email.
It took QR almost 10 days to respond to me fairly basic request. The worst offender was FELT who never responded except to tell me my ticket had been closed
It’s weird to me that customers looking to spend 8-15k on bikes are treated like this.
I think the live-chat function that others have suggested when contacting QR is the way to go. They’re very responsive using that route.
I recently purchased a V-PRi and was very happy with their communication (I had a bunch of questions). Im coming from a Speedmax CFR (that I really like), but was just a pain for me to travel with (XL bike that always needed to be broken down a fair bit to travel – even with Bike Box Allen EasyFit). The QR is so much easier to manage.
Throwing caution to the wind, I would actually want a FELT IA 2.0. I loved my IA 2 but I sold it recently.
But I just don’t understand FELT as a company anymore. No dealerships anywhere, they don’t respond to emails, and you can’t get anything directly from them.
Part of me wonders if they are a zombie company at this point.
VPRI sounds great, but I’m 6’5" and they don’t have a bike that fits me.
I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but I bought a V-PR over the winter, and the customer service was nothing short of amazing. The online chat function seemed to give me the quickest response, literally within a minute. Any questions I asked I was able to get a near-immediate response. Even after buying the bike, they still have been super about responding to the various questions I asked.
I suspect that they are slower by e-mail though, as that seems to be the common mode of communication amongst people unsatisfied with their customer service.
To be honest, the rumors i heard is that they are going gravel only in the german soeaking market. Out of tri and road as a brand.
And that’s about the only thing you see from the, in socials.
Jeroen
Yeah, that’s the feeling I get also. Though they still promote the IA 2.0 for a few pros.
It’s a weird market even casually looking at bikes. It’s either Canyon or 2k more for anything else (assuming it fits)
I have bought 2 Obeds and a QR SR series road bike from them. They have always been super helpful and responsive, and actually one guy remembered me from my earlier purchases.
For me the value of this brand is the fact that you get the exact bike you want. I have short legs and a long torso so its super helpful to get to pick wheel brands, crank length, bar width, stem length, components, tires, etc. The fact that you can pick color and decals is even better. When I previously bought from the big brands you have to settle for their crummy OEM brand wheel sets, seats, handlebars, etc which are usually cost cutting measures, and then have to replace them all once you get the bike. Also more and more bikes are so SRAM homogenized its nice to have full component control as well if you’re not a SRAM fan boy. And they do all of the above for a price that is fair.
I would 100% consider QR, but they don’t make them for people over 6’4". They said it “might work” and would take the bike back if it didn’t. Which is awesome, but it sounds like I would be squeezing into the bike.