Sava F20 Purchase
First, let me say I have not been paid nor compensated in anyway for this review. I ordered a new bike from Sava directly for Fathers Day 2026, replacing my 2015 Cannondale CADX 105 to use during the summer riding season. My son months earlier had ordered a Sava A7L Pro directly from the US Sava site and was completely happy with the process, purchase, delivery, amount of value and money he saved doing so. I had my hesitations obviously because of hearing many quality issues when ordering from Asian online bike vendors. But as of lately, my research revealed many of the Asian brands have made many quality and control issues making brands such as Sava, X-Lab and others viable options over big brand manufacturers. So my experience with the entire Sava process is as follows. The order and delivery process went good with a few exceptions. The initial blaring issue I had was, I would've perfered to have more choices in the colors available for the F20 on the US site and wish that it could reflect more to what is available on the Asian site. Seemingly, the site has spans when multiple sizes and avaiable colors go unavailable for extended periods. I had heard the horror stories of ordering from the Sava Asian site on how long it took for delivery to the US and how damaged some bikes arrived to customers. So it was a no brainer to order my size and color that was available from the selection remaining. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the pearl white color I decided on as it matches the color of my Intense Carbine. The bike shipped and was delivered fast. Issue 1: when the box arrived, I noticed a puncture and rub damage on the lower left face side of the box. Which will explain an issue I had after opening the box and putting the bike together. I documented it with pictures. Upon opening the box, I noticed how little packaging material was inside to protect the bike. A far cry from what my Intense had when it arrived! I removed the bike and immediately noticed the rear derailleur was scratched up, which was where I had documented the damage on the exterior of the box and where very little packing material had been placed on the inside. The bike went together easily as I've worked on bikes for my entire life. I also have ordered buyer direct before from Intense. I do wish the documents and website had included proper torque specifications for the regions they sell bikes to. This isn't much to ask because I shouldn't have had to decipher and calculate the numbers myself. I finally got everything torqued and went for a spin, immediately noticed after shifting through the gears that the rear derailleur had started rubbing on the spokes. I shifted the gears to stop the rubbing and went home. After a through look over, I observed the derailleur hanger was bent. I emailed Sava with my issues. Gary responded and asked for photos of the box and derailleur including if I had received a spare hanger in the supplied parts box. Which I didn't. Unfortunately, this caused me to have to wait over a week and a half while Sava processed and shipped a proprietary replacement hanger from Asia. I also asked Gary if they could replace the derailleur because of the visable damage but all he could do was refund me $100 in good faith. Sigh! I recieved the replacement hanger, got it installed and went for another test ride and all went well. Within a months ownership, I have replaced the bar tape because it has worn through. I have also replaced the OEM IRC tires with Continental GP5000's and TPU tubes for better rolling resistance. Unfortunately, I've had to replace the stem, seat post rail, and water bottle bolts with Titanium blue anodized bolts due to the OEM ones already rusting on the head of the bolts. This should've been a viable hint to me because, visable rust on seat post bolts is also seen on the Sava site parts specifications page). I reached out to Gary again requesting all the OEM bolt sizes on the bike so that I could replace them all. But, was only able to get the sizes for the items I mentioned. I have also had to replace the spoke nipples with DT Swiss aluminum blue anodized ones because the OEM ones had stated to tarnish and corrode. I also replaced the seat with a Giant Fleet SLR Carbon (145) that better suits my sit bones. Replaced the bushing shod 12 spd 105 derailleur pulley wheels with 12 spd Ultegra sealed bearings ones. After 1600 miles put on the bike, one 55 mile ride event and many solo and group rides I'm completely and very happy with the purchase. As most do, we modify our bikes to suite our taste and needs. I'm no different. My final delima, to replace the straight pull round spokes with straight pull bladed carbon or aluminum one's or just buy new lighter 50mm wheels or not! Recommend purchasing if you're looking for a viable full carbon bike at an affordable and competitive price.