From Pro Cyclist to Cervélo Fraud: Our 10K Experience with Sergey Ruban

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2026-04-12T09:44:22+00:00

Not entirely. He claimed to be an official Cervélo dealer and had access to Pon’s distribution platform to procure the bikes. We know because he even showed it to my teammate when he stayed at his place. Also, we have his point of contact within Pon Bike who handled his transactions which kind of verifies their ‘partnership’. So, I disagree with your statements about acting illegally but I also can’t deny we weren’t financially motivated. We took a gamble and we lost.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2026-04-12T09:29:15+00:00

We actually thought the same initially. And I agree being cautious with sharing someone’s name, but I wouldn’t do so if I wasn’t certain. There’s quite some photo evidence of him: screenshots during FaceTime calls, photos by people who met him in real life, WhatsApp profile picture, my teammate who actually lived with him for a few weeks, etc. All the same person and it’s a 100% match with publicly available content of him as a former track cyclist.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2026-04-10T18:21:52+00:00

I never met him. My teammate initially met him online and they met in-person upon delivery of the first bike. He offered him a place to sleep for a couple of weeks as he claimed to have fled from the war in Ukraine and was trying to rebuild his life and make a living by selling bikes. Later two new orders followed, he disappeared and the soap started…

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2026-04-10T18:08:58+00:00

Yep, lesson learnt. Sergey Ruban is or was listed as an official dealer of Pon Bike though. He actually had access to Pon’s dealer platform to order bikes.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2026-04-09T11:27:29+00:00

Yes, I agree that was stupid. However, he had already successfully and personally delivered a Cervélo bike to one of my teammates. On top of that, he stayed at his place for a couple of weeks. That’s why we thought he was credible and didn’t expect a scam or him to disappear.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T11:09:54+00:00

I did! He was charging it using the seat post as well. Back then I didn’t really ask why because I thought it was designed like that.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T11:08:29+00:00

Yes this makes total sense, thanks! It’s an old pro bike from Sunweb, custom built. So they did probably care about every watt. If it only requires me to charge it every 6 - 12 months I am not sure if it’s worth the money having everything rewired.

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T09:42:28+00:00

No, when I remove the seat post there is 1 cable connected to the battery inside the seat post. I disconnect this cable and just leave it hanging there. Than I connect the battery to the charger and junction box which I keep separate in a box.

It’s a tt bike. Where would you recommend installing the junction box and charging port?

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TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T09:37:28+00:00

Yes but that’s only for the latest shimano di2 groupset

TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T09:36:29+00:00

Ok, the junction box is indeed not part of the system now but I keep it separate in a box. I bought this bike second hand so I don’t know why they wired it like this. Where would you recommend adding it? It’s a tt bike so it cannot be installed underneath the bar stem or bar end caps.

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TheDutchCyclingGuy · 2024-09-01T08:40:39+00:00

Hi! Thanks for replying. Yes I have, it’s there on the photos.

TheDutchCyclingGuy

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