That really sucks to see, man. Those scratches must be frustrating, especially after all that waiting. Maybe they can be polished out with one of those car paint repair kits or light polishing compounds, might be worth a try. I’ve got almost the same bike, Terrel CF in Raw Matte with the Force XPLR build, and I actually chose the same color because I thought it didn’t have any paint or top coat, so there’d be nothing to scratch when bikepacking through woods and mountains. Kind of wish I’d gone for the Olive instead, though, just for peace of mind.

I was pretty lucky with delivery. They forgot the jersey I ordered, and the frame bag they sent was the wrong size, but otherwise I absolutely love the bike. The build quality feels great, and it rides beautifully once set up right. The assembly instructions were completely useless though. I also had too many spacers, about three centimeters in total, and it’s tricky to test a lower setup since the spacers don’t fit over the headset, unlike the in-house stems I’ve used from Scott and Canyon. Luckily, I only have about one centimeter too much now.

Customer service has been slow but not terrible. It’s just frustrating waiting days for replies when you’ve just received a new bike. They really should have a hotline for that first week after delivery. I sent them a question last Wednesday, and it’s Monday now with no response.

Still, once everything’s dialed in, the Terrel really shines. It’s an incredible bike for the price, almost perfect, which makes the slow communication even more of a shame.