Cervélo SA Recalls Bicycle Forks Due to Fall Hazard
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: Wolf SL Carbon Fiber Bicycle Forks
Units: About 5,800
Importer: Cervélo SA, of Switzerland
Manufacturer: True Temper Composite Material Products Co. Ltd, of Guangzhou, China
Hazard: The forks steerer can break during normal use, causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer serious injuries.
Incidents/Injuries: Cervelo has received 12 reports of forks cracking or breaking, resulting in one consumer suffering a broken wrist and another suffering minor abrasions.
Description: The recalled forks have a clear coating over black painted carbon fiber, with the words "Wolf Superlite" and related logo just below the crown on each fork leg, and the letters "SL" on each leg above the fork blade dropouts. There is a True Temper CRT(tm) logo on the inside of both fork legs. The recalled forks could have been included on the following bicycle models: R3, R3 SL, Soloist Carbon, Soloist Carbon SL, and certain P3 Carbon framesets and complete bicycles.
Sold by: Independent bicycle retailers nationwide from November 2005 through July 2007 for about $475.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using bicycles equipped with the recalled forks and contact their authorized Cervélo dealer to have a free replacement fork installed.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Cervélo toll-free at (866) 296-3137 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site at www.cervelo.com/WolfSLRecall
Media Contact: Peter Donato at Special Assignment Inc. at (416) 964-6118.
Ditto, Here's the text of Cervelo's mailing. I've got the Wolf TT, but still it would have been nice for them to say right out what model bikes came with that fork. Maybe on the websites...
True Temper Sports Wolf SL Fork Voluntary Recall
Cervélo has identified a potential safety issue involving the Wolf SL fork. This fork is designed and manufactured by True Temper Sports of Memphis, Tennessee, using a blade shape supplied by Cervélo. All other aspects of the structural design, development and manufacture were done by True Temper Sports.
Under certain conditions, the fork steerer can crack and eventually break during normal use, which may cause the rider to lose control, fall and suffer potentially serious injuries. To date, there have been reports of injuries in the field resulting in minor abrasions and one broken wrist.
Though the fork passes US and international standards, this particular problem was not uncovered during those standard tests and the fork only showed this weakness in the field, typically after being damaged. After much work, we did develop a new test protocol that was able to replicate the same failure mode as seen in the field. If the fork steerer is damaged by impact (eg. by a crash, a fall from a roof rack, or another impact) then the damage may progress very quickly during use to complete separation.
We have seen that incidence of failure on this fork is higher than on other forks, and there is a potential for injury upon failure. True Temper Sports feels that the fork meets the industry standards and that the fork is therefore acceptable and no further action is required. Cervélo does not share this opinion and therefore, is proceeding with a recall of the True Temper designed and manufactured Wolf SL forks ourselves. True Temper Sports has declined to participate.
In order to conduct a recall one must be able to demonstrate that any replacement product does not display the same failure mode. We have demonstrated to the authorities that the forks we will use as a replacement - the 3T Funda Pro and the Easton EC90 SLX - pass all standard industry tests as well as the new Cervélo test that the True Temper Wolf SL fork fails.
We have obviously discontinued all use of the True Temper Wolf SL carbon bicycle fork. However, please note that this does not affect the Wolf CL and Wolf TT in any way, as both have a completely different structural design (and have passed the new Cervélo test protocol).
Although it is not usual for a third party to recall a product manufactured by another company, we feel it is a necessary step to take care of our customer, and we will proceed with the full recall at no cost to the dealer or consumer.
The P3 does not have the effected fork but instead the CL version ... which is too bad as the Easton EC90 SLX is one sweeeeet and light weight fork.
Think the recall is just another example of how Cervelo is one step beyond normal bike companies. One would have to question whether other bike companies would shoulder this type of expense without being legally compelled to do so.
It would be nice to hear someone's experience in going through this to see if how it was handled through the process.