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Specialized Bicycles Recalls Road and Multi-Surface Bikes Over Headset Assembly Issue


— January 16, 2019

Specialized Bicycles is recalling a variety of popular road and multi-surface bikes over concerns that the headset assembly may be defective.


Earlier this month, Specialized Bicycles issued a recall for a wide variety of popular road and multi-surface bikes over concerns that the headset assembly “could cause a loss of steering control.” According to the notice, “any model from 2017 to present that is equipped with Specialized Bicycles’ Future Shock front road suspension feature” is included in the recall. The particular ‘Future Shock’ front road suspension feature “debuted on the 2017 model year Roubaix and Ruby (the women’s version) and was expanded in following years to the Sirus fitness line and the gravel Diverge line,” according to the notice.

Image of the CPSC Seal
CPSC Seal; image courtesy of the U.S. Government via Wikimedia Commons.

For now, Specialized Bicycles is recommending consumers who have the recalled bikes to stop using it immediately. If you have one of the recalled bikes, you can take it to a Specialized Bicycles dealer to have it repaired.

It’s important to note that the issue with the recalled bikes isn’t with the “Future Shock suspension mechanism itself.” Instead, the “at-risk part is the steerer tube collar, part of the headset assembly that pre-loads the headset bearings,” according to the recall notice. As a result, the “steerer tube collar on the bikes can succumb to stress corrosion cracking and fail, resulting in an inability to steer the bike.”

As part of the recall, Specialized Bicycles announced that it will replace the “steerer tube collars on affected models with an updated design, at no cost to the owners, through its dealer network.” Additionally, it plans to work with the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on a press release to announce the recall on a larger scale. However, because the CPSC has been affected by the partial government shutdown, “it is not currently processing new recall announcements and has not updated its web site since December 20.”

Sources:

Specialized Is Recalling a Bunch of Bikes

Specialized Recall: Faulty Part May Cause ‘Loss of Control’

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