Skewers Skewered by Expanding US Product Recall

As we predicted at the time, news arrives this morning that the QR recall previously affecting Trek bikes has now expanded to encompass more companies. Thirteen in total, all US-based, representing seventeen brands, and a total of around 1.5 million bikes. Working with various consumer safety groups, they’ve set up www.quickreleaserecall.com to explain the issue and offer a simple test to see if your bike is affected. As Brant advised in the comments to our last article, swapping the side your front QR tightens on is not a workaround to this issue.

Since hearing of this earlier, we’ve sought to clarify matters regarding the UK. So far, we’ve heard from Felt, Cannondale and GT that this recall is for US territories only and that, due to no reports of injuries caused by this issue, they are not issuing it in the UK. They did, however, stress the importance of checking your QRs before each ride.

Brands affected (in the US) are:

Access
Breezer
Cannondale
Civia
Diamondback
Felt
Fuji
Giant
GT
Haro
Jamis
Norco
Novara
Raleigh
Ridley
SE Racing
Specialized

But, as we said, this is only currently being done in the US. In fact, Shimano has issued a statement on the matter. It states that “Shimano has posted a safety reminder about Shimano’s quick releases on the top page of its websites worldwide’  and that ‘Shimano’s quick releases, both steel and aluminium levers – are safe when uses as instructed in the safety manual that accompanies them.” and that while it will work to revise future QR levers so that they are in compliance with the proposed new standards, that it’s not recalling anything and that if you actually read the instructions, then there’s nothing to worry about.