Snapped Raceface Turbine Stem

I had an over the bars incident last week when my Raceface Turbine stem clamp plate broke in half causing the bars to rotate forward making me loose control and launching me over the bars on a drop off. I was lucky there was foliage and long grass to break my fall or it could have been nasty. Has anyone on here had a problem with this stem?
Thanks peeps.

There was a voluntary recall on the front plate, do you still have it? What are the date codes on the inside?

Slightly worrying as I have one of these stems and wasn’t aware of any recall.

google foo

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10002&t=12964579

It turns out that a small number of Race Face Turbine bar clamps produced between September 2010 and the 8th of August 2013 were manufactured outside of the design tolerances. In the worst case, this clamp could crack and eventually break prematurely during use.

Luckily I spotted the massive crack in mine before I had a crash. Must have happened same time I bent the Thompson post (came unclipped on a drop). Hadn’t heard of recall either but I did think it was unusual when Merlin sent me a replacement no questions asked – it’s much thicker than the old one you will be pleased to hear.

I never knew about the recall un-till I got an email from YT still haven’t had the replacement yet.

Here’s what the email said

Race Face has identified a potential safety issue involving the Turbine stem bar clamp. A small number of clamps may have been manufactured outside of design tolerances. These outliers could crack and eventually break during use prematurely; therefore we are voluntary replacing all stem bar clamps manufactured between Sept 2010 and Aug 8th 2013.
The bar clamps affected have a serial number on the inside of the clamp as indicated in Figure 1. The serial number consists of a 10 digit code with the last four digits in the format YYWW (year week#). All bar clamps with a date code prior to 13 35 are eligible for the upgrade.
We apologize for any concern this voluntary upgrade may have caused. The health and safety of our customers is paramount to us and we are committed to offering safe products that are produced, sourced and handled responsibly.
Figure 1: Location of date code of stem bar clamp
Remedy:
Consumers should immediately stop using bicycles equipped with the affected bar clamp and replace with the new bar clamp YT has supplied. Alternatively you are free to contact the Race Face warranty department directly to receive a free replacement.
Race Face warranty can be contacted via
email – warranty@raceface.com
or by phone Monday through Friday +1 604-415-2350 9am – 5pm PST

Hmm this is a bit worrying. I’ve got a turbine stem that I bought second hand.

Who would I approach in the uk if mine has that date?

(Just off to check!)

I have returned it under warranty to Chain Reaction for a refund. Raceface had this to say about it.
“”You can certainly return the product for a refund but be assured that we always look to only put out RF products that are safe and meet our stringent product standards. We have made some changes to that Turbine stem design to remove the chances of this kind of issue from occurring going forward. We do wish you a quick recovery and hope in the future you will give Race Face another chance””.

Ok so mine is 1044. Bit concerned as I planned to ride tomorrow!

http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8927#p93093

Shalln’t be riding that bike this weekend then. Email to Merlin duly sent.

I have since bought a Renthal Apex stem and its waaaayyy burlier and not much heavier. I would ditch those Turbine stems instantly.

Good shout.

Just checked mine and it’s date stamped 12 39 so it’s part of the recall.

Bit miffed as I only bought it from CRC in the last 12 months, unless the recall has only just been put out?

Off to the lakes on the 11th too. Wonder what the CRC warranty turn around is like?

Bugger.

Just remembered I sold another turbine stem to someone on here not so long ago.

Emailed them a link to make sure they know. Feel a bit awkward now!

I bought mine from here but don’t think it was you?

Does your first name begin with W?

If it was you, you left me with a nasty rash.

unless the recall has only just been put out?

the bikerader link I posted is from April this year, the poster says theyve “just had an email from Canyon”.

Interesting that the warnings are coming from German bike manufacturers (Canyon, YT) using Turbines as OE, not from RF or their importer.

Odd isn’t it, can’t find any mention of it on the RF website.

I appreciate it would be difficult for resellers to contact every individual that had purchased a stem but I would like to think that someone somewhere would put the effort in to make more people aware especially as it could potentially result in a dangerous off.

Even searching doesn’t show up much information or even many instances of them failing. I don’t ride particularly hard, but I am a bit of a fatty and it’s taken a years worth of abuse from me so far.

The only positive is it means I can now justify switching to an Atlas 35 stem and bars 😉

I have a stem from the group described above. I just called Silverfish about this. They told me there isn’t an active recall but I can take my stem back for my purchasing dealer to inspect. Seems a bit odd.

I’ve mailed RF and will see what they say. I spoke to CRC too and they just asked me to fill in a warranty form and they will look into it.

Does seem a bit odd, the bike radar thread mentions that the canyon turbines are a different spec to the rest but I find that hard to believe.

Could just be a mix up?

I had one crack at the faceplate.
Needless to say i now have a heavy but dependable stem fitted now.

I have x2 of this stem, annoying, anyone got a replacements / refund from Merlin or CRC yet them?

I contacted Merlin and they are not aware of a problem, they say.

My new front plate turned up in the post today, have never been that worried of it snapping. I’ve been on the uplifts at Ae and Innerleithen enough to think if it was going to snap it would have done it by now.

I emailed RF today, ill let you know what I get back from them?

Please do let us know the outcome.

I’m thinking that if mine was going to break then it would have by now. I’ve had a fair few crashes that have been big enough to twist the stem round on the steerer, plus I’m far from slim!

Not heard anything back from RF yet myself, they usually email back the same day.

Had a few offs with mine and it’s never been a problem, just have that doubt in the back of my mind now.

I’m also awaiting a reply from RF. Probikeshop have said they passed on my query to a “competent person”, which is nice. I think it was me who posted that Canyon Turbine stems were different on BR, and the one I saw definitely was, but I suppose it could have been an updated one (the whole stem was different though, wasn’t cnc’d). Otherwise I’m in the same boat as daveR, I’ve raced, crashed and generally abused mine for 2.5yrs now without issue. It’d be nice to be offered a new one though.

Just had this from RF

Hey bluearsedfly,

We aren’t doing a recall of the stems but we are sending out new, sturdier faceplates for them. In the UK, Silverfish is dealing with sending out all of the faceplates so if you can contact them they will be able to help you out.

Thanks,
Steve C.

CRC just said they weren’t aware of any problem.

Hopefully speak to Silverfish tomorrow and sort a new faceplate out.

I have not had anything back also from RF, so will be contacting silverfish tomorrow

I asked RF if Silverfish would have any stock, RF mentioned they sent out a load of faceplates to Silverfish a while back so they should still have some.

Why Silverfish have asked someone else to take their stem back for their purchasing dealer to inspect sounds a bit odd if they’re sat on stock of replacements.

RF said it would just be a case of providing proof of purchase and a pic of the date stamp.

I’ve emailed Silverfish but not heard anything back, anyone else had any luck?

Spoke to Silverfish today, they are posting a new faceplate out to me and with any luck I should hopefully see it in the next couple of days.

I rejected a replacement stem, an updated one or a repair and CRC gave me a full refund as i moaned about not trusting them and that i had bought a different stem from another manufacturer.
Here is the CRC blurb.

We have received your warranty claim for your stem.

We work hard to process all warranty issues as quickly as possible. The Manufacturers’ policy, in this instance, is for their Service Centre to inspect the item.

We have sent your warranty item to the Service Centre, via the fastest shipping method, for their assessment. Please be aware their decision and subsequent action (reject\repair\replace) could take between two to three weeks, this is due to transit times and ensuring the best solution.

We will keep in touch with the Service Centre to ensure the fastest possible turnaround and to get the results of their inspection. Be assured we will keep you updated with any information we get as your claim progresses.

This is bad news.

I have a 2nd had Turbine, and I have no idea the original shop it came from and obviously don’t have any receipts.

Am I buying a new stem? Or do you think i’ll get sorted out?

I’ve not checked the date yet but going to assume the worst.

Just got this back from Silverfish which is disappointing:

There has not been an official re-call from Race Face for the Turbine stem face plate issue, this was simply something released by YT and Canyon for a potentially faulty batch that they received. There is no issue with the stem and so there is nothing to worry about.

Thanks
Joe

Who did you speak to bluearsedfly? I’d like to call SF.

Why is it disappointing? Your stem is okay? Or did you want a new shiny one for free?

Mine falls within the affected batches and I don’t want it to fail regardless of what the distributor says. So yes I want a new face plate. Sorry if that’s asking too much! Have a look online an see how many have failed, quite a few.

The only thing I’ve heard from Probikeshop is that they’re waiting to hear back from the French (I assume) dist. Not expecting much.