Trek Recalls

Trek recalls nearly 1 million bikes

By WKBN Staff
Published: April 23, 2015, 6:12 am

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – Trek bicycles is recalling nearly a million bikes due to an issue that left one biker paralyzed.

The issue is a quick release lever on the bike’s front wheel that can interfere with the disk brakes.

The problem can cause the wheel to stop turning or break away from the bike frame.

The bikes are model years 2000 to 2015 and were made in China and Taiwan.

Trek says it will replace the lever for free, and provide a $20 coupon for bike accessories made by Bontrager.

Details of the recall can be found here. http://www.trekbikes.com/pdf/recalls/20150421/15TK_QRRecall_WebNotice_USEN.pdf

http://wkbn.com/2015/04/23/trek-recalls-nearly-1-million-bikes/

 

Nice... :wacko:

I remember reading something about Quick Release not playing well with Disk Brakes, but for a different reason.

They were saying that the vibrations caused by the disk brake's function, could shake the quick release and make it become un-done.


But the quick release getting jammed in the disk brake? How???

2000-2015??? How long were they using the same quick release lever? Didn't they make a new one every 2 weeks or something??? :wacko:

 

Here is a good explanation of the issue: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/21/trek-bicycle-recall/26149227/

They have had 3 injuries out of 900,000 bikes. While one injury was very serious and unfortunate, the hazard rate is very low and it only happens if you have a loose quick release.

One benefit of buying a product from a large reputable company is that they can be held accountable for design issues such as this. Trek is doing the right thing in issuing the recall, they probably fear some damaging lawsuits.

I suspect that other bike brands must be susceptible to the same issue as well. You could insert the quick release with the lever on the right, drive, side to aviod problems or just ensure that your quick releases are snug before each ride ( which is a good practice anyway).

 

Volnix, as maydog stated its accident condition is with an OPEN lever. That's dangerous to start with! The OPEN position travel past 180 degrees from CLOSED and this is where the serious risk of injury becomes nigh.

I know ONE guy that started a race with a partially closed lever on his front wheel. He managed to close it at 25 MPH in the middle of a crit field after I pointed it out to him.

Anyway, the open lever falls through the moving slots in the rotor due to vibration or an impact bounce/rebound and acts like the proverbial frame pump jammed in the spoke...instant lockup of the front wheel.

Even at low speeds the odds of getting thrown into a face plant or header are good. The recent case of the paralyzed cyclist probably got TREK's lawyers' attention.

At $2 per lever and dealers gleefully swapping them out for free (with a cup of joe, the $20 Bontrasher gift card, a free wax job for the bike and whatever else they will willingly bribe your good will with) it might cost TREK $15 per potentially avoided $1,000,000 to $15,000,000 lawsuit settlement. So...$15,000,000 to potentially avoid 10X that amout or more...done deal.

TREK's rep took a hit over this, for sure. It could have been much worse.

 

The lever is not treks design, and is used on other brands as well. I'm not a huge fan but it's not their fault.

Sorry, if you're riding around with an open quick release you are a dumbass.

 

The problem with QR's is that some of them, mostly lower quality ones, are not strong enough to handle disk brakes, they are coming loose because of where the disk brake is, on the hub putting pressure directly on the skewer, and vibration added on top of that. Apparently the recall is on mid to low end bikes being made in Taiwan and China which makes sense because those QR skewers would be cheaply made.

Thru the axle design is superior over QR design when dealing with disk brakes or mountain bikes, but an overkill for road bikes using rim brakes. Some have said that the QR wears out over time, I haven't found that to be true, I have a pair of Suntour Superbe QR's on a bike that has over 160,000 miles and they still work great. But I have a feeling that Thru the Axle releases will be slowly taking over the market on new bikes because they do offer other advantages that may outweigh their disadvantages like weight and speed of removing and replacing a wheel but those disadvantages will also disappear as they refine them more.

 

One death out of 900,000 bikes sold is an incredibly low rate, although one death is often seen as too many. I barely like flying on safe airplanes, so I'd rather not have a quick release lever malfunction and send me flying into the air. It's a smart move by Trek to recall the bikes and offer some measure of repayment for cyclists' troubles.

 

Ok, I have the exact same QR lever shown on that video (the black one) on my bike. (2013 Allez). I don't have disk brakes though.

It never became loose on it's own. At some point I noticed a noise from the wheel when I was carrying the bike though and I noticed that the skewer was loose and I fastened it before riding. It was probably like that for a while... (Fanks Lawyer Tabs! )

So it's probably not a Trek thing... It probably just happened to happen on a Trek bike.

Yeah, with an open quick release skewer of course. But what they were saying was that vibrations from disk brake systems can make QR levers become undone.


Were they using the same skewer for 15 years??? :wacko: Didn't Shimano make Di2 Variable Torque Setting On-the-fly-Self-Fastening skewers by now???

So what's the new skewer like? Is it shorter? Or does it have a stopper so it can't get passed 160 - 180 degrees from closed or something? :wacko:

Bike Wax products are so overrated. Apparently you can just use hair conditioner.

 

Quote by ABNPFNDR:
"Sorry, if you're riding around with an open quick release you are a dumbass."


The world is full of the forgetful, the mindless, the careless and...a metric shit ton of dumbasses. Thus, we had the birth of the despised 'Lawyer Tab'.

People with two functioning brain cells were forced to take file in hand to remove this Stigmata Of The Stoopid from their steeds.

Even equipped with a QR lever that will now NOT swing past 180 degrees when open, the braindead walking among us will now have to get injured only when their wheels fall off from not tightening their shiny new levers.

Common sense isn't...common.

 

Quote by Volnix:
"Didn't Shimano make Di2 Variable Torque Setting On-the-fly-Self-Fastening skewers by now???"

Well, in their defense, most shitmaNO buyers ARE dumb enough to necessitate the implementation of such a device.

I can see it now...the Dura-Ass Self-Tightening Integrated Diagnostics LED Indicator QR Levers Model QRL-DA-9999! Of course they are fully wireless via ANT+ and Bluetooth to your Flite Deck, Garmin, SRM and iPotato.

Torque would be monitored 12,450 times per second and increased as pedal input Wattage went up and/or the ABS equipped hydraulic disco brakes were applied at more than 27.5% of maximum stopping power.

 

Well that's no good at all!! That's actually a little scary. Of all the things I worry about, that possibility never occurred to me. Thank good raw I don't have a trek.

 

Well that's no good at all!! That's actually a little scary. Of all the things I worry about, that possibility never occurred to me. Thank good raw I don't have a trek.

 

What you do have may have the same QR. but unless you have disc brakes, it shouldn't be a concern.

 

Dura-Flop is checking at that rate... The other ones are checking at a 30% rate less for a "confidence in QR related accidents" in accordance with, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Fuck it...


Or a QR lever, or disk brakes, or road to cycle, or a bike, or a meteor-proof roof...


Official, for all you "concerned" people out there...:


"Fight
Not to fail
Not to fall
Or you'll end up like the others"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94bGzWyHbu0

 

Swear to god this happened on Wednesday - lady walks into the shop with a Felt. She tells me that she thinks there is something wrong with her front wheel. Yup - QR lever is wide open (side note, it was one that will swing past 180). I did her the favor of taking it back into the service area and fiddling with it and made up a BS line about the bearing pre-tension nut being loose. What bothers me more than stupid is that stupid feels the bike manufacturer owes them millions for there idiocy.

 

"I did her the favor of taking it back into the service area and fiddling with it and made up a BS line about the bearing pre-tension nut being loose."

You did her no favor, IMO...other than saving her some embarrassment. Was she blonde?

That was, as they say in the libtard media, a "teachable moment".

This assumes, of course, that she was capable of learning.

You should have pointed out that while QR wheels are indeed a divine miracle from our hallowed savior, Tullio Campagnolo...Peace Be Upon HIM...that failing to follow the very simple user requirements one might end up with severe bodily harm or even win Darwin's Grand Prize, an all expense paid trip to visit Tullio in Bicycling Paradise...permanently.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivSMNbaXRSE

 

How common are these type of breaks? I don't have them thank goodness but I don't think I have ever seen them myself.

 

Very common. They have been in use for a long time and they FINALLY found someone smart enough to screw them up. Talent isn't easy to come by these days.