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TECH NEWS
QR recall1.5 million bikes recalled due to quick release issues
Seventeen bike brands have announced a joint recall of over 1.5 million bikes. The recall affects disc-braked bikes and the problem is the front quick release skewer, which can enter the disc rotor when fully opened.
The brands issuing the recall are:
- Access
- Breezer
- Cannondale
- Civia
- Diamondback
- Felt
- Fuji
- Giant
- GT
- Haro
- Jamis
- Novara
- Norco
- Raleigh
- Ridley
- SE Bikes
- Specialized
A catch-all website has been set up at quickreleaserecall.com which gives full details of the issue. It affects bikes that have disc brakes and use a standard internal cam quick release lever; these are likely to be bikes at the cheaper end of the various brands' product ranges.
The internal cam lever, when open, will rotate far enough for it to enter the disc rotor. Were it to accidentally open while riding, this could cause the front wheel to lock, with unsavoury consequences. There's no issue if the quick release is correctly closed.
The website suggests a pencil test to check for the issue: with the front quick release fully open and rotated as far towards the disc as possible, the should still be a pencil's width of space between the two. Any closer than that and you need to replace your quick release with an external cam design which won't rotate as far when open. The brands listed above will be supplying quick releases free of charge for affected bikes, although the website isn't currently clear whether that's worldwide or just in the US.
If this all sounds familiar, that's because it is: Trek Bikes identified the problem and issued a recall back in April after three riders suffered injuries from quick releases working loose. There are still other brands using the same quick release design that are yet to publish a recall.
Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.
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31 comments
You definitely shouldn't be running a front wheel with the quick release reversed.
Saw this issue a lot when I ran a mountain bike shop - many customers replacing their perfectly good steel Shimano Q/R skewers with fancy aftermarket ones (typically Hope).
Then having issues with Q/R loosening and wheels coming loose under heavy braking (especially on long, rough descents), and going back to the steel Shimano Q/R skewers!
These were not newbies but experienced riders with custom built bikes running open dropout Fox, Rockshox, Manitou forks.
I also experienced this myself on disc brake MTB's with lighter aftermarket Q/R skewers over the years, always used heavier Shimano steel Q/R as a solution but switched to through axles as soon as they were available.
More recently had this on my disc brake road bike which used Q/R dropouts at both ends, even with DT Swiss RWS skewers which generate a high clamping force (typically more than Shimano), there was a tendency for the rear wheel to shift in the rear dropouts under sustained heavy braking.
When this occurred I would experience a clicking under power after the descent, and would have to loosen the Q/R, shake the wheel in the dropouts to settle it, and tighten the Q/R. I tried Shimano steel Q/R with no difference to the DT skewers. Started to see a wear pattern develop on the rear dropouts.
The front was not such an issue as the front dropout were angled 45 degrees forward (rather than in-line with fork blade), although I did experience rotor noise when sprinting or climbing on the bars suggesting there was flex in the front fork / axle assembly.
Not a problem with old school XT skewers.
Let Darwinian principles take their toll....
I had a feeling that we weren't quite being told the whole story in this
matter and it seems my suspicions were correct:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080301184332/http://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesa...
To summarise that page: It's been known since at least 2006, when a British
cyclist won a settlement in court, that front disk-brakes should not be used
with QR skewers because the skewers work loose due to the forces generated
when braking.
So you say: the bike manufacturers wouldn't sell us dangerous stuff, after all
they've got "engineers" who do due diligence? Unfortunately, their "engineers"
are as close to being a chartered engineer as my dustman is and they'll
happily design stuff at the behest of their managers irrespective of how
dangerous it is because they bear no professional responsibility unlike a
chartered engineer would. Hence, they've been selling dangerous stuff for in
excess of 9 years.
My guess is what has prompted this recall is that somebody who got injured by
this known flaw has taken a manufacturer to a US court where as we know
damages are a lot higher than UK courts.
If I had a bike with such a setup, I would get in touch with the manufacturer
and demand a replacement fork and wheel with thru-axles. I bet they'll try and
palm people off with a replacement "safe" QR skewer though.
This is bull, I have been trying to recreate such a situation in the workstand for ten minutes, it is only possible to lock the wheel if it is rotating backwards, when moving forwards the disc simply pushes the lever out of the way.
Yes, that's correct. The only bikes affected are those with disc brakes, QRs and a reverse gear.
I think there is a slight mis-understanding. Maybe if the QR is loose enough that when you flip the lever to the closed position it goes right over into the disc?
It would need to be so loose that it didn't clamp, or hardly clamped, so the wheel being loose int he fork should be a give-away that's something ain't right, but then I spotted a bike on the train yesterday that had the front brake blocks (the one's that are curved to match the curvature of the rim) upside down, so that they pushed against the rim AND tyre.
Some people are very dumb and/or ignorant, and fortunately (or unfortunately) society tends to take it upon itself to try and save them from their own stupidity.
It's just funny that a significant number of people that will have a bike with this QR are those that are least likely to either find out about the recall or realise that it affects them.
Why the f*ck would anyone ride with the q/r undone? Presumably only the suicidal or congenitally stupid.
..or those who don't realise or know anything about bikes ? People deliberately riding with the QR undone is presumably not the real issue though, is it ?
Which is so much worse than the wheel coming off altogether - which is another consequence of an open QR.
This business just gets dafter! External cam QRs have less clamping force and get worn more quickly.
No wonder that bloke in the video has issues, the QR's aren't taking much effort to close and open. Tighten it up a bit fella! They'll not have this problem then!
Next week: 1.5 million bikes recalled because riding without a QR skewer in place might have unsavoury consequences. Recall will replace the skewer with a solid axle and two bolts.
Why not do it up properly?
Firstly, the concern is situations where the QR might become loosened during riding (e.g. contact with branches etc on mountain bike trails).
Secondly, the legal departments that no doubt initiated this recall will be more concerned with the "Why not engineer it properly?" argument.
IIRC this whole investigation was initiated by Trek a good few months ago, after reports of several serious injuries resulting from this defect, in one of which the rider was paralysed. It seems the other major players have followed suit.
I didn't have this particular issue on my Giant Tcx with discs, but did find that the QR supplied, would not hold the wheel true no matter how tight it was, so the disc kept binding on the pads. Simple fix to both issues was to replace the QR with a Zipp track skewer
Oh great. A free safety downgrade to make a lethal condition (front skewer open) slightly less lethal.
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/article/angryasian-death-to-crappy-quick-r...
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/skewers.html#choices
I'll just keep my skewers on the other side of the fork as I always have to minimise skin oil brake contamination and risk of burns if fixinf a puncture on a long descent.
I'm actually far more worried about this: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/skewers.html#disc
Note that this may actually be worse with external cam levers. Perhaps this is why the incidents happened in the first place? This has been known about for years in mtb circles.
Bring on the bolt through axles I say.
Not a good idea!
http://www.kinetics-online.co.uk/uncategorized/disc-brake-safety-issues/
I think you've misunderstood that article. Keeping it on the right wasn't a problem in this test, and it's recommended by a number of suppliers, say SRAM.
Nope, not mis-understood. Read down towards the end, in particular the Updates. Makes very clear that in their experiments QR on right side on disc brake bike worked loose, but not if on left side. It does add that if the QR is tightened over a certain level then there is no issue, but how do you know if it's over the required level?
Also, wouldn't trust SRAM. Their maxle QRs are known to work loose, and which side are they on? yep, the right! Indeed they recognised an issue themselves as they redesigned them about a year ago - still on the right but they now have a much improved lever that 'locks' more securely.
None of the big names then!!!
So My Secteur Disc is affected but the bike now has after market brake calipers and rotors. I am still covered because it's the combination of QR skewer and fork design that's the problem right?
Same test on the rear also fails so do I get both Skewers or is a locked rear wheel not dangerous enough (sorry, likely to kill enough people) to warrant a recall?
Also what do I get replaced, a different QR or a new wheel/hub fork with thru axle?
Edit - A quick release and a gift of approx $20
http://www.specialized.com/OA_MEDIA/pdf/0000058473_Rider.pdf
Because the risk of a faceplant on a 50mph descent does not warrant ruining the aesthetic of the bike by having the front and rear skewers on opposite sides, haven't you read The Rules?
are the rules not against discs anyway?
checked the rules, only require the lever to tighten just behind the fork (and the rear to bisect the rear triangle, which I definitely go for.) no mention of side.
Only until they appear in the TDF next year.
Yes, I always have my QR lever on the right fork leg. But at the back it has to be on the left to avoid the derailleur.
^^^^^^ Wot he said.
Were these bikes manufactured by VW?
yes, the claimed zero emissions must be too good to be true.
If I was riding when the QR lever stuck in my front disc not even VW could hide the emissions!
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