August 20/08 6:49 am - Worldwide Recall of True Temper Wolf SL Carbon Fork

Posted by Editoress on 08/20/08
 

Cervélo SA Announces Recall of True Temper Wolf SL Carbon Fiber Bicycle Forks Due to Fall Hazard

Cervélo SA in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and other government agencies today announced a worldwide voluntary recall of the True Temper Wolf SL Carbon Fiber Bicycle Fork. Consumers should stop using these forks immediately unless otherwise instructed. (To access color photos of the following products, see CPSC’s Web site at www.cpsc.gov or www.cervelo.com).

Name of Product: True Temper Wolf SL Carbon Fiber Bicycle Forks
Units: About 5800
Importer: Cervélo SA, of, Switzerland
Manufacturer: True Temper Composite Material Products Co. Ltd, of Guangzhou, China
Hazard: The forks steerer can break during normal use. In some circumstances this can cause the rider to lose control, fall and suffer serious injuries.
Incidents/Injuries: Cervélo has received twelve U.S. reports of fork steers cracking or breaking, including two U.S. injuries which resulted in minor abrasions and one broken wrist.
Description: The recalled forks have a clear coating over black painted carbon fibre, with the words “Wolf Superlite” and related logo just below the crown on each fork leg, and the words “SL” on each leg above the fork blade dropouts. There is a True Temper CRT™ logo on the inside of both fork legs.

The recalled forks could have been included on the following bicycle models: R3, R3 SL, Soloist Carbon, Soloist Carbon SL, and certain P3 Carbon framesets and complete bicycles.

Sold by: Independent bicycle retailers nationwide from November 2005 through July 2007 for about $475.
Manufactured in: China
Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using bicycles equipped with the recalled forks and contact their authorized Cervélo dealer to have a free replacement fork installed.
Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Cervélo toll-free at (866) 296-3137 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.cervelo.com.

“Though the fork passes US and international standards, this particular problem was not uncovered during those standard tests and the fork only showed this weakness in the field. After much work, we did develop a new test protocol that was able to replicate the same failure mode as seen in the field. If the fork steerer is damaged by impact (eg. by a crash, a fall from a roof rack, or another impact) then the damage may progress very quickly during use to complete separation," said Phil White, cofounder of Cervélo.

To correct this issue Cervelo is taking two steps:

(1) To protect its customers, it is initiating the recall that the maker of the fork, True Temper Sports, declined to do after being provided with a reasonable period of time.

(2) The lab test that successfully replicates this fork problem has been added to Cervélo’s library of tests, and any fork spec’d on Cervélo going forward will have to pass this test in order to be considered for spec on Cervélo bikes. At this point, the Easton EC90 SLX and the 3T Funda Pro pass this test.