I ride Shimano components—derailleurs, cassettes and brakes—on three of my bikes. So what I am about to write will not be an expression of schadenfreude.
Here goes: Shimano is recalling 2.8 million of its cranksets worldwide—760,000 in North America. They include Dura-Ace and Ultegra 11-speed cranks manufactured between from 2012 to 2019 and sold, whether to individuals or to bike-makers, until this year.
The “Hollowtech” cranks were made with two more-or-less U-shaped aluminum alloy bars bonded with epoxy, which accounts for their appearance, light weight—and the problem that’s led to the recall.
About 4500 crank arms de-laminated—in other words, came apart—as cyclists pedaled them. Some of those incidents resulted in injuries though, apparently, none were life-altering.
Shimano has provided a list of model names and numbers, along with date codes (which can be found on the backsides of the crank arms).
Pity, and kudos to Shimano for owning it. Bigger pity was that Campagnolo never recalled nor honoured warranty on all the snapped Record cranks back in the 80's. i had one that could've dumped me in front of a bus when it let go (and i was never a strong or heavy rider!)
ReplyDeletehttps://euphoriabwltd.blogspot.com/2016/03/a-tale-of-three-cranks.html
Mike—I remember how people used to laud Campagnolo for making small parts available. That was great if you were near an authorized Campy dealer. Shimano, meanwhile, was knocked for not doing the same, and for making frequent changes.
ReplyDeleteAs you observe, Campy never seemed to recall their products even though some—especially the cranks and rear derailleurs—broke more often than most people realized. I suspect that Campy never put much effort into such customer service issues because they were racing-oriented and therefore paid more attention to professional teams and riders.