17 Brands Recall Over 1.5 Million Front Quick Releases – Injuries Reported

These companies must realize that coming forward this late in the game after Trek already had a recall a year ago makes them look like a**holes.

Oh no! The lawyer bought a bike with disk brakes now! Prepare for him mounting the front wheel backwards and noticing it going down a hill with his rear brake failing! Soon disk brake front hubs will be required by law to have a fool-proof key-in interface with all matching fork dropouts!

I think there should be no recall and this should be a test of evolution. If you get injured or die because of this you had nothing to offer the human race to begin with, good riddance.

You can’t recall stupid. People are going to find ways to hurt themselves no matter how fool-proof a product becomes.

It’s ironic that the first illustration shows an improperly closed QR.

Honestly, I have never liked quick releases. Sure they work fine, but they are too easy to use wrong.

And once again the many must suffer for the willful stupidity of the few. The big WTF in this is people thinking this was how to use a QR.
The possible bright side here is that you can’t make this kind of a mistake with a through axle fork so bike companies may start putting them on all disk braked bikes.

As a lawyer who squeezes into my spandex manties one leg at a time like everyone else I can say most of us legal folk who ride bikes know how to use a quick release. However, as a human who sometimes doesn’t notice that my socks don’t match until after lunch, who has accidentally left my keys in the door, and who once locked my bike to a bike rack before remembering I hadn’t brought my keys with me to unlock it, I can say people who know better often forget or fail to do that which they know they’re supposed to do. Having a quick release that can have you flying chin first into the gravel when a safer alternative exists and is readily available is a bad thing, fixing it is good.

Glad I have Hope or Dura Ace skewers!

Andy said first “illustration”, not picture, so I think he’s referring to the QR being closed up against the fork leg, as opposed to in front of the fork leg as would be proper (and more safe due to increased cam action, and easier to use due to finger clearance for opening).

Such a tiny thing that only a few people have experienced leads to millions upon millions of dollars being wasted in trying to fix an almost non-existent problem. Welcome to my life for the next year and a bit.

I’m really confused as to how someone can be riding with the QR that wide open?

@Slow Joe Crow: And for bikes with a 9mm axle that won’t take a through axle skewer, the solution is a skewer along the lines of the DT Swiss RWS. Never had a problem with loss of clamping on any of mine (three bikes), and the lever doesn’t pivot so it can’t get caught. Plus you can place it drive side or non-drive side with no interference issues.

AdventuresAnonymous is correct. I was referring to the illustration, not the photograph, in which the qr is against the fork leg preventing it from being fully, and properly, closed. The fact that the majority, and even the creator of the image and (apparently) people behind this recall, don’t recognize this as an issue simply reinforces my point. The standard quick release simply isn’t intuitive enough for most people, even if it is a elegant device that works well when used correctly.

The first illustration shows the QR closed next to the fork stanchions, which is the way most people close their front QR levers, because they believe the lever is less likely to accidentally come open. (The “Affected front disc brake area:” graphic.)

The second illustration shows how the recalled QR levers can be opened so far that they can come in contact with the rotor. (The “Replace your skewer if:” graphic.)

The third illustration show replacement QR levers which have a built-in “stop” in the design, and can’t be opened past approx. 180° from the closed position. There should be a 6mm gap between the rotor and a fully opened replacement QR. (The “Your skewer is fine if:” graphic.)

6mm is about the width of an average pencil, which is why you see the pencil in the drawing. You could also use a 6mm allen wrench, or a caliper, or any of a number of other tools in your toolbox to measure that clearance, but most people who don’t have a set of bike tools are likely to pencils around the house.

That said, using thru-axles for disc brakes bikes would solve this problem, as well as a few others (rotor/caliper alignment during wheel changes, for starters).

It’s a ploy to get general public aware that qr are dangerous. Very dangerous.
I can imagine the conversations in few years time: You’re still riding qr bike? Woow that’s really dangerous. You should totally buy a bike with through axles pronto.

After this gets “corrected” may we can find a way to keep riders from wearing their helmets backwards. It only took 1500 years to get every one to wear their pants with the zipper in front. Except Kris Kross. Then we can tackle bibs over jerseys. The bounds are endless!

Obviously I’m in the vocal minority, but maybe it’s a good thing to change a design if it’s been proven to lead to potentially serious injuries? I know it probably boggles the mind of the average bikerumor commenters, but you are the minority of the cycling population. Most people don’t know any better or care. And, it turns out, the cycling industry has a responsibility to make cycling safe and therefore fun for their customers so we can all keep wasting money overpriced crap.

Does this mean that there will be boxes of free enclosed cam-actuated skewers at bike shops across the country?

@Strawberry Fields: When your life, or at least front teeth depend on you doing something correctly, DO IT CORRECTLY. And check that you did it correctly. Every time. Yes that means closing the quick release, ensuring the tension is correct, lifting the front wheel and making sure it doesn’t fall out. Every. Time.

Half of the customers who encountered this needs recalled to the womb. The whole recall is a complete waste of money. Time better spent educating people how a skewer works imo.

There is a simple test for this.

1. Go look at your bicycle.
2. Is your quick release tightened properly? Skip to step 3. If not skip to step 4.
3. Good job. Go ride.
4.Go find a large rock.
5. Hit yourself in head with it.
6. Repeat step 5 until no longer a burden on the human race

I agree this is completely stupid. But then we all “know”. I just got a bike assembled by a LBS (against my better judgement) and the hyd. brake line was run out side the fork, the front skewer was pointed straight down and too loose and the rear wheel was crooked in the rear dropouts and the skewer was pointing up. I asked the manager if he had checked out the assembly and he said yes. I shut up and took it home and fixed all the issues myself. So even those in the bike industry can be eligible for a Darwin award at our expense. But overall it is a shame what society has devolved to…

Wow, I’m a mechanically-challenged chick and figured this out. Maybe they need to start making adult-sized tricycles, with a warning, of course, to not put all one’s weight at the back lest someone pop a wheelie and knock some sense into their thick skull.