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QBP Recalls Civia Loring Front Racks

Written by Zach Overholt
6 Comments
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QBP announced recently that they are issuing a voluntary recall of the Civia Loring Front Bicycle rack. According to the recall, the mounting bracket can crack or break, causing the rack to fall onto the front wheel of the bicycle potentially causing a crash. So far, there has only been one report of failure which resulted in minor cuts.

The recall affects somewhere around 100 racks, that were sold between December 2009 and February 2011. Keep in mind that this recall is only for the front rack, not the Loring rear rack. Customers are advised to remove the rack from their bike and return to the store where they purchased it for a full refund or replacement. You can also visit Civia’s recall website.

*Thanks to Alan for pointing out that this recall only applies to the aftermarket racks. Any of the racks that came stock on Civia bikes are not affected by the recall.

 
Zach Overholt
5,722 articles

Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.

Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.

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Tom
Tom
13 years ago

Maybe while they make revisions they can countersink those interiors fasteners with flathead style bolts.

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Alan@EcoVelo
Alan@EcoVelo
13 years ago

It’s worth noting that the rack in question is only the *aftermarket* rack, not the rack included with the bike.

This is from Civia:

“Attention Civia Loring bicycle Owners: this recall applies only to AFTERMARKET front racks. Neither the Civia Loring bicycle or its original equipment front rack are involved in the recall.”

Alan

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Paul Rivers
Paul Rivers
13 years ago

I appreciate them doing due diligence for this stuff, but seriously…I bought a Hyland from Civia and with all these recalls I find it difficult to even consider buying more stuff from them. They don’t seem very good at designing products that are subject to constant recall.

On my Highland, there were 2 serious, potentially bone breaking issues with it –
1. The high end Thomson stem they provided did not attach securely meaning the handlebars could move separately from the fork – very, very bad if you hit a curb the wrong way. This didn’t affect all their bikes, but it did affect mine. They replaced the stem for free, but also…
2. They recalled their carbon fiber front fork due to them breaking for one or two. Note that a fork that breaks is the most dangerous part on your bike to break, though (the front wheel is the same). Again, they replaced it for no charge, just saying…

3. In a much less serious recall, their fenders would not stay attached securely, the screw would back itself out and they would quickly start rattling like crazy.

Now Civia was nice enough to actually take my bike in, take a look at it themselves, and fix the fender (I think they put loctite on the bolts) and some other noise issues which was great.

But after 3 different recalls on one expensive bike…even though they’ve been as considerate as possible, I just started to feel like it had gotten pretty ridiculous.

On my other 3 bikes (all Specialized), I’ve had exactly 1 recall about a serious issue where the front chainring could bend, throwing the chain off and potentially causing serious injury. I just mean that Civia isn’t alone in serious safety recalls, but…I mean after 3 of them, now their basket could cause injuries to?…

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Chipollini
Chipollini
13 years ago

While the fork is a major concern, and was dealt with – the Thomson stem and the fender issues sound like your local bike store is letting you down… A stem the is not properly torqued to specifications can and will slip, secondly you should stop hitting curbs the “wrong” way – if you do something to your bike it’s not designed to handle you will inevitably have problems… and it might be a good thing that your bars got turned – a little bit of slip with a hard impact can actually save your bike by dissipating the impact. It would be very difficult for what you describe to happen “did not attach securely meaning the handlebars could move separately from the fork” even with very loose bolts eg: your stem is held onto your bike in two manners – the bolt that goes through the top of the headset cap attaching to either an expander nut in a carbon steerer tube or a star nut in an aluminum or steel tube – you have a star nut. If installed correctly it is nearly impossible to yank that out, even so you have two other pinch bolts that provide clamping force directly to the steerer tube. It is also unlikely the four bolts on the face of the stem would come out either.

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Joshdude
Joshdude
13 years ago

Making a utility bike rack in Aluminium (or Aluminum) is not a very wise move, look at the most Dutch bikes except those more leaning towards fashion city bikes use steel racks whether built in or aftermarket. Aluminium is a light and strong material when used understanding the material’s characteristics but for Civia racks which has many welds it better be made of steel…

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TimothyKephart
TimothyKephart
13 years ago

I really appreciate this blog post. Earlier today, on my Loring, which I bought new about a month ago, the exact thing happened to me. The bolt on the back of the front rack came free and the rack came down on the front tire and flipped me and my bike head over handlebars. When I later got home and was able to look at the bike I realized the issue and I couldn’t believe that there was a single point of failure like that built into the bike. I mean, it’s not like if the bolt breaks loose that the rack would fall off. It’s completely clamps down on the front tire and all forward motion is completely lost and the rider goes flying head first. The recall says for bikes between December and February but I got mine in early September from an independent bike shop and the rack is what came with the bike, not an aftermarket one. I googled Civia Loring crash and that’s how I got to your site so thank you again for this post.

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