Quadriplegic - Trek bike recall - 2000 thru 2015 models

Rob S.

Rob S.

Member
The incident that resulted the rider becoming paralyzed from the shoulders down happened several years ago. It was only after a lengthy court battle and a cover-up that Trek is recalling the defective bikes. It's unconscionable that Trek was still selling the bikes until this year, as the defect has been known for quite some time.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2015/04/21/trek-bicycle-recall/26149227/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/bus ... /26149227/</a>
 
I don't think this recall applies to anyone on this site. I think it's more geared toward those riders who ride without a second thought, and the only people touching their bikes is the mechanic from the bike shop. You know... the person who brings their bike to the shop thinking they have a flat, but it just needs air.
 
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bicycleretailer.com/recalls/2015/04/21/trek-issues-recall-qr-disc-brake-bikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bicycleretailer.com/recalls/ ... rake-bikes</a>

On similar note, I've bashed and bent aluminum handled skewers to the point they can interfere with susp linkage movement at the dropout pivots.
 
To me the problem is that Trek did not recall or react until they lost the lawsuit. They keep on selling a product that could have easily been fixed with a replacement quick release that could not be moved past 90 degrees and end up in the rotor. I will not support trek the rest of my life after them putting profits over safety...shame on them. What does a quick release cost or even a axle with nuts on it, again shame on them! Don't support them until they go away. Sell your stock now Gary Fisher and run.

Dean
 
Dean, I wasn't there, this is the way I understand that it went down. The gentleman who was injured was on a bike that was rented from a bike store. That particular bike store is owned by a very famous rider who you all know of, and who is probably recognizable by the majority of Americans. The injured customer only rode the bike a short distance before the wheel fell off and his life changed forever.

As you can imagine, fingers were pointed and lawyers salivated at the prospect of a big payday. Eventually, testing was conducted by smart guys with slide rules, cameras, and note pads. A professional rider was hired. All morning was spent trying to reproduce the failure under a variety of conditions. The bike held together perfectly. Eventually everyone got hungry and they decided to break for lunch. The pro rider took off on the test bike, and within a few yards, BAM! The wheel fell off and pitched the rider to the ground. Proof of a defect? Not at all, because the failure didn't occur as part of the official testing. It wasn't reported in the official findings. But as it is with all secrets, the truth was eventually revealed, and the judge was none too pleased with the deception of the court.

That's the way the story was told to me a couple years ago by someone who is close to one of the litigants. So if the recall was just announced, Trek kept the part on the market for years after the part was shown to be defective. Trek, Edsel, Corvair, Pinto: Unsafe at any speed.
 
It seems like Jax in Fullerton should be getting their replacement skewers today. I'll probably ride by this weekend to get the ones replaced on the Trek 3500 disc I'm commuting with (my brother's bike). My e-bike is on loan to a coworker.

My brother is handy with a wrench but doesn't know a whole lot about bikes. He kind of falls into the crowd who just rides until something isn't right, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

I'm sure the shops won't mind their $5 credit from Trek for ever set of skewers they replace.
 
Interestingly, I just got an email from my buddy who has kept me informed of this problem since Day 1. He informs me that contrary to the Trek press release, the failure is not one of improper installation. He's flying to SoCal in three weeks, and I'm sure we'll find time to play in the shop and study skewer design. Now if I had one of these wonky Trek skewers that we could play with, it would be really helpful. Hint, hint. Anyone in North OC have one of the defective skewers they could loan me for a few weeks?
 
Edited and removed my original post because I realize there is more to this than I care to follow and I don't want to bash a company without knowing the truth firsthand. Feel free to remove my post if need be.
 
Rob S. said:
Interestingly, I just got an email from my buddy who has kept me informed of this problem since Day 1. He informs me that contrary to the Trek press release, the failure is not one of improper installation. He's flying to SoCal in three weeks, and I'm sure we'll find time to play in the shop and study skewer design. Now if I had one of these wonky Trek skewers that we could play with, it would be really helpful. Hint, hint. Anyone in North OC have one of the defective skewers they could loan me for a few weeks?
Click to expand...

If Jax lets me keep mine, you can have them.
 
I wonder if the internet was around when the lawyer tab incident occurred if we'd have had the same amount of outrage, instead of the bitching about it that occurs everywhere now.

No matter, everything is going to through axles with reverse pitch metric threads on the front and standard english on the rear, or whatever new "standard" comes up.
 
<a class="postlink" href="http://grit.cx/video/2015/04/qr-recall-affects-entire-bike-industry" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://grit.cx/video/2015/04/qr-recall- ... e-industry</a>
These QR skewers aren't designed, engineered, or manufactured by Trek.
They are a commonly used part across the industry and Trek is just the first to bring about a recall - you may or may not see other brands following up with their own recalls.
 
Thanks anyway. I suspected they would want to round up all those defective skewers and melt them down before anyone else gets hurt.
 
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