You may have spent a lot of money on a bicycle only to have the nagging feeling something is wrong. Or perhaps you had no warning at all until the day the bicycle failed, causing you to be seriously injured.
There are many reasons bicycles can be defective, and it may be that any one of (or a combination of) many parties is responsible. The retailer, manufacturer (whether of a part or the entire bike), wholesaler, distributor, repair shop or assembler could be at fault. Here is a look at some ways in which bikes become unsafe.
Steering
Quite a few Cannondale mountain bikes were subject to recall in 2015. The fix was a relatively simple parts swap out, replacing the OPI stem/steering tube assembly. If you had a defective Cannondale before the recall (or never found out about it to get the bike fixed), you were at a higher risk of falling.
Brakes
Some SRAM bicycle brakes got negative attention in a 2014 recall due to nearly 100 reports of failure. The possibility of injury and crash made the brakes a danger.
Quick release lever
Sometimes, the front wheel’s quick release lever touches the bike’s front disc brake rotor. What can happen then is the front wheel stops all of a sudden or even separates from the bike. Needless to say, bicyclists can experience a wide range of negative outcomes from such an event.
The fact is that any bicycle or bicycle part has the potential to be defective. If you are shopping for a bicycle, it may be worth your while to check it out at the government’s consumer product safety website. There, you type the relevant information about the bicycle model into the search bar to see if there have been any recalls issued.
When trusting your bike repairs to a repair shop or individual, it also helps to look for reviews and other testimonials to ensure the business knows what it is doing.
