Ravenhog

Wife found this today. Asked if i had a Salsa Bike fork. I don't but for all you guys that do. Salsa recalls some of their rigid disc only forks for failure just above the disc brake mount.

https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2013/...Bicycle-Forks/

eofelis 

Thanks for posting this. I have a 2012 Salsa Vaya Ti and the fork may be part of the recall. I will look into it.

eofelis 

I had ridden my Vaya to work today. I emailed my bf about this recall. He insisted on driving to my workplace to get the bike (he didn't want me riding it again until we looked into the recall.) He brought me another bike (glad have more than 1 commuter!) and he brought me lunch

The number imprinted on my fork matched a number on the recall list. He called Salsa. They had just posted the recall today and my fork was the first one they have heard back from. He already contacted a LBS and we have started the process to get the fork replaced.

Thank your wife for finding this recall notice, and thank you again for posting it!

Santaria

I think my 2013 Vaya 2 is not in the recall, but until I get more information, or can get home and pull the fork and check the numbers, I'm not sure.

no1mad 

Here is the link to the Recall Announcement thread concerning this- https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...0#post15734300

asmac

Thanks for the heads up. My number came up so I gues I'll be getting a shiny new fork. There doesn't seem to be any need to panic. In the unlikely event that it actually bends I'll stop riding. Steel isn't likely to fail suddenly. (Famous last words)

grolby

Why on earth would you think that a suddenly-bent fork is less dangerous than it breaking? Why are so many people convinced that bending is a safe mode of failure? It's not! A bent or broken fork is a serious hazard, and you should take it seriously. Don't ride on a recalled product, duh!

FKMTB07

Bummer, mine is probably on the list. I'll have to check it when I get home today. I wonder if the replacement will be plain black; I doubt they'd do a special run of orange forks for recall replacement. That's too bad, I like the matching fork.

spare_wheel

From the consumer product safety commission recall announcement:

tjspiel

The notice said that Salsa has received 8 reports of this happening, - no injuries so far.

It's good that they're doing a recall. I've often wondered how effective these recalls are at getting the affected parts replaced before the problem occurs. My guess is that over half the owners of these forks will never find out about the recall and a good number of those that do will find out only after the fork bends.

asmac

Thanks for your concern. I'll keep an eye on it. Fortunately, QBP is on the ball. This from Urbane Cyclist in Toronto: "I just got off the phone with Salsa, and they have confirmed that the fork will be an exact like-for-like exchange as far as color and rake goes. They will try to get one sent out on their morning shipment, and they will be calling me within the hour with an ETA for when it will reach us. They're usually pretty quick and I can't realistically see it being any later than mid-week next."
Note that Vaya forks come in three flavours, one for 26" wheels and “Two rakes available in 700c wheel size fork: 50mm rake recommended for smaller frame sizes (54 – 57cm)” and another with 45mm rake for larger frames.

Santaria

They called me back quickly when I left a message on the hotline. My bike was not affected by the recall, but I am now even more happy with this company. I sincerely doubt that Specialized or Cannondale would be as quick to reassure a customer who wasn't threatening them.

asmac

[QUOTE=tjspiel;15739322]The notice said that Salsa has received 8 reports of this happening, - no injuries so far.QUOTE] 8/1600=0.5% problem. Zero injuries suggest it's not a sudden failure. Life is a risk and this seems like a reasonable one along with "contents are extremely hot" coffee.

grolby

Zero injuries suggests nothing of the sort. Those 8 riders could have been lucky. They could have been moving slowly when it happened and avoided a fall. You don't know anything about the mode of failure, you don't know anything about how hazardous it really is. Seriously - don't ride on a recalled fork! Why are you so determined to do something stupid when you're going to have it replaced for free in short order? It's obvious that the odds of you getting badly hurt are small - but why give it any chance at all? The fork is potentially defective, and that's dangerous, period. Doesn't matter if it's a bend, a break, sudden or slow. Believing that it's okay because it might not fail instantly or because it'll bend instead of break is just plain stupid.

skijor

Thanks for this. I don't frequent Commuting much so this is a happy coincidence. I suspect my Vaya is included. Oh, and I love my Vaya!

eofelis 

My poor Vaya Ti is sitting in the basement, forkless. Fork has been sent off to Salsa for replacement. I hope to get the new fork back soon!

Glad I have a couple other commuter bikes to tide me over.

meanwhile

Because a broken fork will leave you face planting, whereas a 1mm bend will only be noticeable on inspection, and a 1 cm - or even 1 inch one - will only only have a moderate effect on handling.

Actually, compare to breaking, it is. That's the point of eg upper end alu bars being heat treated so they will bend rather than brake. The extreme bending that would be as dangerous as breaking would typically require vast amounts of energy, and isn't something to sensibly worry about.

meanwhile

Ok: you do not understand the difference between "suggest" and "prove without a doubt."

Otoh, it *is* correct to say that 8 incidents aren't that great a guarantee of complete safety, but this is because the sample size is too small for a heterogenous domain. I.e. (and less pretentiously) if you are doing something moderately unusual at the moment the fork fails then the problem might be more severe.

This has to be a personal judgement. You could say exactly the above about buying any used carbon frame or fork bike - it might have accident damage that has caused delamination, which means it could snap at any moment. And many alu handlebars and stems have a "snap!" failure mode...

In fact, I generally replace alu stems and bars on used bikes. And I'd be very doubtful about buying a used CF crit bike. Again, personal judgement call. Your attitude certainly maximizes safety in this case, but it isn't the only possible correct one, and you may well be taking bigger risks yourself without realizing it.

eofelis 

Did anyone get their replacement fork yet?

I finally got mine. They did send me the right size one, for 26" wheels.
Uncut steerer, which is good. I had to get a new star nut from the LBS (free).
I sent them a black fork and they sent me back a gunmetal grey fork.
I guess that's ok. It will look good on a ti frame.

asmac

No. They had promised to ship it immediately -- with right colour & rake -- about three weeks ago but nothing yet. Still riding the recalled fork with no sign of a problem.

eofelis 

I have to amend my previous post.

They did send me a flippin' 700c fork. I have a Vaya with 26" wheels. I was ok with a color change, but now I'm a bit miffed.
So now I guess I have to shelve the bike for another couple of weeks until they get around to sending me the right fork.

Salsa doesn't even have a FB page that I can complain on.

eofelis 

Need a grey 700c fork?

Terry66

My Vaya fork was built a couple of months before the problems. The fork thing made me nervous. I'm occasionally bunny hopping and doing wheelies on my Vaya. I would hate to think about a fork failure...

Speaking of face planting...I was riding early this morning in a nasty rain. It got so bad, I couldn't see through my glasses, so I took a detour to find shelter and didn't see the mud seeping onto the road. Front end washed out and I landed on my chest and face. Got up with a mouth full of blood. Thought I broke a tooth. Ended up with a fat lip, some scrapes and bruises and a nasty headache.

asmac

OK... got my fork today and got it exchanged. The big news is that Salsa has ditched the direct-connect caliper mount and now requires an adapter. Salsa did not include it but told me they had intended to and that my case was an oversight. Fortunately, I was able to get one. I feared that the new arrangement would mess up the perfect mounting of my fenders and front rack but all is good, just not quite so clean-looking.

skijor

Mine was manufactured several months before the problem batches. My LBS said they sent several Pug forks back due to a similar recall.