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TECH NEWS
Specialized announces voluntary recall of Tarmac SL7
US brand Specialized has announced a stop-ride notice and a voluntary recall of its top-level Tarmac SL7 road bike because of an issue with the fork steerer. After rumours began surfacing and Specialized released a statement to road.cc and a number of other publications yesterday, the safety notice has now been published on the Specialized website.
The SL7 was announced in July 2020, Specialized saying its new model was almost as aerodynamically efficient as its Venge aero road bike while being at the UCI's minimum weight limit for racing.
Yesterday Specialized said: “We will be announcing a voluntary recall of Tarmac SL7 bicycles because harsh impacts may put extraordinary stress on headset components and may initiate a crack in the fork’s steerer tube.
“We will improve the overall system with the addition of a new extended expander plug and an upgrade of the compression ring for riders that do not have one already.
“We will be asking riders to stop riding their Tarmac SL7 and head to their local retailer and have these new parts installed. Retailers worldwide have the parts in stock and installation will be a simple process.
“As with any severe impact or accident, riders should always have their bike inspected at their local retailer, but they can also rest assured that the Tarmac SL7 meets or exceeds all industry safety standards.
“Only Tarmac SL7 models already on the road will need this improvement. Tarmac SL6 and previous models do not require any action, and all Tarmac SL7 currently in-store and in the future will have these new components.”
The safety notice published today from Specialized' founder and chairman MIke Sinyard states: "We are issuing a voluntary recall to replace expander plugs and upgrade compression rings on Tarmac SL7 bikes and framesets. We have not received any injury reports. Specialized and retailers will contact riders that are affected by this recall via email.
"Please read the instructions below to determine if your bike is affected. If so, reach out to your Authorized Specialized Retailer who will replace the current expander plug [Fig. 1A] with a new extended expander plug [Fig. 1B] and upgrade the compression ring [Fig. 2A] to the newer-style two-piece compression ring [Fig. 2B] if your bike is not already equipped with one.
"It is a privilege to share our passion for bikes with you and we are committed to getting you back on the road as quickly as possible. Reach out to your retailer or contact Specialized Rider Care if you have any questions."
The Tarmac SL7 frameset is available in two different flavours: the S-Works models use Specialized’s FACT (Functional Advanced Composite Technology) 12r carbon fibre while the Pro and Expert models (see below) are made from FACT 10r and are a little heavier. Specialized says that the aero performance, stiffness, and ride quality are the same. Both 12r and 10r versions of the Tarmac SL7 are affected by this voluntary recall.
We were highly impressed by the Specialized S-Works Tarmac SL7 when we reviewed it and we certainly had no issues with the fork steerer, although it’s unlikely that a problem of this kind would come to light in the relatively short time that we have a bike. Each reviewer rides a bike for up to four weeks.
Read our review of the Specialized Tarmac SL7
The Tarmac SL7 has been raced extensively by Deceuninck–Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe since its launch, raced by the likes of Mark Cavendish and Julian Alaphilippe.
Earlier this year, Canyon issued a 'stop ride' notice relating to its Aeroad CFR and CF SLX bikes after Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin–Fenix) snapped a handlebar during a race.
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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24 comments
I love how this story is buried 3/4 of the way down the page, unlike then shill job you were doing when the bike was released.
Gotta keep those advertising dollars coming in after all!
Huh? Apart from some banner ad and the tours ad on the right, it literally is the page.
If you meant the front page, the top is always taken up by the latest reviews/feature with the live blog on the right hand side. Then the rest of the pages are normally the new and other features based on age of the story. So it is only 3/4 down the page because other news items happened.
Its literally on the first page of the desktop site and at the top of the 2nd page on the mobile site.
Back under the bridge troll!
desktop
TBF, I think he posted just before the update which would have uplifted it again.
Raoul has given his opinion. Always worth listening to
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=og6hcRLaByI
take a look at his recent Cannondale one as well.
So, they've announced that they're going to announce it, tomorrow?
The news channels do this, all the time..."the Prime minister will announce, tomorrow, that taxes are going up" or suchlike.
If the media know about it, it's usually because it's already been announced - future tense is pointless
The news of disintegrating tubes got leaked before they had a change to frame themselves as the good guys and announce how amazing they are by arranging the fix
I wonder what a "harsh" impact means? They seem to indicate if you collide with something or have an accident, however I expect pot holes and bad road would be enough with that announcement. How many people get their bike checked after hitting a pothole if the wheel is still round?
Does anybody know if the Canyon issues have actually been fixed yet or are the owners still on a 'stop riding' notice?
As much as he grates on me, Durianrider called this a while ago when he looked at the headset design. It was funny watching his video when he leaked this, his grin was huge
If this issue is so serious that it warrants a stop ride notice being issued by Specialized, why is this being issued officially tomorrow and not immediately? Have you questioned them on this or would that be considered as being too honest and impartial? Shocking.
Not only that, but they have known about this issue long enough to develop a solution, and have the requred replacement parts shipped to their dealers in advance of this notice!
It makes sense that they would want to reassure customers that they have a fix as soon as they announce the 'stop ride', but I wonder how many customers around the world have suffered a failure in the time between Specialized internally acknowledging they have an issue, and then going public about it.
Wonder how much over the min UCI weight limit it'll be now? It's not the cheapest bike after all...
Not the cheapest to buy but I wonder how much it costs to make?
Apparently it costs them about $270 for each frame from the factory, but just how much do these 100,000 supercomputer simulations come in at eh
So what about us late model Venge owners? They say it only affects SL7’s on the road right now, but from what I can tell my 2019 Venge Sagan green jersey replica bike has the same exact routing, any other Venge owners a little spooked now?
Out of curiosity what height of spacers is under your stem if you don't mind me asking? It's scary if you've found the same damage as I thought this issue was mainly because of the lack of space in the SL7s head tube?
I run no spacers under my stem.
Jeez! Blows my theory out of the water. Also fills me raging jealousy too that you're able to run a Venge without spacers! 😀
Well I’m not running a tiny frame size with a ton of seatpost sticking out either like the pro’s do which is how I get away with no spacers. I’m 5’10” barefoot with a 32.5” inseam and pretty long arms, and am riding a 56cm frame. If I was younger and still raced I’d be riding a 54cm and WOULD have spacers under the stem. The bike is one of those 2019 Sagan TDF green jersey replica Venge’s that sold out in 30min after they were announced, 1 of 100 hand painted in Italy, so if my fork had to be replaced I’d be screwed. A local guy I know here knew someone at Specialized that was able to get one, he rode it 5 times then sold it to me. I’ve been trying to find a SL7 used for months now to make my daily driver and just keep the Venge as a collector show piece, but think after this news I’m just going to go back to my roots and order a Saronni Red Colnago Master steel frameset .. throw some 80’s NOS Super Record on it .. and rest easy knowing nothing is going to break.
Ha! You mean the ones that tell them the most aerodynamic design that fits within the exacting template the UCI stipulates? That's the reason most of the bikes in the peloton look like cookie-cutter designs.
Most of the SL7s aero gains were made on the wheels and some integrations (causing the headset/steerer issues). I'll bet this design was cheaper to make than all the other designs so now they are fitting a longer steerer bung amongst other things.
Part of me wonders if the bikes that suffer the worst damage are the ones with a lot of spacers under the stems and this allows more steerer deflection.
Ohh I didn’t mean my 2019 Venge has any damage .. just that the routing is the same as the SL7. It seems though if you had a lot of spacers under your stem and you hit say a deep pothole you’d be applying more leverage to snap it no? Of course you hit anything hard enough it’ll snap, I snapped the forks clean off a solid steel Schwinn Continental 10 speed hitting some railroad tracks doing about 15mph.