Specialized S-Works carbon stem recall
Continuing the trend of recalls for parts of my bike Specialized has just announced a recall for the S-Works carbon stem that comes on many of their road bikes, including the Allez, Tarmac, Transition, and Roubaix.
Apparantly the magnesium faceplate many break “causing the rider to lose control, fall and suffer injuries.” I imagine having your handlebars come off in your hands could be a problem. Just ask George Hincapie, who lost his bars in this year’s Paris-Roubaix.
If you have a S-Works carbon stem with a magnesium faceplate bring it to your dealer or call 877-808-8154 for a replacement.
Update (8/4/2006): If you call the phone number Specialized will tell you to go see your dealer. I called around to find a replacement faceplate and only one shop in the bay area had them on hand. Half the Specialized dealers I called weren’t even aware of the recall.
I highly recommend Go Ride Bicycles in Redwood City as they not only knew about the problem and had a bunch of replacement faceplates onhand, and even stayed open late so I wouldn’t miss my ride the next morning.
October 18th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
[...] Yesterday I finally got a call back from Martin at the bike shop to tell me that he was done and I could pick it up that evening. He said that Specialized wouldn’t sell me a new S-Works stem. This wasn’t because they didn’t have it in stock but because they wouldn’t sell me a stem without alloy faceplate. You see, they had recently recalled the S-Works carbon stem due to a problem with the magnesium faceplate. It didn’t matter that I already had a replacement faceplate. I suggested that we send Specialized my faceplate and then they could send me a “complete” stem back. I guess this tactic worked since I’m promised a new stem in about a week. In the meantime they would put on a cheapo stem of the same geometry so I could get the bike back. [...]