Hi fellow Escapees.
I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more chatter about this announcement from Ritchey last week: https://escapecollective.com/ritchey-issues-voluntary-safety-recall-of-carbon-fibre-forks/
Do we think this issue is widespread across other brands’ carbon forks? I was considering mounting a dynamo-powered light on my Enigma carbon fork this winter, but this has got me reconsidering!
I thought the solution of plugging the hole was a pretty lame way to do a recall. As to how widespread the issue is, I have no idea.
If you are mounting a headlamp and it come off, the risk of a catastrophic crash is less so than mounting a fender. Also, putting the fender mounting hole on the front probably is riskier than on the back of the fork in the event of something letting loose.
I initially thought Fairlight’s latest designs had over-engineered fork crown mounts. I guess the Ritchey recall validates their efforts.
Definitely rough for impacted consumers, and I agree that the solution of plugging the hole feels incomplete. On the plus side, on Instagram comments Ritchey is asking people to get in touch if the plug doesn’t work for them, so they can work on finding an alternative solution, which seems promising. And also worth noting, all the other mounting points on the Ritchey forks are OK (including the fender mounting hole, which is at the rear). I have the prior generation Ritchey gravel fork sans crown mount on my Outback and it rides ridiculously nicely.
All that said: having had a front rack break recently and coming to a sudden over-the-bars stop as a result, this kind of incident is tangibly troubling. Hopefully there’s a fix that retains the features in the pipeline.
I wonder what Ritchey’s “alternative solution” could possibly be? I assume that the insert has been bonded/glued into the front of the crown and that this is the same method used by most other manufacturers. Has Ritchey discovered a bad batch of glue? Or are they saying this method is inherently unsafe? Who knows!