Salsa S.U.L. stems recall - reason and figuring if one is included

Tech Tech Help
1

I have a Salsa S.U.L. stem that may fall under a recall, and I’m trying to figure out whether it does. The email account I would have used when purchasing the stem no longer exists.

Also, if anyone remembers the failure mode that led to this recall, I’m curious. The recall itself is unsurprisingly vague (“may crack or break”) and I couldn’t find forum posts or articles from that era saying anything more. Although mine is a quill stem, I assume the failure mode wasn’t quill-specific, as the recall also includes threadless stems. That leaves the clamp design, or welds at the steerer/quill end or at the bar end, as possible sites.

If all S.U.L. stems were all eventually recalled, then my answer is easy. I think the “Stiff Upper Lip” name refers to a 2-bolt removable-faceplate design where the top bolt tightens all the way, and clamping preload is adjusted by the bottom bolt - can see the stabilizing divot on the upper clamp interface in this pic:

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The recall notes aftermarket stems “sold after March 31, 2008” - the first pictures I have are from October 2008, on a bike I was building to keep in Boulder. It’s likely I bought the stem in summer or early fall 2008, within that window. This is a riser quill stem, measures 125mm extension center of quill to center of 26.0mm bar, although Salsa apparently listed length as 120.
(The stem in the foreground, with the gold quill bolt seat piece, is also a Salsa, but an older non-S.U.L. model.)

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The red bike with the S.U.L. stem lived in Boulder 2010-2023, and I did a bunch of the local climbs and descents. Creepy to think of it now, realizing the stem was likely already under recall at the time - although the failure probability of failure for the stems was likely still low, and sounds like some % of them can continue to be used after inspection based on inspection and a free replacement if necessary language in the recall notice.

2

Stems may be identified by a hash mark on the interior clamp portion of the stem body.

Should have included this pic, per language in the recall notice. The “R” may indicate something about production batch or time period, relevant to whether this stem falls under recall.

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Again, I’m curious both whether this stem falls under the recall notice, and the reason why (some of?) the S.U.L. stems were recalled. Perhaps the failure mechanism was never noted (per forum web searches earlier, there were only two or three failure incidents while riding out of ~10,000 stems produced) and the dealer-inspection is just checking the has code (the “R” in the case of my stem) on the inside of the clamp area.

Of course I can find a local shop with a QBP account, but I’m guessing some folks here have that knowledge.

3

This Salsa recall page shows 2010 as the start of the recall. Yours may not be affected. More than likely the reason for the recall is the faceplate may crack at the bottom bolt and fail.

4

Thanks Vern! It looked like they had at least two rounds of recall on these stems - the recall notice that I linked in my OP was earlier than the PDF you shared, and mentioned

Aftermarket stems sold after: March 31, 2008

I think I bought mine in summer or fall 2008, hence thinking it would be under that earlier recall.