Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
By now I’m sure some of you have heard about the huge Shimano crank recall. If you don’t ride the cranks in the recall you have nothing to worry about, though you might wish to let your friends know if you think their Shimano cranks are affected.
Reports say there could be as many as two million affected products and that these suspect cranks have been out there on bikes for many years. Shimano’s recall states, “Some DURA-ACE and ULTEGRA 11 speed HOLLOWTECH II road cranksets with bonded construction manufactured prior to July 2019 have received warranty returns for bonding separation and reported falls and injuries. We want to ensure the safety of our customers by implementing this voluntary inspection and recall program.”
The recall is in cooperation with the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada.
How Do They Fail?
The best way to understand what goes wrong is to look at cranks that have failed.
I don’t own any of the affected cranksets. But for about 5 years on the Instagram account @thanksshimano people have posted hundreds of photos of broken and cracked Shimano cranks. It’s not pretty and the failures have resulted in injuries. If you’re reading this and you’ve had one of these cranks fail, please post a comment and share what happened. Maybe you’ll save someone from crashing.
In reading about the issue it’s apparently more likely for the cranksets to delaminate and fail when they’re ridden in corrosive environments such as in places where there’s winter and salt on the roads.
The Issue
The problem is that the affected cranks are bonded together and under certain conditions the bonding can fail leading to delamination, separation and breaking of parts. Before this happens Shimano says riders might feel “give” or flex in their pedaling or creaking sounds when pedaling, indicators that the crank is basically coming apart.
How to Identify If Your Cranks Are Affected
The affected model names are the DURA-ACE and ULTEGRA branded cranksets shown above with the following model numbers: ULTEGRA FC-6800, FC-R8000 and DURA-ACE FC-9000, FC-R9100 and FC-R9100-P. The model numbers are stamped on the inside of the crank arm near the bottom of the arm (see yellow square on the image below)
If you have one of these models you next need to check the two-letter production code on the back of the crankarm (see blue box on the image below).
The affected models are pre-July 2019 production and have the following two-letter production code on backside of the crank arm where the pedals are attached: KF, KG, KH, KI, KJ, KK, KL, LA, LB, LC, LD, LE, LF, LG, LH, LI, LJ, LK, LL, MA, MB, MC, MD, ME, MF, MG, MH, MI, MJ, MK, ML, NA, NB, NC, ND, NE, NF, NG, NH, NI, NJ, NK, NL, OA, OB, OC, OD, OE, OF, OG, OH, OI, OJ, OK, OL, PA, PB, PC, PD, PE, PF, PG, PH, PI, PJ, PK, PL, QA, QB, QC, QD, QE, QF, QG, QH, QI, QJ, QK, QL, RA, RB, RC, RD, RE, and RF.
What To Do If You Have a Recalled Crank
If you have one of these model cranks and it has one of the production codes on the list then you have a recalled crank.
If you believe you have an applicable product but are unsure how to check the manufacturing code, you can call Shimano at (844) 776-0315 for assistance.
Starting October 1, anyone with a recalled crank should take their bicycle to a bicycle retailer participating in the recall for them to inspect the crank for bonding separation or delamination. If there are any issues Shimano will provide the retailer with a free replacement crankset that the shop will install.
Do not try to return cranksets to Shimano. Their retailers are handling the recall process in accordance with the CPSC.
To find participating retailers use this Shimano dealer locator: https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/information/dealerlocator.html.
What Replacement Crank Will you Get?
Shimano states, “The new crankset uses the latest construction and bonding techniques. There will be slight cosmetic differences from the original crankset. In some cases the exact specification may not be available.”
Full Details on the Recall
Here’s Shimano’s:
Here’s the CPSC’s:
https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2023/Shimano-Recalls-Cranksets-for-Bicycles-Due-to-Crash-Hazard
Please Share How It’s Going
If you’ve got one of the affected cranks and have already started with the recall, if you could comment and share how it’s going it would definitely help others with these cranks. Thanks!
Jim Langley is RBR’s Technical Editor. A pro mechanic & cycling writer for more than 40 years, he’s the author of Your Home Bicycle Workshop in the RBR eBookstore. Tune in to Jim’s popular YouTube channel for wheel building & bike repair how-to’s. Jim’s also known for his cycling streak that ended in February 2022 with a total of 10,269 consecutive daily rides (28 years, 1 month and 11 days of never missing a ride). Click to read Jim’s full bio.
I’ve just recently built up a bike using a new 9100 group set (was just waiting on the right frame). The crank is under the recall 9100 RD. The bike / group has less than 500 miles on it. Would it be possible to see the delaminating issue on such a new build? Lastly why can’t we be told what to look for as a preliminary inspection before going to the LBS.
Thanks for asking Charles. If you go to the Instagram account I mentioned in the story https://www.instagram.com/thanksshimano/ you can see lots of photos of how the cranks fail. Your crankset is new so you likely won’t see anything of concern. And, if you live where it’s dry and you aren’t living close to a salty environment like right next to the ocean and you never ride in the rain or snow/winter, it’s possible that your crankset will be fine. Shimano’s recall requires every crank to be inspected before they will replace it so apparently they know or are pretty sure not all cranks in the recall will need to be replaced. If you did have a bad crank that hasn’t broken yet, one of the signs that it might fail is white powder around the edges of the bonded parts a sign of aluminum corrosion and the beginning of a failure.
Hope this is helpful,
Jim
I’ve had the 9100 cranks on my racing bike for 12 years. Thank God nothing has happened. I’ve been up to 48mph on this bone and if have been in bad shape if there was an accident. I inspected my cranks and they appear fine but my confidence in them is not there anymore. Frankly I’m not sure what to do. I may never buy Shimano again. They should replace all cranks under warranty regardless of there’s visible separation.
Shimano have uploaded a video describing the inspection on their YouTube channel. You may be able to use this as a guide for a preliminary inspection.
Never mind. The video seems to have disappeared.
I checked my cranks that, indeed, are Ultegra in the recall. As I’m not on social media, including Instagram, I did not know that @thanksshimano has been on this for YEARS. Interestingly, the anonymous admin is a Virginia LBS witnessing the issue among his customers and he waged a lonely fight, I learned. I am reading that Shimano believes a 0.7% failure rate for a product that sold 2.8 million units is fine. Maybe this works in bike world with their lawyers and actuaries. 19,600 failures a horrible. number. Would we accept this for car tires, passenger jet engines or artificial heart valves or heart pace makers? There are about 400,000 TAVR heart valves implanted in the US since 2011. Would anyone accept 2800 failures leading to hospitalizations and some deaths acceptable?
I feel like the jokes on me because I got a Trek in 2019 with Ultegra, wanting a carbon bike. My older ride is a 2002 Campy-equipped Landshark steel. I live in central NJ where there are a few LBSs selling and repairing Campy but didn’t want to deal with parts issues when I took that bike to rides in the rural mid-west with friends. Jokes on me, I guess. I don’t see any delamination and will have my LBS inspect but read about sudden failures in cranks that are apparently OK to visual inspection.
I enjoy riding to get away from the stress of the day and for fun. Do I need to be concerned of part failure on each day’s ride? I’m seriously considering retrofitting the bike to Campy or more likely SRAM.
Thanks for the great comment Chuck, appreciate it. To answer your question at the end, yes, since you are on a recalled crank you do need to be concerned of part failure on each day’s ride. I would stop riding that bike and bring it in to get it inspected by a dealer to make sure the cranks is okay and safe to ride.
Good luck,
Jim
Shame on Shimano for taking so long to initiate a recall, but that’s typical of this arrogant company. My Ultegra was (I sold it 2 years ago) not on the recall list, but I hope none of the cyclists who are at risk have suffered
(continued) any mishaps.
As an aside, if you own a Hammerhead Karoo bike computer perhaps you’ll experience schadenfreude from the recall. Shimano petulantly canceled its license to HH to use Di2 functions with the Karoo last year. Shimano gained nothing from this silly move. Fortunately an external workaround was created about six months later and all is good now, but Shimano’s arrogance continues. Cosmic justice?
“Shame on Shimano for taking so long” is right, Seth. Regarding injuries, according to a story in USA Today there’ve been only 6 injuries reported. See the quote below.
“Shimano is recalling 680,000 units of its bicycle cranksets after getting 4,519 reports of the cranksets separating, including reports of six injuries that included fractures and lacerations, according to a release by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.”
I can’t see how only 6 people were injured out of 4,519 failed cranks. It’s pretty hard to keep the bike up when your crank fails.
Thanks Seth!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for answering my earlier question.
I would posit the 4519 reported failures with 6 injuries is a great underestimate.
I worked in medical affairs in pharma and am familiar with “adverse experience” reporting. In organized clinical trials with sponsor oversight, one gets accurate reporting because doctors and sponsor staff are directly involved. Once a product is in the market, you’re dependent on user to understand the bad event is reportable and either report to the FDA or contact a doctor who will agree and report on their be half. There is great underreporting. How many would know to report to the CPSC if the crank delaminated. Did LBSs know to do this? Hence, my great concern about keeping this crank on my bike.
Am I the only one that thinks the inspection process is absurd. ? Shouldn’t Shimano just replace every crank affected\? What would happen if a crank is inspected, passes but later fails and the rider is injured? Will Shimano then say “opps” while the rider is in the hospital?
I’m also concerned about this. I was told by my LBS to look for certain signs and bring it in more for tune ups if I want them to look.
I haven’t looked at the price of a crankset but for peace of mind I almost feel it’s worth it
So your LBS wants you to bring your bike in for MORE TUNEUPS. Are they serious? They want you to spend more money to check a possible defect!??! I would find a new shop. That’s not an answer