[Closed] Snapped Raceface Turbine Stem

There was a voluntary recall on the front plate, do you still have it? What are the date codes on the inside?

Slightly worrying as I have one of these stems and wasn't aware of any recall.

google foo

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=10002&t=12964579

It turns out that a small number of Race Face Turbine bar clamps produced between September 2010 and the 8th of August 2013 were manufactured outside of the design tolerances. In the worst case, this clamp could crack and eventually break prematurely during use.

Luckily I spotted the massive crack in mine before I had a crash. Must have happened same time I bent the Thompson post (came unclipped on a drop). Hadn't heard of recall either but I did think it was unusual when Merlin sent me a replacement no questions asked - it's much thicker than the old one you will be pleased to hear.

I never knew about the recall un-till I got an email from YT still haven't had the replacement yet.

Here's what the email said

Race Face has identified a potential safety issue involving the Turbine stem bar clamp. A small number of clamps may have been manufactured outside of design tolerances. These outliers could crack and eventually break during use prematurely; therefore we are voluntary replacing all stem bar clamps manufactured between Sept 2010 and Aug 8th 2013.
The bar clamps affected have a serial number on the inside of the clamp as indicated in Figure 1. The serial number consists of a 10 digit code with the last four digits in the format YYWW (year week#). All bar clamps with a date code prior to 13 35 are eligible for the upgrade.
We apologize for any concern this voluntary upgrade may have caused. The health and safety of our customers is paramount to us and we are committed to offering safe products that are produced, sourced and handled responsibly.
Figure 1: Location of date code of stem bar clamp
Remedy:
Consumers should immediately stop using bicycles equipped with the affected bar clamp and replace with the new bar clamp YT has supplied. Alternatively you are free to contact the Race Face warranty department directly to receive a free replacement.
Race Face warranty can be contacted via
email - warranty@raceface.com
or by phone Monday through Friday +1 604-415-2350 9am – 5pm PST

Hmm this is a bit worrying. I've got a turbine stem that I bought second hand.

Who would I approach in the uk if mine has that date?

(Just off to check!)

I have returned it under warranty to Chain Reaction for a refund. Raceface had this to say about it.
""You can certainly return the product for a refund but be assured that we always look to only put out RF products that are safe and meet our stringent product standards. We have made some changes to that Turbine stem design to remove the chances of this kind of issue from occurring going forward. We do wish you a quick recovery and hope in the future you will give Race Face another chance"".

Ok so mine is 1044. Bit concerned as I planned to ride tomorrow!

http://www.trailscotland.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8927#p93093

Shalln't be riding that bike this weekend then. Email to Merlin duly sent.

I have since bought a Renthal Apex stem and its waaaayyy burlier and not much heavier. I would ditch those Turbine stems instantly.

Good shout.

Just checked mine and it's date stamped 12 39 so it's part of the recall.

Bit miffed as I only bought it from CRC in the last 12 months, unless the recall has only just been put out?

Off to the lakes on the 11th too. Wonder what the CRC warranty turn around is like?

Bugger.

Just remembered I sold another turbine stem to someone on here not so long ago.

Emailed them a link to make sure they know. Feel a bit awkward now!

I bought mine from here but don't think it was you?

Does your first name begin with W?

If it was you, you left me with a nasty rash.

unless the recall has only just been put out?

the bikerader link I posted is from April this year, the poster says theyve "just had an email from Canyon".

Interesting that the warnings are coming from German bike manufacturers (Canyon, YT) using Turbines as OE, not from RF or their importer.

Odd isn't it, can't find any mention of it on the RF website.

I appreciate it would be difficult for resellers to contact every individual that had purchased a stem but I would like to think that someone somewhere would put the effort in to make more people aware especially as it could potentially result in a dangerous off.

Even searching doesn't show up much information or even many instances of them failing. I don't ride particularly hard, but I am a bit of a fatty and it's taken a years worth of abuse from me so far.

The only positive is it means I can now justify switching to an Atlas 35 stem and bars 😉

I have a stem from the group described above. I just called Silverfish about this. They told me there isn't an active recall but I can take my stem back for my purchasing dealer to inspect. Seems a bit odd.

I've mailed RF and will see what they say. I spoke to CRC too and they just asked me to fill in a warranty form and they will look into it.

Does seem a bit odd, the bike radar thread mentions that the canyon turbines are a different spec to the rest but I find that hard to believe.

Could just be a mix up?

I had one crack at the faceplate.
Needless to say i now have a heavy but dependable stem fitted now.

I have x2 of this stem, annoying, anyone got a replacements / refund from Merlin or CRC yet them?

I contacted Merlin and they are not aware of a problem, they say.

My new front plate turned up in the post today, have never been that worried of it snapping. I've been on the uplifts at Ae and Innerleithen enough to think if it was going to snap it would have done it by now.

I emailed RF today, ill let you know what I get back from them?

Please do let us know the outcome.

I'm thinking that if mine was going to break then it would have by now. I've had a fair few crashes that have been big enough to twist the stem round on the steerer, plus I'm far from slim!

Not heard anything back from RF yet myself, they usually email back the same day.

Had a few offs with mine and it's never been a problem, just have that doubt in the back of my mind now.

I'm also awaiting a reply from RF. Probikeshop have said they passed on my query to a "competent person", which is nice. I think it was me who posted that Canyon Turbine stems were different on BR, and the one I saw definitely was, but I suppose it could have been an updated one (the whole stem was different though, wasn't cnc'd). Otherwise I'm in the same boat as daveR, I've raced, crashed and generally abused mine for 2.5yrs now without issue. It'd be nice to be offered a new one though.

Just had this from RF

Hey bluearsedfly,

We aren’t doing a recall of the stems but we are sending out new, sturdier faceplates for them. In the UK, Silverfish is dealing with sending out all of the faceplates so if you can contact them they will be able to help you out.

Thanks,
Steve C.

CRC just said they weren't aware of any problem.

Hopefully speak to Silverfish tomorrow and sort a new faceplate out.

I have not had anything back also from RF, so will be contacting silverfish tomorrow

I asked RF if Silverfish would have any stock, RF mentioned they sent out a load of faceplates to Silverfish a while back so they should still have some.

Why Silverfish have asked someone else to take their [i]stem back for their purchasing dealer to inspect[/i] sounds a bit odd if they're sat on stock of replacements.

RF said it would just be a case of providing proof of purchase and a pic of the date stamp.

I've emailed Silverfish but not heard anything back, anyone else had any luck?

Spoke to Silverfish today, they are posting a new faceplate out to me and with any luck I should hopefully see it in the next couple of days.

I rejected a replacement stem, an updated one or a repair and CRC gave me a full refund as i moaned about not trusting them and that i had bought a different stem from another manufacturer.
Here is the CRC blurb.

We have received your warranty claim for your stem.

We work hard to process all warranty issues as quickly as possible. The Manufacturers’ policy, in this instance, is for their Service Centre to inspect the item.

We have sent your warranty item to the Service Centre, via the fastest shipping method, for their assessment. Please be aware their decision and subsequent action (reject\repair\replace) could take between two to three weeks, this is due to transit times and ensuring the best solution.

We will keep in touch with the Service Centre to ensure the fastest possible turnaround and to get the results of their inspection. Be assured we will keep you updated with any information we get as your claim progresses.

This is bad news.

I have a 2nd had Turbine, and I have no idea the original shop it came from and obviously don't have any receipts.

Am I buying a new stem? Or do you think i'll get sorted out?

I've not checked the date yet but going to assume the worst.

Just got this back from Silverfish which is disappointing:
[i]
There has not been an official re-call from Race Face for the Turbine stem face plate issue, this was simply something released by YT and Canyon for a potentially faulty batch that they received. There is no issue with the stem and so there is nothing to worry about.

Thanks
Joe[/i]

Who did you speak to bluearsedfly? I'd like to call SF.

Why is it disappointing? Your stem is okay? Or did you want a new shiny one for free?

Mine falls within the affected batches and I don't want it to fail regardless of what the distributor says. So yes I want a new face plate. Sorry if that's asking too much! Have a look online an see how many have failed, quite a few.

The only thing I've heard from Probikeshop is that they're waiting to hear back from the French (I assume) dist. Not expecting much.

Maybe we are getting confused. There is alot of information regarding Canyon shipped models.

So are the effected stems only within that date constraint AND shipped by Canyon? Or all stems before that date constraint.

All a bit iffy!

I got the same reply from Silverfish as happybiker. Stem will be re tightened and back into the fray.

Sorry I wouldn't take the Distributors line on that if RF says there can be an issue with the batch.

Does the timeframe have anything to do with when RF went into receivership in 2011?

Just seems odd that a Distributor wont do a recall on products from around that period.

If theres a recall on a stem or bars- I wouldn't use the product until its sorted. Not a chance sorry. Losing your bar or stem is a big thing even riding along a road at 10mph.

Shirley if it was a canyon only fault RF would exclusively supply canyon with replacements? Why would they supply silverfish if that was the case?

[rant] Personally, I think it's a bit piss poor all round, RF say there isn't an issue but have manufactured replacement faceplates, silverfish say there isn't an issue but stock and supply replacement faceplates and crc say there isn't an issue but are willing to issue refunds for no apparent reason.

But riders have had (pretty serious reading bike radar) accidents/near misses due to the fact that the faceplates have failed.

If something has the [u]potential[/u] to fail due to a manufacturing fault, it can and will and to ignore that when it is something as critical as a stem is a bit naive to say the least. [/rant]

For the record I could do without the hassle of calls and emails to get a shiney new faceplate, I'm more concerned with maintaining my dashing youthful looks tbh.

Who did you speak to bluearsedfly? I'd like to call SF.

A bloke in warranty, just selected their department from the options on their phone number/automated answering machine thingy.

I wont touch their products. Customers are your assets not your mugs. That goes to the distributor and RF.

Put the handbag down hora.

This is my email and reply from race face
Hi

I have a race face turbine stem, and here that there is a recall on these due to a face plate issue?
The serial number on the back of the face plate is D80220-10 47?
Please let me know if this is the case and let me know what to do.

Many thanks
Jonny

scroll down

Hi Jonny,

Your stem is outside of the recall. If you have any further questions, Silverfish UK will be your best contact.

Enjoy,

Brandon

IMHO for the minimal price of a stem, and if I couldn't get a recall as questionable if it was from an affected batch, and it was a worry to me, i'd just buy a new different branded stem. Not worth that niggling back of mind OTB crack stem occurrence waiting to happen.

Same as I was thinking, but if it was part of the faulty batch I'd want a refund or replacement at their cost.

New faceplate landed this morning and tbh, not a massive increase in material but enough to make a difference. Can fit and forget now.

Will stick a pic up later.

[IMG] [/IMG]

Old on the left, new on the right. Quite a bit more material left on the back of the faceplate too around where the serial number is and opposite.

Wall needs staining, grass needs cutting, fence panels need painting, will shift the cat shit later.

bluearsedfly,

What number did you call at Silverfish? There only seems to be an online form.

Thanks,

I've just called Silverfish. No official recall so contiune as is.

Hmmm...

bluearsedfly,

What number did you call at Silverfish? There only seems to be an online form.

Thanks,

Sorry, missed this. Contact details here http://www.bikebiz.com/marketplace/read/255

Sounds odd they aren't dishing them out.

Hmmm, might check to see how thick my faceplate is.

That's where I found them. They said that it was only YT and Canyon that were recalling them. If I have an issue I need to send back to the supplier for them to inspect. As it happens it looks fine, but then I suppose they all did before they broke and sent people on to their faces....

I think I may get a different one!

[img] [/img]

Not sure what to do. bought 2nd hand. Clearly is the "thinner" version of the two posted in the photo above.

plython - kick up a twitter storm and shame silverfish/raceface in to dishing out replacements.

@ Jon Taylor- that seems a pretty silly thing to suggest when he hasn't even contacted them yet. Jumping the gun a bit, don't you think?
A polite email would work just as well, shirley.

We have two of these stems both with serial numbers below that stated by raceface. I contacted silverfish and they said take to local dealer for return. When lbs contacted silverfish they have said hold off until they confirm with RF.

Getting confused as to whether there is an issue or not or if I am going to be left with two stems that may have an issue so probably won't use

Come on RF & silverfish give us an answer please?

Well, I'd given up hope of ever hearing back from probikeshop, but they seem to have come through. Got an email from UPS this morning with a return slip and instructions to return... something to probikeshop. No info on what's actually going to happen though, so I'm only assuming they're going to return something to me.

Yeah I'll just send a frank email saying hey look, whats going on. Maybe I'll link them to this thread so someone can post and clear it all up.

plyphon - Member
Yeah I'll just send a frank email saying hey look, whats going on. Maybe I'll link them to this thread so someone can post and clear it all up.

Mention that you'd like a written assurance that your stem is unaffected - and that you'll be in touch should any accident or injury occur.

Haha - i sent a nice email via their form basically outlining the summary of this thread and exact clarification re: the cutoff date and the new thick faceplate vs the old thinner faceplate.

I asked for confirmation on whether my stem was part of the recall or not and included that picture. I left out the part about accident liability, however.

Also included a link to this thread.

just called silverfish and they are now saying that they will replace the faceplates. So LBS can send back and then back to normal operations soon

Absolutely amazed that this debacle has dragged on so long. For such a critical yet cheap-to-replace component how RF and Silverfish could drag their feet is beyond me. Guess the precautionary principle doesn't apply in mountain biking, and they're obviously desperate to be hit by lawyers and business-wrecking PR.

There are for, the first time, currently no RF components on my bike. Now there never will be.

Tbf, mine has been fine for almost exactly 3 years now, and Canyon and YT were fiting these lightweight-ish stems to [s]AM[/s] Enduro bikes, that were perhaps a little too much for them. Mine is getting picked up on Monday and it looks like I'm getting a whole new stem out of the French dist.

Its their premium product, competing with Thomson and Easton Haven and described on the RF website as

this stem is ideal for high level cross country racers but is [b]strong enough for all mountain epics.[/b]

It's not YT or Canyon's fault RF made a dodgy batch. If it'd been US-based not European brands suffering issues you can bet your mortgage there would have been a rapid and full recall.

If I'd contacted RF/Silverfish, with all the recorded failures out there and YT/Canyon's own recalls, I'd have expected an immediate offer of a swap for goodwill/peace of mind regardless of any official recall. I used to be a RF fanboi (dating back to the NWD/Richy Schley/Kona/Freeride days) but this is a massive ball-drop.

I'm not angry, just disappointed, as my teachers used to say.

[quote=crashtestmonkey said]with all the recorded failures out there

Googling "broken race face turbine stem" gives a few anecdotal reports of people having "seen" "loads" of broken faceplates and only a handful of actual testimony which all seem to have recieved replacements from RF. I'm 100% sure I'd find the same for Thomson. Silverfish could have maybe handled it better by coming up with one line instead of some people getting replacements and others being told there's no problem.

Silverfish didn't reply to my email, I have chased them via Twitter and Facebook at this point.

I will call if I have to. It's not that I feel entitled to a replacement faceplate, I just want to be assured that even though mine is clearly the "thinner" model perhaps it isn't effected by the recall... or if it is, I can get it off my bike!

Hang on Sept 2010 - Aug 2013, that's the best part of three years worth of [I]"manufactured outside of the design tolerances"[/I] stems...

What sort of QC process allow this level of out of spec' product to get produced and sold over and over for three years?
That is pretty concerning IMO...

Soooooo - updates.

I got an email back - Silverfish warranty manager just asking me for my shipping details and that he will send out a new faceplate - result there they could of blindly refused as I am a 2nd hand owner. So big up Silverfish.

However that's all the email stated. No information on the stems effected (Just Canyon or all stems etc) and no word on an "official line".

It's worth noting that I didn't give them the date code on my stem - just the photo I posted above. So does that draw a conclusion that the "thinner" model is the effected model?

Who knows.

I'll post a photo of the new plate when it arrives. Cheers SIlverfish.

Got mine yesterday there's a noticeable difference to the thickness.
Cheers. silverfish

[img] [/img]

Replacement arrived.

Despite having the same serial number (D80220-10 47) as jonny rocky mountain, who was told that his wasn't affected, I thought my turbine (which [b]didn't[/b] come on a canyon) looked a bit on the slim side so got in touch with silverfish.
Two days later a new, thicker face plate arrived, so it looks like they've changed their policy.

Looks like I need to get in touch with silverfish then!!!!

Just noticed this thread, I have two of them (one each bike) GULP!

and what's worse they are both numbered 10-47!!

Phone calls to Merlin and Silverfish tomorrow I think 🙄

emailed Silverfish at 11:30 today and just got back an email from Scotty who is ther warranty manager saying he are posting 2 x new face plates out to me today!!!!

fantastic service 😀

thanks Silverfish. (scotty)

Ditto here scotty just replied to my email a new face plate in the post, many thanks silverfish, after been told by race face that mine was out of the recall!!!!!

Hi guys, thanks to this post, I discovered that I had a 'dodgy batch'stem faceplate too! Tbh, it's had a year of pretty hard riding and has never given me any trouble, but after speaking to silverfish I received my new faceplate today. Only thing is, after fitting it, there is a mm or two of gap between it and the stem body, whereas it was a proper flush fit before?! Seems a bit strange as its supposed to be interlocking faceplate on thoses stems, reckon more stress to bolts too. Anyone else found this issue with the replacement faceplates? Gonna query it with silverfish on Monday methinks....