All,

I cannot speak for all markets but will support our New Zealand team that is working quickly to take care of IMNZ athletes. Here are some notes from a communication that will go live in NZ today from Specialized NZ.

Specialized empathizes with the situation this global action places our local IMNZ competitors in. The timing could not be worse. We are working day and night to have a solution available to Shiv riders at Ironman NZ in Taupo next week. The intention is to offer a replacement of the affected parts, and to carry out any work that may be required to return all Shivs to a safe standard, and in race ready condition. Planning is underway for this to take place on-site in Taupo, as early in the week as Tuesday through Thursday. Once details are confirmed Specialized will communicate the intended action to all IMNZ competitors directly. This communication will come on Friday 27th February.
Mark

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

Mark, I hope you can prioritize also IM 70.3 PH on March 8.

I talked to Specialized PH about it and they will be there at the expo and expecting the fix from HQ 1st of March.

I'm sure they'll be a lot of SHIVs out there.

This is a real shame and terrible for Specialized as a brand. What makes it worse is that they have had major issues with the Shiv's seat post clumps which continue....despite climbs otherwise and now this issue with the bars. Something that is very frustrating is as follows:
1) Seat post clamp failures have been ongoing for many and the "epoxy resin" fix is not a fix at all. Owners including myself have returned Shivs numerous times to LBS and ultimately distributors (in some cases at our cost) only for it to re-occur. Some people got frames swapped out whilst others have been frustrated with the return bike for "epoxy fix story.
2) The current issue with bars has been communicated very poorly. Whilst there is talk of "we are trying to come up with a fix", that is n help to those that have to train and race in the southern hemisphere and middle east at present. To then hear that the possible fix will come at a cost to the bike owner be it as replacement and also labour is absolutely disgraceful!

Mark and the team at Specialized, you need to step up here and do the right thing by people. Those that can wait should have the fix covered in terms of parts and about at no cost to them. Those with urgent fix requirements due to a confirmed race within a specified timeframe should be covered for the provision of replacements up to a certain value. That would be the decent thing to do....especially given this is Specialized STUFF UP!

I'm racing on Sunday. I have an S-Works Shiv Module (Tri version) from 2012.

Can someone clarify (using pictures and arrows please) exactly which part(s) are likely to break?

The single arm rest clamp bolt? Either of the two Extension clamp bolts? Or is there another bolt I'm forgetting?

Where should UK users go for parts? Will anyone in London likely have replacement parts in stock?

So essentially, if you bought a Shiv, model year 2012 - 2015, you are affected. Am I correct in this assumption?

So irritating... TriRig, and all other manufacturers for that matter, should throw up a sale on their bars. I know I'd consider buying them at this point. Not to mention the aluminum bars of Specialized are heavy. I love my Shiv but with all the issues that come with it... I'm not sure I'd buy another Specialized. :/

They are not saying the fix will come at a cost to the rider.

They have said that they will effect the change for riders at IMNZ during the week leading into the event.

Specialized NZ released some info on Twitter overnight confirming that.

Agree the comms have been less than ideal, but Mark's been doing a great job on here. As for them stepping up, well that's what they're doing.
[urlhttp://pbs.twimg.com/.../B-rBByYWoAAmNHK.png

Ask, and ye shall receive! Alpha sale is on :-)

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TriRig.com

Please PM me if you cannot reach Specialized Rider Care in your country. They will take care of you and make the situation right.

Mark

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

All communication on the updates will be here:
http://www.specialized.com/...pport/safety-notices

Mark

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Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

I hope it is just a bolt change, wonder if that is even realistic? Seems like anything else would be a timing concern for getting ready to start riding in the next couple of weeks.

What bothers me about this whole exercise is that this is not a new issue and dealers do not know how to handle it because little guidance is coming from Specialized. I called my LBS about something else and brought this up. He was well aware of the recall, but said no fix until the date already mentioned here. HE SAID, that this is not a new issue and is a result of the screw shearing after corrosion and his own bike had it, so HE SAID, if the issue is pressing enough, get a similar bolt with the same thread gauge at HD or lowes made of better material and replace the bolt. At least that is what HE DID, but that is not his suggestion as a Specialized dealer.

That is a problem. You can't put out a warning that suggest injury or death may result from your product so you shouldn't use it without a solution because a good bike dealer who is responsive to his customers is going to do what he can to make his customers happy. But...

Do I trust this guy? Sure. Am I worried such repair would void warranty? Yes. Am I going to do it? No, I have a road bike to get me by. But what if I didn't?

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Quote: "little guidance is coming from Specialized."

Mark may not be able to say it, so I will: in my experience the CPSC can be pretty strict about what a company (or their representatives) are allowed to say about stop sales, recalls, whatever you want to call it. (Even what it's called is tightly controlled legally.)

So I'd say cut Mark some slack. Specialized's communications are probably legally limited.

Cheers,

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Damon Rinard
Engineering Manager,
CSG Road Engineering Department
Cannondale & GT Bicycles
(ex-Cervelo, ex-Trek, ex-Velomax, ex-Kestrel)

Recalls are voluntary. All CPSC can do is make a recommendation or act as an information clearinghouse. They do test products before sale and ban them. But they have little capacity to enforce a recall. As for Mark. He has always been straight with us. This is a big corporation issue.

Ruger firearms have had a couple of recalls in the last few years. The recall was communicated to all vendors with specifics and how to get it fixed immediately.

I will say again, it is my understanding this has been an issue known for a while. I've been dealing with it on my bike 8 months ago. Mine was minor, so I figured it was a one off issue that if became severe enough would warrant a trip to the shop or an upgrade. But it sounds like some people had some serious issues and local bike shops have observed them. Like somebody else said, there were issues with the seat post bracket, and how about where the seat is mounted to the post? I had to use friction past to keep the seat angle in place despite two visits to a shop and my own tightening. That was an issue that almost caused me to wreck as I hit a pothole when the guy in front of the group failed to call it. But it shouldn't have caused my seat to nosedive.

This bike has had a lot of issues and solutions have not been timely.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Hi Mark, I saw the IM NZ efforts both here and IM site. Will there be this "same high priority" for those racing in Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay happening on march 8 in the Philippines? I am concern as they are quite a lot of SHIVs racing there.

Thanks

A general point, just looking at the bolt issue. This is easy to rectify at home; buy hi-tensile bolts locally/online and use a Torque-wrench. If you use carbon mounting paste, you can usually reduce the max torque slightly too.

Why wait 4 weeks or more?

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29 years and counting

I would say the only reason not to use a home fix is that a home fix could possibly void the warranty on the bike... If that is not a concern then I would say go ahead but at least for me I am not racing until May at the earliest (and I have a road bike to train with) so I am not willing to take a chance on voiding my warranty...



Joel

Yeah, I did think of that after I posted. I don't know where the grey line is drawn, when it comes to voiding a bicycle warranty; as most keen bikers will switch certain parts at some point.

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29 years and counting

My understanding of warranties is as long as you buy from and use a dealer to do the upgrades it is usually not a problem. I think the primary issue here is that this is a safety issue and they want to avoid legal/liability issues they are going to probably push really hard to have people use their approved fix and use the warranty as a way of convincing people not to do it themselves... I agree it is probably a gray area but unless someone has a race in the next month or so I would probably recommend waiting just to be on the safe side... And even if they have a race I would recommend before doing anything that they contact specialized directly and put pressure on them to get it fixed.



Joel

Well I just received an email from my LBS telling me not to ride until Specialized figures out a plan in March........good thing it's snowing here in VA, and i'm on my Cycle Ops trainer all winter anyway. I hope this doesn't impact too many racers, but I'm probably being overly optimistic.

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"I would definitely smell her seat after a century ride"

So still no news in regards to what the actual fix is? I know I'm rather impatient.
Especially in this instance though, as I already had frame replaced 2 times due to seat clamp.
In their defense they have addressed both times, just getting tired of it.

There is a fix and it's been put upon the Specialized NZ facebook page. I think they are pretty focused on IMNZ shiv riders at the moment...
http://ibd.specialized.com/media/whatsnew/SpecializedNZ_ShivUpdate2_27-2-2015.pdf

Awesome. Sounds like a minor change. I was concerned I would need whole aero bar set up replaced.

Sounds very similar to the low stack clamps. Maybe that's what they're rolling out to meet the timeline for IMNZ.

Yeah, the only positional change should be if you use the 'tiltability' of the clamp.. I have mine tilted up a wee bit, but reckon I'll be able to just tilt the base bar to get that position back.