Cannondale has issued a recall notice for all disc brake-equipped CAADX cyclocross bikes sold between 2013 to 2016 following a series of reported fork failures.


The US recall, issued on 25 July 2019, has been issued in conjunction with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. Approximately 9,700 of the affected bikes were sold in the USA and a further 1,900 were sold in Canada. The affected 2013 to 2016 model-year bikes were sold between August 2012 and August 2017.

Since originally publishing this story (1 August 2019), a Europe-wide recall has also been issued. Like the US recall, this affects all disc-equipped models of the CAADX sold between 2013 and 2016. It is not specified how many bikes this affects in European territories.

The recall notices follow several reports of fork fractures, including one where the rider suffered injuries that resulted in his death. Cannondale’s subsequent investigation has failed to identify a defect in the CAADX fork but the voluntary recall has been issued to offer riders a replacement model.

Owners are urged to stop riding the recalled bikes and to take them to their nearest Cannondale dealer to have a free replacement fork installed.

The full recall notice runs below;

At Cannondale, we know that our riders demand the highest levels of performance, quality, and safety, under the most challenging riding conditions, and we hold ourselves and Cannondale products to that standard.

Following several reports of fork fractures on Cannondale Cyclocross CAADX Model Year 2013–2016 bicycles, including one tragic incident in which the rider fell and suffered injuries that ultimately led to his death, we launched an in-depth inquiry. We, and several other independent parties, conducted extensive testing on the issue and did not identify a defect in the forks. However, given the circumstances, we decided the best course of action was to inform riders of these incidents and make a free upgraded replacement fork available through the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s voluntary recall process.

Cannondale

To check if your CAADX is affected by this recall, inspect your bicycle to confirm it has all of the following features (as shown in the picture):

A prominent CAADX marking on the top tube or other tube

Disc brakes

A large “ULTRAX” marking on the inside of the fork leg

A black plastic cable running to the front disc brake that is outside of the fork blade (not internally routed within the fork blade)

If your CAADX bicycle meets the criteria above, please contact your local Cannondale dealer to arrange for a free upgraded replacement fork. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and are offering riders a free upgraded replacement fork that is a full carbon fork, providing increased performance at a lower weight than the original fork.

Additionally, we encourage all riders to read and consider all warnings included in the owner’s manual for the CAADX, including but not limited to the BPSA industry-standard warning that “A crash or other impact can put extraordinary stress on bicycle components, causing them to fatigue prematurely. Components suffering from stress fatigue can fail suddenly and catastrophically, causing loss of control, serious injury or death.”


This story was updated to include details of the European recall on the 12th of August 2019