4-12-07 // Cannondale Crank Recall

Cannondale is recalling some of its two-piece mountain and road SI cranks. The spindles attached to the drive-side crank on the Mountain SI cranks can crack and break, the company said. The recall affects only a few 2007 and 2008 model-year cranks.

According to Cannondale, the crank’s manufacturer, FSA, overheated the aluminum spindles, which left them prone to cracking. “A small percentage of spindles were essentially overcooked during heat treatment causing very small cracks in the wall of the spindle,” said Chris Peck, Cannondale’s vice president of R&D.

Anyone with the effected cranks should take them to a Cannondale dealer for inspection. If a crack exists, Cannondale will replace the cranks free of charge. The company is bringing a few dozen extra cranks to Sea Otter and riders can have the parts inspected there.

“This is basically the same crank we’ve been using since 2000. There’s nothing wrong with the crank, but on a few of them, the spindles were overcooked by our manufacturer and they got brittle,” said Cannondale’s Bill Rudell.

Cannondale is working with the consumer product safety commission to recall the approximately 2,300 or so mountain and road cranks affected by the defect. For more information, visit Cannondale.com or call the company at 1-800-245-3872 (800-BIKE-USA).