Bike Friday tikit STEM ISSUE
September 27, 2012
Dear Bike Friday tikit owners:
It is with much concern that I write to you today. We have found that your tikit could be dangerous to ride. I want to tell you in the strongest terms we recommend all Bike Friday tikit owners to stop riding their bicycles immediately, until we have fully determined which tikits are at risk.
We have learned that two tikit stems have broken. A stem break is a very serious issue. Should your stem break while you are riding it there is a high risk of losing control of your bike causing you to crash with serious injury or even death as a result.
In August, 2012, an owner of a Bike Friday tikit sustained injury when his front stem broke while riding. Earlier this month, in September, 2012, we learned of a second stem failure.
We received the first bike for inspection [the second is still unavailable to us] 10 days ago, and upon reviewing the results of that inspection we acknowledge the potential exists for front stems to crack, and ultimately break.
Because of that, we recommend you do not ride your tikit until we can conduct enough tests to isolate the problem, the extent of its potential for failure, and implement safeguards to make your tikit safe to ride again.
Please visit this link on our website to fill out a registration form so we can keep you updated as we work through this issue. We will follow up this letter with information on how to inspect your tikit for potential problems.
We are very serious at Green Gear about this. Many of us are regular and extensive tikit users. I have ridden a tikit since the first weeks of production in spring 2007. I rode it to work daily and on tours — even doing several century rides on it until it was stolen last year. My wife and two of my daughters own and ride tikits regularly.
The tikit is an important transportation solution for my two daughters and neither owns an automobile, relying on their bike for most travel. I understand that this will also be true for many of you. I say this so you understand how deeply I apologize for the inconvenience this causes for you not to ride your tikit until we have come up with a safe solution for you.
At this time our engineers and designers have been working to replicate the problem so we can develop solutions. We have stems being tested around the clock. I promise we will share our findings as soon as we have enough information to draw conclusions and offer solutions. Until then, please do not ride your tikit and make sure you register your contact information with us.
This safety warning only affects Bike Friday 16-inch wheel tikits. We have suspended production and delivery of tikits. It does not affect any of our 20-inch Bike Fridays.
I appreciate your patience in this matter. We have nearly 4,000 Bike Friday tikits located around the world, and getting this important message to all tikit owners is our priority. I hope you can imagine the challenge for a company of 33 cycling enthusiasts here in Eugene.
Sincerely,
This is the tikit stem that failed that we have been able to inspect.
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