Rocky Mountain Announces Recall of Alloy 2018 - 2020 Instinct, Instinct BC, & Pipeline
Press Release: Rocky Mountain Bicycles
Because the safety of our riders is our top priority, we have decided to initiate a voluntary safety recall of specific alloy only Instinct, Instinct BC and Pipeline bikes of 2018, 2019 and 2020 model years. Carbon models are not affected.
A few incidents in the field along with further testing has confirmed the possibility that affected front triangles could crack which could lead to a separation of the head tube from the top tube.
To date, there has been a very small number of incidents reported out of over 4,700 units produced.
Riders affected by this recall should stop using their bike immediately and contact a Rocky Mountain authorized dealer for instructions. Additional information is available on our website at bikes.com/en/safety-recall, or you can reach Rocky Mountain directly using the toll free number, +1-877-744-1515.
Affected models include sizes small, medium and large with serial numbers starting with PRK17 and PRK18. Product sizes small, medium and large with serial numbers starting with PRK19 between PRK19-00001and PRK19-01275 are potentially affected and need replacement. The serial number is engraved under the bottom bracket.
This voluntary recall includes the free replacement of the alloy front triangle for model years 2018, 2019 and 2020 Instinct, Instinct BC and Pipeline trail bikes with 29” and 27.5+” wheels that share the same frame. Rocky Mountain is working closely with consumer product safety authorities worldwide about this issue and have already submitted a product recall plan to remedy the situation as soon as possible. Further communication will be sent in collaboration with these authorities in a joint effort to reach Rocky Mountain bike owners affected by this recall.
We are committed to making high quality bikes for riders and their safety is a top priority. We appreciate your help in communicating this voluntary safety recall message to owners of these affected bike frames. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience and assure you that the new front triangle will meet the performance and quality expected from Rocky Mountain.
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131 Comments
Unsafe by definition: Voluntary recall
Consumer Reports News: February 15, 2010 08:08 AM
What it is: Most recalls of defective products are characterized as "voluntary," a confusing term that can lead consumers to believe that the recall is optional. But voluntary recall is just government-speak for a deal that a manufacturer or retailer of a hazardous product has negotiated with the federal agency in charge of overseeing the safety of that product category.
From experience I know how tempting it can be to sweep a product issue under the proverbial rug. Glad Rocky didn’t choose that option.
Sadly bike companies are usually not that awesome about the real warranty costs.
That is cool of them. Thankyou for correcting me. I just assumed they wouldn’t be that cool sorry. Since the bike business underground mandate seems to basically be to avoid legitimate warranties by any means necessary.
@konabikes warranty is a lie. Bunch of skinny jeans wearing antifa clowns.
I was slamming their warranty service for being absolute crap. Made the mistake of pointing out their political bias so I could get my post hidden.
I'll keep their political bias out of my posts about their very well documented horrible customer service and hope WalMart buys them out and turns their bikes into true garbage.
My first real mtb was actually a Kona - a basic steel Hahanna, but I was still hyped to have anything to do with the brand that sponsored every other famous freerider. Can't count the times I watched the first few NWD and Kranked films.
Sounds rad!
We just want to acknowledge the inconvenience to many of your summer and daily ride plans, but it is truly in the interest of rider safety that we moved forward with this voluntary recall. We are doing everything within our power to get you all sorted out and riding again — Our priority is to get you back on your bikes as soon as humanly possible. Once again we want to apologise for the inconvenience, be safe, be kind and we’ll ride together again soon.
Please visit your nearest Rocky Mountain dealer, and they’ll be able to help you with the recall. You can find a list of our dealers here:www.bikes.com/en/dealers
We’ve created an FAQ for the recall on our site that answers many of your questions: www.bikes.com/en/instinct-pipeline-recall
Also - can you give us an update on the container theft? Any resolution of the case? Thanks.
Good of Rocky Mountain, as they've always been a well respected company, so I'm not surprised they have done this, but this must cost them a lot of money to replace these. Will be a lot of happy RM customers getting new frames though. If RM had more INSTINCT, this would not have happened...
Both Calfee and Ruckus have told me that Dorel, Big S, and others have threatened litigation if they evaluate carbon for repair and conclude it was a manufacturing error.
Moreover, does Rocky even have replacement bikes right now? Everyone is sold out of everything and they are no exception. I know if I had purchased a six grand Instinct Bc A70 not long ago I'd expect some fast turn around both for frames and service. This is possibly the worst year for this.
Still, much better than people hurting themselves.
And it's a good day to be an XL rider .
The leg crossing is hot but moreso when it's Sharon Stone than when it's your legs crossing due to a catastrophic frame failure.
Can 2020 be over already?
I’m really disappointed with the replacement colors. I mean color. In a time when bikes from major manufacturers at similar price points are essentially indistinguishable performance-wise, color options become a determining factor. Maybe not the primary factor, but when I’m spending several thousand dollars on something I want it to look good. Rocky Mountain has always had in my opinion, some great colorways. I love my ’19 Instinct BC in what I call the ’78 Trans Am color scheme – beautiful metallic brown, mustard highlights, so cool. Now I get Matte Gray. Blah. Might as well get a Stumpjumper. I’m also irritated that owners of ’20 bikes get a carbon frame, but not ’18 or ’19. I’ve had my bike for barely a year, probably not much longer than some of the ’20 bikes out there. If I can’t have the colorway I chose originally, I’d at least like my blah gray frame in carbon.
I get that this recall is a big problem for you guys. Kudos for attempting to make it right. But this is not my problem. I bought the bike I wanted, and now I won’t have it. Neither will a whole bunch of other unhappy customers. Why not have two color options? ’78 TA and blue? Or let the customer choose whether they want their blah gray replacement frame in carbon or alloy. Your customers, present and future, are watching.
For warranty for defects, replacement for known issues beyond warranty, etc, labor is typically not covered. As a general rule, and this varies from shop to shop, if you bought it from me and it's within a year or two, I'll cover the labor too.
For weeks I was really not happy loosing the brown/orange main frame, but ... at the end I think the gray frame with black decals is ok... and the RF parts in orange are even looking better...
They took out 2 5mm spacer rings for the new frame. Seems to be some geometric change ...?
What shall I say, I enjoyed the first ride after 7 weeks riding my 93 steel hardtail...
www.pinkbike.com/forum/listcomments/?threadid=221630
I was merely stating facts, the rocky fan base seems to be strong here.
We've seen the same failure (but on the driveside with no broken axle) from a test in a French magazine, as well as heard of some consumer bikes breaking in the same way.
I can't say for sure why this is a recall and the Slayer isn't, but as I understand in general the difference between a recall and a warranty is that a warranty is a bad manufacturing practice (eg a bad fixture allows 1 in 10 frames to go out with a bad pivot), while a recall is a flawed design (most of the bikes have the potential for failure if ridden hard enough).
And I can't say for sure either but to me what distinguishes recall from warranty is that a recall is a pre-emptive act while warranty is a reaction to a malfunction of some kind that already took place. I'd hope that the threshold to recall instead of warranty is a lot lower for security and safety relevant products, which a bike frame absolutely is.
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