CPSC judgement on disk brakes and QR forks

This is not actually the 'official' signed letter which is in the post,
but I received the following via email recently:

"Based upon the information currently available, the staff does not
believe the problem identified necessitates further action by the
Commission under Section 15 of the CPSA. However, the Commission has
recommended that the ASTM Bicycle Committee, which meets in October
2003, take this matter under advisement for further discussion,
additional testing and problem examination."

Section 15 of the CPSA can be found at
https://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/cpsa15b.html

James

"James Annan" wrote in message
...
This is not actually the 'official' signed letter which is in the post,
but I received the following via email recently:

"Based upon the information currently available, the staff does not
believe the problem identified necessitates further action by the
Commission under Section 15 of the CPSA. However, the Commission has
recommended that the ASTM Bicycle Committee, which meets in October
2003, take this matter under advisement for further discussion,
additional testing and problem examination."

Section 15 of the CPSA can be found at
https://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/cpsa15b.html

James


Well, I could see that this might happen. Let's face it, there aren't a
huge number of people being mangled by wheel ejection. Not to say it's not
a significant problem, but maybe not a big enough problem to create a recall
or regulation. And I'm sure there is pressure being applied by the
industry. Nevertheless, a good bit of research and I think it will speed up
the production of a more intelligent design in the future.

Cheers,

Scott..

S. Anderson wrote:


Well, I could see that this might happen. Let's face it, there aren't a
huge number of people being mangled by wheel ejection. Not to say it's not
a significant problem, but maybe not a big enough problem to create a recall
or regulation. And I'm sure there is pressure being applied by the
industry. Nevertheless, a good bit of research and I think it will speed up
the production of a more intelligent design in the future.

Nice thought, but if you follow the link you'll realise that the CPSC
are saying that there is no problem and the industry has no need to do
anything at all. Not sure why you think 'the industry' is going to apply
any pressure to anyone!

James

Scott Anderson writes:

"Based upon the information currently available, the staff does not
believe the problem identified necessitates further action by the
Commission under Section 15 of the CPSA. However, the Commission
has recommended that the ASTM Bicycle Committee, which meets in
October 2003, take this matter under advisement for further
discussion, additional testing and problem examination."

Well, I could see that this might happen. Let's face it, there
aren't a huge number of people being mangled by wheel ejection. Not
to say it's not a significant problem, but maybe not a big enough
problem to create a recall or regulation. And I'm sure there is
pressure being applied by the industry. Nevertheless, a good bit of
research and I think it will speed up the production of a more
intelligent design in the future.

What strike me about this is that it is a typical NASA "culture"
approach to the subject. If you read the item on NASA denial at:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...151EDT0426.DTL

You could easily replace NASA with CPSA and the glove would fit.

I see we must wait for one of the victims to bring a multi-million $
damage claim against the industry. CPSA should be culpable as well.

Jobst Brandt

Palo Alto CA

wrote in message
...

What strike me about this is that it is a typical NASA "culture"
approach to the subject. If you read the item on NASA denial at:


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...003/08/26/nati
onal0151EDT0426.DTL

You could easily replace NASA with CPSA and the glove would fit.

I see we must wait for one of the victims to bring a multi-million $
damage claim against the industry. CPSA should be culpable as well.

Jobst Brandt

Palo Alto CA

I think NASA is its own little universe. I'm not sure that the situation
that exists there, an organization that is dependent on government funding
for its existence, can necessarily be translated to this situation. But to
be sure, most large corporations behave in a similar fashion to the CPSA in
this case. Certainly the auto industry does. It will boil down to the
cheaper option: lawsuits or revising the product to make it safe. As far as
most corporations go, a human life has a price. And if that price is lower
than fixing the problem, the problem usually doesn't get fixed. Sad as that
may be.

Cheers,

Scott..

"James Annan" wrote in message
...

Nice thought, but if you follow the link you'll realise that the CPSC
are saying that there is no problem and the industry has no need to do
anything at all. Not sure why you think 'the industry' is going to apply
any pressure to anyone!

James


I began to write that you were being too idealistic in this, but I
reconsidered. You're right. I agree that the CPSC has overlooked a
significant design flaw here and that as an independent government body,
they should at MINIMUM, recommend changes to the design. However, the
realist in me still says, as Jobst pointed out, nothing will happen until
law suits cost the companies making these products a significant amount of
money, such that it's cheaper to fix the design. This can be seen in the
auto industry time and again. That CPSC document is filled with weasel
phrases and makes them pretty much toothless really, doesn't it??

Cheers,

Scott..

In article k.net,
Jose Rizal wrote:

I'm wondering what the role of the ASTM Bicycle Committee is on all
of this, which the CPSA is seemingly open to input from. Since at
least one of the committee members is the VP of Answer Products,
maker of Manitou forks, I would have thought that the potential
conflict of interest is glaringly obvious.

Welcome to consumer protection in America.

James Annan said...

This is not actually the 'official' signed letter which is in the post,
but I received the following via email recently:

"Based upon the information currently available, the staff does not
believe the problem identified necessitates further action by the
Commission under Section 15 of the CPSA. However, the Commission has
recommended that the ASTM Bicycle Committee, which meets in October
2003, take this matter under advisement for further discussion,
additional testing and problem examination."

Section 15 of the CPSA can be found at
https://www.cpsc.gov/businfo/cpsa15b.html

James

Maybe they just understand that any bike part can be beaten into
submission and that it just isn't that big of a problem considering that
any number of parts can and do fail on off-road bikes all the time.
Handlebars break, stems break, frames break, forks break, wheels bend,
cranks break and on and on. Perhaps they also comprehend one point that
everyone here seems to pointedly ignore, and that is if you don't like
the conventional quick release + dropout design, then you don't have to
use it. I would suggest that you get a new riff and look elsewhere for
your 15 minutes of fame, because this one is getting awfully tiresome
and predictable. Do you ever talk about anything else?

Super Slinky writes:

Perhaps they also comprehend one point that
everyone here seems to pointedly ignore, and that is if you don't like
the conventional quick release + dropout design, then you don't have to
use it. I would suggest that you get a new riff and look elsewhere for
your 15 minutes of fame, because this one is getting awfully tiresome
and predictable.

Considering that the vast majority of mt bikers have never heard of this
failure, it is shortsided to simultaneously suggest that

(1) users should just fix the problems themselves,

and

(2) James should quit discussing it.

If no one knew about it, what would prompt someone to do something?


Joe Riel

If no one knew about it, what would prompt someone to do something?


Joe Riel

If noone knows, is there a really a problem?

Seems that someone would know if they had a problem with their dropouts, and
the LBS would start to hear about it, and then the manufacturers would start
to get warranty claims, and...

Sounds to me like some little boy's calling "wolf."

Mike