Cannondale CS stinks
 

So I am lucky enough to have a CaadX that was recalled due to failing forks. I took my bike to my LBS 33 days ago and they thought it would be a 3-4 week turn around. So Cannondale told them. I called my LBS this morning to see if any thing was moving along and they had not gotten the fork yet. They called Cannondale and said it will probably be another 6+ weeks before the MIGHT see the fork according to Cannondale! WTF?

This stinks....I had a ride set up in the black hills in the first week of October that will be altered now probably. When my specialized allez fork was recalled it was super fast, like just a couple of weeks. It was awesome but this one is not going to end well for me I don't think.

Not mad I guess...just very very frustrated!

That's inexcusable, IMO. I would write a hand-written letter to the company pres/CEO, whoever, reading them the riot act, and have it signed like a petition, by everyone you know.
Can't hurt :)

I did write a long email already and fired that off. I will probably do a old school letter depending on what reply I get from online CS.

I am not angry about the recall, it happens. I am not upset there will be a wait that is expected but its frustrating to wait maybe 3 months or more.

Yeah, 3 months-(ish) is ridiculous. And it ain't like they can fall back on the time-honored excuse that they, "just want to make sure it's done right the first time", LOL!!!
Anyway, I feel your pain. I recently had a year-old, heavy-duty road wheelset develop a bunch of stress fractures around the drive-side spokes, and some of the comments here warned against riding that wheelset anymore. So while the company that built them (BicycleWheelWarehouse) was waffling back and forth about covering me on warranty, I went and scored a pretty nice, lightly-used wheelset off ebay, because I didn't want to miss ANY of the late summer/fall riding season ! So I'd be highly pissed at what C-dale is pulling on you.
(BTW, the wheels have developed further symptoms, and the company has completely ghosted on me, so it was a good call just biting the bullet and buying another set.)
So, good luck, at least they're not leaving you completely high and dry.

This is the e-mail I got from them earlier this week. I had asked when they might be getting to my fork. Apparently, the new forks are being made on a batch-by-batch basis. That makes sense since I doubt C’dale had thousands of spare forks laying around. Personally, I would not have much of a problem riding my bike with the old fork until the new ones arrive. Anyway, here’s the response I got:

”Our global teams are working around the clock to properly produce enough replacement forks to get all affected riders around the world back on their bikes, but the nature of a recall process like this does involve unavoidable delays. The first forks started shipping this week. I can't give you an exact date since they will be fulfill in the order they were submitted. As riders ourselves, we fully understand and apologize for the inconvenience this causes.

We do not have an exact time of delivery for your replacement fork as they will be deliver in a first come first served basis, depending on how many orders there are in front of you the replacement could anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. That being said the first forks started to ship out to dealers last week.”

You can just ride the recalled fork, I'm still riding mine and its got almost 5k miles on it since 2017. If it hasn't broken yet its highly unlikely to considering they couldn't replicate the failure or determine the defect on the single failure. Forks can fail in the field for a number of reasons and I'm thinking cannondale is recalling the forks out of an abundance of caution. There are literally thousands of these forks that have been ridden and raced over the past 5 or so years

I got a form reply today too.

I would be riding my bike as well but my Cannondale dealer here said they would not even order the new fork unless they were holding my bike in shop for the warranty claim. They told me unless they had the bike to make a warranty claim they couldn't order a fork. Then Cannondale said they were not allowed to have the customer ride the bike after that for legal reasons. I actually wish now I would have waited for winter, I should have known better.

I did get a ship date however. My fork is shipping from the "production" facility to my LBS on 10/8. So if its coming from the US I might get my bike back mid October, but if its coming from overseas (and probably is) looking to November?

Who knows. I am really tempted to write a letter to the HQ but I am thinking it will just be a waist of my time and energy now. I get this is a huge recall but it seems to me other mfg. have handled recalls like this much more efficiently!

Not sure how to feel about all this right now

I really feel badly for the folks who didn't get it right away. Sounds like this could take months if not a year to get all straightened out....CrAzY!

hmm my LBS ordered one for me and I kept the bike, they said they'd just call me when it came in. They did tell me cannondale recommended I stop riding the bike

No question Cdale is doing the recall to prevent any possibility of any further incidences. Not all the forks are defective, however they do not know which ones are or are not defective, so they recalled all of them from affected years. Been riding on the fork for several years without trouble, there is a good chance the fork is not affected, however there is no way of knowing until it is cut up and examined. The trouble the customer is experiencing is the same trouble Cdale is experiencing, ie, the supply of replacement forks. The manufacturer has to gear up to make the forks, and then make them in the quantity required. It is a first come first served recall, so some may wait longer than others.

Fret about it if you want, but it will only raise your blood pressure. The supply is the supply, and there is little to nothing Cdale can realistically do about it. A customer of ours set out to buy a fork to use while his comes in. We gave him the specs needed and off he went to the bay. Hopefully he gets the correct one. If ever there is a case to be made to have more than one bike, this is it.

When one bike is down, there is another to take its place.

@TiHabanero your spot on, the defects are a small percentage they just don't know what is bad. They are doing the right thing but just hate the slow return I guess.

I have other bikes but no other CX bike :(

I’d have a serious conversations with my LBS. All they should *need* to order the fork is the bike’s serial number. Is someone from Cdale going to do a raid to make sure your bike is in the shop and not under you?

I went through the Specialized FutureShock steerer tube thingy recall on my Diverge earlier this year. It took a little over a month for my LBS to get the parts. That was bad enough. Three months would have really bothered me. As it was I decided to ride the bike in the mean time.

Your right! I think if I went to my LBS and said I want to ride my bike and made a fuss they would give it to me. However that brings up one other issue...lets say something happens. Then your LBS didn't do what it was supposed to do and you then knowing to have a bike defect already because you made a claim would be in a liability issue. I am not putting down my LBS for doing what Cdale asked them to do they were doing what the lawyer letter said they had to do. I get that...just the time line is still a bit ridicules. I am sure I will get over all this when I have my bike back but just didn't expect it to drag on and on I guess.

I guess this is where Spec and Trek really stand out with their customers, their CS is really excellent.

Thread moved from General Cycling Discussion forum to Manufacturer Feedback forum.

It seems like the way to go here is to keep riding the old forks for a good while, until Cdale gets caught up with most of the replacements, then make your warranty claim. I'd bet they'll still be kinda slow, but I think going this route might shorten the turn-around.

To be fair, I’m guessing if it was a fork they were replacing instead of just a steerer tube collar, Specialized would have taken months to get it done too.

This thread is the reason why you need a quiver of road bikes, not just one.

Couldn't the bike shop put a temporary replacement fork of any compatible make on there until the manufacturer gets their act together?

My shop is looking for a fork that is close that also had disc brakes on it so I can use for the time being. One problem they have is they have 5 bikes in the shop waiting for forks.

No doubt! I have 2 road bikes but only one CX bike. Can't justify two CX bikes just don't ride it enough. Just so happens that I have a gravel trip planned the first week in October and this really messed it up!

I guess the Mickelson Trail will just have to wait.

I vote rent something; because you know what they say, "Nothing handles like a rental with the extra insurance". ;)

Yep, that is my last case scenario....looking to borrow first if that doesn't pan out then I will probably rent.

My friend in vancouver canada got his CAADX replacement fork last week so they are starting to ship. Haven't gotten a call from my LBS yet...

Good to hear. When I sent an email to Cannondale HQ they told me when my forks were arriving at HQ then shipped to dealers. They have the recalls on a first come first serve basis so if your in the recall process they can and will tell you where you stand. I now actually feel lucky because when I called them to get some info the guy I talked to said some people on the bottom or not even scheduled yet could take closer to a year now with the production back log......WOW!