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ENVE Recalls Road 2.0 Disc 1.25″ Tapered Forks due to breaking hazard (UPDATED)

Written by Zach Overholt Feb 19, 2016 4:24 p.m. ET

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If you own an ENVE Road 2.0 disc fork, it’s time to check the serial number. Yesterday, ENVE announced through the CPSC a voluntary recall of about 600 carbon forks. According to the CPSC, the Vietnamese-made forks have the potential of breaking above the disc brake mount on the left fork leg. At the moment there have been 5 reports of failure without injury. Limited to the 1.25″ tapered steerer tube models, serial numbers of the affected forks all start with VCT1406, VCT1410, VCT1411, VCT1501, VCT1502, VCT1503, VCT1505, VCT1506, VCT1507, VCT1508, VCT1509 or VCT1510.

If you have one of the forks listed you will be offered either a full refund or a substitute Road Fork 2.0 Disc with a 1.5″ taper and appropriate headset replacement if possible. If you believe your bike is affected, head over to the ENVE Volunteer Fork Recall page or to the CPSC.

UPDATE: Read ENVE’s response to reader comments after the break…

Dear Bikerumor Readers,

I wanted to respond personally to some of the comments regarding our “U.S. Made” claim. Please let me give you some background and history.

Since being established in 2007, ENVE has made components in both Asia and the U.S. As a start-up company, we simply did not have the resources to manufacture components plus wheels stateside. In 2010, we were seriously considering moving all of our wheel manufacturing to Asia. Knowing that the manufacturing process is what makes the ENVE product unique, we could not bring ourselves to offshore the wheel manufacturing. It was a defining decision for us and one that we are proud to have made US Made By Choice. Today, we manufacture 100% of our rims in the U.S. Since nearly 80% of our business is wheels, we have always felt comfortable with our statement of “made in America”.

Two years ago, we made the commitment to begin on-shoring our components to Ogden as you can see in this article. This is a long-term process as we’ve had to build new capabilities including our own paint facility. Today we are happy to say that the Mountain Stem, Direct Mount Stem, and Carbon Road Hubs are 100% manufactured in Ogden.

If you have felt deceived, it was not our intentions. Admittedly, we are particularly proud of the fact that we remained steadfast and continue to invest in U.S. wheel manufacturing when times were really tough. The comments have made us think about how we characterize/market the origin of all of our products so thank you for the feedback.

If you’re ever passing through Ogden, please stop by so we can show you around the ENVE facilities.

Sincerely,
Sarah Lehman
ENVE CEO

Zach Overholt

5,630 articles

Zach Overholt is the Editor in Chief of Bikerumor. He has been writing about what’s new in the bicycle world for 12+ years. Prior to that, Zach spent many years in the back of a bicycle shop building and repairing nearly every type of bike, while figuring out how to (occasionally) ride them.

Based in Ohio, Zach is now slowly introducing a new generation to cycling and still trying to figure out how to fit the most rides into a busy schedule as a new dad.

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Durianrider

8 years ago

Paying $500 for a carbon fork that fails after it was made in factories where workers are paid about $3 a day. Sounds legit.

Gotta love marketing. xD

PsiSquared

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

If you’re confused about product pricing, you might want to take an economics class or two.

Veganpotter

8 years ago

Reply to PsiSquared

Average pay for laborers in the Taiwanese bike industry is $1,300 per month. More than I make. You think the US auto industry never has recalls?

Veganpotter

8 years ago

Reply to Veganpotter

Vietnam? Probably half but money goes much further

Joshua Colp

8 years ago

Reply to Veganpotter

I live in Taiwan and 1200 USD is actually well above industry standard in Taiwan. Laborers are making around 800-900 USD a month. And many factories hire foreign labor, Vietnamese for even less.

Allan Hunt

8 years ago

Reply to Joshua Colp

We don’t hire foreign laborers to work in Taiwan to save money. Since they are foreign laborers, we are responsible for paying 21 meals per week instead of just lunches for Taiwanese workers. We also have to pay for housing and help them maintain transportation. We pay 50% of their travel from home country (Vietnam, Indonesia, etc.). The salary can be slightly less but in total, the cost of foreign labor in Taiwan is higher than bringing on a local. What the real lure is to hire foreign labor in Taiwan is the high-output of work they do. Taiwanese won’t do difficult labor that every factory needs for some tasks.

All workers in Taiwan will get an additional month of bonus for every year of duty so whereas you may hear the monthly salary, the actual annual take-home is often 13 months’ worth of salary or more. Of course, inexperienced workers could be seen as a cost-savings.

Tim

8 years ago

Reply to PsiSquared

@Psi- I don’t know the OP, but if I had to guess, I’d say he knows how the pricing of goods works: you manufacture goods (in this case forks whose failure can have serious if not deadly health consequences) in such a way as to minimize cost, and then price them in such a way as to get maximum profits which you re-invest in your brand so as to place the product as something special and better than all others (hence the name, “ENVE”, pronounced “envy”). Most brand managers/ owners dream of achieving what ENVE has, which is to get a far higher margin from a product which isn’t so different from the competition’s. Which is just to say, the economics of buying (as opposed to those of pricing) allow you to get another similar Vietnamese-, Taiwanese-, or Chinese-made fork which doesn’t fail which is well under half the price of ENVE’s.

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to Tim

Correct. The fork on my $500 Reid Osprey comes from the same company (ADK) as the $500 Enve recall fork.

Enve do have a 5 year warranty on their rims though.

Nextie have 2 year warranty and are $150 each.

Kernel Flickitov

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

@Durianrider, this is nothing. 600 unit fork recall issued right away and was caught before anybody got hurt. On the other hand your beloved Zipp issues the biggest wheel recall in industry history last year after they knew about the defect for almost 5 years, 2 or 3 people hurt, one seriously. Your selective memory doesn’t serve your argument well.

(deleted)

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to Kernel Flickitov

1. Kernel, Ive got 2 pairs of Zipps 202 Firecrest Discs that Ive got for testing purposes. Both sets the hubs are near cactus from bearing slop but I will keep riding them till they are toast and warranty will fix them up.

Im unaware of any recall of recent product needing a recall. Do you have a link? All I could find is 2 hubs failing out of 12000 units produced between 2008 and 2010 and it was largely due to the alloy being too light and not being able to handle excessive spoke tension that some shops mistakingly do on lightweight hubs and rims.

(deleted)

Kernel Flickitov

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

@Durianrider, for someone who comes on here with such hubris and professes to know much about the industry many of your comments here are basically half-truths or all out lies. Your factually troubled reply to my comment just shows that you have no credibility here. All anyone has to do is read about the Zipp recall which is splattered all over the internet to expose your lack of understanding on this matter.

MaraudingWalrus

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

So the two Zipp88 hubs that failed both came through my little shop? A lot more than two of those hubs failed.

Flatbiller

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

And I’m sure you’d pay the price were these forks made in the US and A, right?

will

8 years ago

Oh snap!

MaraudingWalrus

8 years ago

So, if this Enve product isn’t US made..which others aren’t either?

SSCXXCDIRTDROPS+

8 years ago

Reply to MaraudingWalrus

Everything but their wheels basically. This is on their site.

“ENVE proudly manufactures 100% of our carbon fiber wheel products in Ogden, Utah. When we first started, we thought we had to move our manufacturing overseas to be competitive. After a lot of sleepless nights, we made the hard decision to design and manufacture our rims in the U.S. instead of outsourcing them.”

“We make no excuses about the fact that our components are made overseas. We simply do not have the capacity to take on both. However, we are actively working towards more component manufacturing in the U.S. and the Mountain Stem is the most prominent result of this effort.”

MaraudingWalrus

8 years ago

Reply to SSCXXCDIRTDROPS+

Where is that on the site? Not exactly emblazoned on a flashing banner advertisement.

GoldieTTU

8 years ago

Reply to MaraudingWalrus

Why would it be? The information is there to be read, if you’re the type to look. However, it’s not exactly something that’s worth blazing on the header of their website.

I work for a company that makes about 40% of our products in-house and the rest are done in Taiwan and China. I can tell you, the quality we get from overseas is exceptional. The price is good, sure, but quality has taken no back seat. Our suppliers over there are extremely gifted craftsmen whom take price in their work. Top to bottom, their company is trying to be the very best…China be damned.

John

8 years ago

Reply to GoldieTTU

GoldieTTU, they still have the “Handmade in the USA” image on their homepage:

enve.com/wp-content/themes/enve-v2/assets/img/enve-made-in-usa-seal.png

Also says “Est. 2007” and “Official Seal of Enve Composites”.

But nowhere does it say “Just our carbon wheels” or “Except our forks, handlebars, stems, etc.”

You know, since you asked…

Steve

8 years ago

Most if not all components from Enve are made in Asia, they don’t really give out that information as they like to make it appear it all comes from the USA.

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to Steve

Correct. Most enve carbon product comes from Cambodia, Vietnam and China. Wheels are assembled in Utah hence ‘Made in USA’.

On the fork that is part of the recall if you go to the Enve site and scroll down the bottom left it will have the Enve logo with ‘Handmade in the USA’. haha.

Enve source cataglog forks from ADK who source from Vietnam, China, Taiwan and Cambodia. Most carbon bling is molded in Cambodia and Vietnam due to low tariffs and then sent up north to China/Taiwan for painting and finishing.

I remember when Enve was Edge Composites and none of the Rapha lovers would touch the stuff. All of a sudden the prices went right up and along came the Veblen Good factor and now they are making bank off crew who just want to buy status in the bunch asap. Fair enough. Thats not a crime. Just smart marketing and paying attention of what snobs want.

I loaned one of my vegan mates a front wheel. It is from 1989 and is notchy and heavy as. He is still punching out solid watts and dropping 99.9% of riders on the local popular climbs.

Giant now owns Colnago and even produces the tubing for the C60. It is glued together in Italy buy people paid about 10 euro per hour. Frame max would cos 300USD to produce but if Colnago or any marque brand dropped their price to reflect true manufacturing costs they would actually lose money.

You have to over charge otherwise you miss out on the Veblen Good market.

PsiSquared

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

Do you have a source or any proof that Enve forks are “ADK catalog forks?”

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to PsiSquared

I have a lot of sources and the main reason I have so many is I don’t blab about who said what.

The last time someone tried to sue me in Supreme Court for sharing the truth it hit front page Australian media and exposed their BS to the nation.

Making parts for pennies in SE Asia and then selling it to us westerners is pretty standard practise, not illegal and not wrong.

Has Enve pushed the envelope a bit far by putting ‘Made in the USA’ on every single of their product pages even though many of it is coming via Cambodia etc? I would say they have.

PsiSquared

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

Granted, I think we’ll both agree that you are amazing, but it’s pretty easy to make claims and say you have proof of something that, for whatever reason, you can’t provide. There’s no evidence your word is gold.

Mike

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

Are the rims made in the USA or are they not? yes or no buddy.

GoldieTTU

8 years ago

Reply to Mike

Been to ENVE. Can confirm that the hoops are all made in-house.

Aaron long

8 years ago

Reply to Steve

Is this true? How things have changed, in the early days no one would touch any thing from Taiwan. Some of the Italian brands have their frames built in Taiwan then paint them in Italy so they can claim made in Italy. Now Taiwan is somewhere you want your cycling products to be made.

PFS

8 years ago

If you want to break open the Vietnam manufacturing issue then you will be surprised what you find. There is a lot of stuff that is made there and painted in Taiwan thus being “made in Taiwan”. I say good on them for disclosing the true origin.

myke2241

8 years ago

Bad taste here….. makes me wonder if Enve purchased catalog designs and states components are designed in the us….. that would bring huge margins. I would like to think that’s totally out of the question but….

Alb

8 years ago

Saw one of these cracked 18months ago in a workstand – this recall has taken a while!

Kpp

8 years ago

(deleted) sake, I’ve just had a set of these custom painted at a great expense. Wonder if they will refund me the paint costs…

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to Kpp

Should have just got a pair of ADK forks painted up bro cos that is the fork company that Enve uses for OEM catalog product.

Necromancer

8 years ago

Reply to Durianrider

Looking through they’re website, they don’t really advertise anything of enve quality

Woody

7 years ago

Reply to Necromancer

It’s becuase they don’t make the Enve forks – they’re made by a company called VIP (Very Impressive Product), who have factories in TW, CN… and Vietnam.

bearCol

8 years ago

Didn’t realize they outsourced anything. Prices don’t reflect anything being made overseas.

Antipodean_eleven

8 years ago

Oh the wicked web that’s woven by the cycling industry…..

thesteve4761

8 years ago

Kind of makes this video seem a bit arrogant…

US Made by Choice, except when we choose not to…

Prominent logo at the bottom of every page saying “Handmade in the USA”, deceptive at a minimum. Especially on the bottom of the forks page.

http://enve.com/product-category/forks/

Craig

8 years ago

Reply to thesteve4761

Yes that’s very misleading. I just checked their website. Quite dishonest in my opinion how they have the Made in USA logo on each page and a bit of a search finds no mention of parts being made offshore. I won’t be buying any Enve products now or in the future. I got no issue with parts, frames whatever being made in Asia but when they are made out to be manufactured elsewhere that shows lack of integrity and lack of respect for the end consumer.

8 years ago

@kpp you also voided your warranty.

Kpp

8 years ago

Reply to cb

Pretty sure Enve are OK with paint.

JH Aberschmidt

8 years ago

Durian – as one who spends 8-10 weeks a year in Asia for the bike industry, several of your facts are very incorrect, including that ENVE is ADK “catalog” stuff. Im no fan of ENVE, but you are really spewing some fist class BS. (deleted)

Frippolini

8 years ago

@ Everyone complaining on Durianrider…
Instead of saying / claiming Durianrider is wrong, should be banned, or just full of BS; lets try to understand more about the so called ADK catalogue?
Durianrider, do you have a link or screen shot or photo of the ADK catalogue where the “Enve” fork can be seen (and perhaps even ordered)?

Durianrider

8 years ago

Reply to Frippolini

I don’t disclose who said what but the ADK/Enve is pretty well known for those up to speed.

andy

8 years ago

They will replace a 1.25″ fork with a 1.5″ and ‘appropriate headset replacement’?
A 1.25″ taper headtube will never take a 1.5″ fork regardless of headset, better get a new bike to go with that replacement fork folks..!

Notyourmom

8 years ago

@frippolini
ADK is one of several trusted fork vendors used by most large manufacturers. I will say here that none of the big brands make their own forks. Giant, specialized, cannondale, felt, trek, canyon…..you name the brand, and I can guarantee you they use a fork maker. As JH points out this is far from meaning all of these (or Enves) forks are ‘catalog’ or open models, it just means the manufacturers go to fork building experts with a design and weight / strength criteria and then forks are delivered with the customers’ name on them.

This recall, as with any recall is unfortunate, but in the end is a sign of regular testing, which is good, and keeps you all safe.

Why people pay the prices they do for Enve products is beyond me, but indeed here is a perfect example of how and why marketing works…if you ever wondered.

To finish, ADK produces quality products and is a trusted vendor in the bike biz. I suppose that if you are into bikes enough that you are still reading here, you most likely have had or currently have an ADK fork on your bike.

What?

8 years ago

Reply to Notyourmom

Actually Giant makes their own carbon in house for their frames and forks. They make the Trek stuff and many other brands as well. But they are a Chinese company already, so that would make sense.

Notyourmom

8 years ago

Reply to What?

Actually, you are almost right, and I was unclear.
Giant does indeed not only make their own carbon frames and those for several other big brands, but they certainly do not make ALL of their forks. I have seen pallets of forks from fork vendors in their production facility in TW with my own eyes.

Craig

8 years ago

Wow, now I know that all but Enve rims are made offshore that changes my perception of the brand entirely. They have done well with their marketing….

mac

8 years ago

Why is a $250 enve handlebar better than a $100 race face handlebar? Because they said so (deleted)!

fergus

8 years ago

Why cant they make bike parts to the same quality level as the aeronautics industry parts? A fork breaking or even cracking is one of those things that is not even worth thinking about. Not like they dont charge enough for this stuff to have similar controls and NDT of product.

pit

8 years ago

Due to the recall I no longer enve my dentist’s custom bike.

brandon kline

8 years ago

Reply to pit

depending on the head tube many bikes can accept 1.25 or 1.5. I use both size fork on 44mm head tubes all the time. Its has simple as having the correct lower headset bearing and race.

Devin Zoller

8 years ago

Yeah, only Andy hit on the fact that they’ll happily replace your 1.25″ fork with a 1.5″ fork. Lemme know how that works out for you……..

Pete

8 years ago

In German carbon we trust!

Doug

8 years ago

What?!?!? I thought only counterfeit asian CF parts fail and that the price of this Enve products which are 15 time more expensive underwent test before they left? Maybe consumers are being duped by these high end CF manufacturers so they can justify the high prices?

Kernel Flickitov

8 years ago

Reply to Doug

Stuff breaks, from the low to the high end and everything in-between throughout all of industry not just cycling. Your fantasy land doesn’t exist.

Tim

8 years ago

Reply to Kernel Flickitov

I think Doug was being sarcastic.

Doug

8 years ago

Reply to Tim

I was being sarcastic and I own my horrible grammar.

My dry humor point was…….these super boutique CF companies spout off about the shady under world of counterfeit carbon and justify their prices in a way to convey that their parts never fail. They sell you into believing the first weighted log over on a counterfeit part and you’re gonna knock out your teeth. I think the high end companies just try to stoke the flames to justify their prices, kind of like scare marketing.

That being said a $5.00 “new” counterfeit handlebar won’t be on my bike anytime soon, but lets stop acting like the high price you pay guarantees no failures. I recognize the need for testing and paying fair wages, but if a handlebar or fork costs 400-500.00 and it still fails, you gotta ask yourself is it just a property of the material and further can we really justify the cost?

Kernel Flickitov

8 years ago

Ok Doug, I got it now. Here’s some boutique for you. The first iterations of Colnago’s Star carbon forks were a massive fail, the epoxy that held the drop outs in was weak and they would uncork wile riding, or just hanging on a hook. No official recall either. People were hurt, property was damaged and Colnago turned their backs on a lot of long time customers by not even granting warranty claims. Alpha Q was the ENVE of forks in the 90’s – early 2000’s and there’s some horror stories out there, handled the same as Colnago and True Temper had no choice but to shut the fork division down. Different story with the Zipp 88 front hub recall last year, that was handled much like the Colnago affair, but they did eventually issue a recall when people started showing up in the hospital 5 years after they knew their product was a hazard and hurting people. Last I checked nobody was hurt because of the ENVE defect which only affected 600 units, that’s a drop in the bucket considering how many of their forks they’ve sold.

Caveat emptor.

Myke

8 years ago

And Enve sold for $50 million today

Vince

8 years ago

FYI. Average Vietnamese laborer working 10 hours x 6 days a week is about 200-300 usd a month

8 years ago

I’m the USA you are not allowed to say something is made in the USA unless it is made in the USA. Federal Trade Comission FTC says so! The components not made in the USA do not state where they are made on the individual product, therefore the blanket statement on their site stands. There is legal precedent with past cases like this and Enve is in the wrong.

8 years ago

Well they removed their “Seal” of made in USA from their site which used to be on the bottom of their homepage. That’s good!! BUT, I have learned from a good source that they makes parts in both Vietnam and China.

Never heard Enve say what they did was wrong and the ironic pet is they keep referring to Bike Rumor’s interview in 2012 as proof that they were not hiding anything. Too bad the author of that article didn’t call them out on this issue at that time and Bike Rumor reader had to hel get it done!!!!

Enve Parts are made along with Specialized and Santa Cruz parts.

So the answer to my own question is my Road Stem, seatpost and handlebars were made in Vietnam or China depending on their serial number.