"About time": Cyclists react to Shimano crank recall after more than 4,500 incidents

Among the multitude of thoughts and opinions heard from the cycling community as Shimano yesterday announced a voluntary recall of Hollowtech II road cranksets produced between 2012 and 2019 for a possible bonding separation issue, the emotions of shock and surprise were noticeable in their absence.

Over the years we have received hundreds of emails and messages from readers who have experienced an issue. The Instagram account @thanksshimano has also shared photos of snapped cranks since 2018 and has more than 17,000 followers.

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In 2021, Shimano told us there isn't a design problem with its Hollowtech cranks despite reports of a pattern of failures, and yet the photos and tales kept rolling in.

So no, there was little surprise in the reaction. Our Facebook post with the recall news has been shared nearly 200 times and attracted more than 300 comments, so we thought we would have a look at how the cycling community has reacted.

The replacement 11-speed cranksets Shimano is offering to affected customers, that appear to be modelled on the new 12-speed versions.

There were, of course, plenty of stories of people's own experiences, one saying: "I am two of those failures. One of them was during my first Ironman race at mile 83 on the bike. There were no signs that I knew of that there was a problem on this particular one until I could feel it starting to give in at mile 25.

"Having had one fail before, I knew what it felt like. Of course, nobody wants to spend the money. But I think they should replace them all. Every single one of them."

For this article we'll ignore any smug Campagnolo users, which admittedly removes a decent chunk of comments, and move on to Colin Davies who said he was concerned by the fact his nearest Shimano dealer for inspections of cranks is 30 miles away and is the only option for a large area.

"One dealer expected to inspect potentially 1000s of cranksets. How the hell is Shimano expecting to get away with this? Surely this needs to be subcontracted to other bike shops to allow the process to be completed safely and quickly?"

We contacted the bike shop in question who were somewhat more relaxed about the situation and suggested it is probably a bit over the top to be expecting crank-wielding Black Fridayesque scenes outside bike shops any time soon.

Thankfully however, reading our article did prompt reader Michael to check his cranks with a "rigorous safety check". "I've decided I'm going to take mine in for further inspection," he wisely concluded...

Another road.cc reader commenting on the recall said: "About time. So many cases, more than just an expected defect rate and the issue is sudden and catastrophic failure which is highly dangerous. I chucked my Ultegra cranks (wasn't going to have selling to someone else on my conscience) and sold the rings, couldn't stop them creaking and just had no faith in them being a taller, heavier rider."

Someone else raised concerns about the inspection process, which the bike shop we contacted is hoping to hear more details about from Shimano on Monday, saying: "Seems strange that Shimano think a one off inspection irrespective of mileage is good enough. My 2016 Ultegra crank failed at around 25,000km. I'm pretty sure if I had inspected it at 20,000 it would have passed."

We should have more on this in the coming week, including some lab results we recently got back after a few of you sent in your snapped cranks. In the meantime, let us know your thoughts in the comments...