Canyon asks new Aeroad owners to stop riding bike after MvdP’s broken handlebar
It was the broken handlebar of Mathieu van der Poel that stole the show at the Belgian mid-week race, Le Samyn. The internet ran rampant with disproven rumours about Canyon’s adjustable-width handlebar design, while our own Global Tech Editor, James Huang, suggested the break was likely caused by too much clamping force at the brake lever assembly clamp.
Now, Canyon is asking owners of the new Aeroad CF SLX and CFR (equipped with Canyon’s CP00018 and CP00015 handlebars) to stop riding their bikes until the company’s investigation is complete. Owners of the lower-cost Aeroad CF SL are not impacted by this safety alert.
“Mathieu, fortunately, did not fall,” said founder of Canyon Bicycles, Roman Arnold, in a press release from the German consumer-direct company. “We want to ensure with absolute certainty that no one comes to harm before we have fully understood the root cause.”
With immediate effect, Canyon will be swapping all of its sponsored professional teams to alternative bikes, including the previous model of the Aeroad or the current Ultimate.
“We are doing everything we can to equip the affected Aeroad models as quickly as possible with a cockpit that meets both our and our customers’ demands for total quality and safety,” said Canyon’s CEO, Armin Landgraf. It’s a message that suggests Canyon may be heading toward a product recall rather than simply releasing a reminder that recommended torque figures matter.
Of course this is bad news for those with a shiny new Aeroad CF SLX or Aeroad CFR, and the company hasn’t given a timeline for how long the bikes will be sidelined. This is one we’ll be following closely.
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