CHICAGO (BRAIN) — SRAM is promising to have its new hydraulic brakes ready to go back on consumers' bikes sometime during the second half of April. For customers of recalled brakes not wishing to wait for redesigned hydraulic brakes, SRAM dealers will swap their hydraulic brakes for mechanical systems for free and give them a check for $200.
"We wouldn't have specified the second half of April unless we were confident we would have the brakes ready by then," said Michael Zellmann, SRAM's road PR and media manager. "But we are not sharing further information on the new hydraulic brakes." SRAM also is not making its compensation plan for dealers public.
What about OE? Zellmann said the ten bike suppliers who spec'd the hydraulic brakes will have to decide themselves whether to hold models until the new brakes are ready, or ship now with mechanical brakes. SRAM has mechanical systems ready for dealers needing to swap out customers' hydraulic systems.
While SRAM announced the recall on Dec. 16, on Tuesday the recall was officially announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. According to the CPSC's recall notice, there were 95 reports of brakes failing in the U.S., and two injuries were reported, one in the U.S. and one in Australia. Of SRAM's 38,000 recalled brakes worldwide, 25,350 brakes ended up on the U.S. market.
