NEWS from CPSC

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Office of Information and Public Affairs

Washington, DC 20207

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	CONTACT: Answer Recall Hotline: (800) 423-0273
May 9, 2000	CPSC Contact: Yolanda Fultz-Morris
Release # 00-105	(301) 504-0580 Ext. 1219

CPSC, Answer Products Inc. Announce Recall of Bicycle Components

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Answer Products Inc., of Valencia, Calif., is voluntarily recalling about 17,500 BMX and mountain bicycle forks, which were sold separately and installed on bicycles. The tube that attaches the fork to the bicycle can fail, causing riders to lose control and fall.

Answer Products has received six reports of these forks failing resulting in two consumers suffering minor injuries, including cuts, bruises and chipped teeth.

These 2000 model bicycle forks have been installed on more than 30 models of bicycles and sold under Answer and Manitou brand names. Either "ANSWER" or "MANITOU" is written on the side of the fork and the model name is written on the front of the fork. The Answer BMX forks are the Carbo Pro and Mag Pro models. The Manitou mountain bike forks are Mars and X-Vert Super models. Bicycle brands that were made with these forks include Specialized, Klein, Jamis and Marin.

Bicycle stores nationwide and mail order catalogs sold these forks and bikes from August 1999 through May 2000. The forks range in price from $245 to $695, and the assembled bicycles with these forks range in price from $1,200 to more than $3,000.

Consumers should immediately stop riding the bicycles with these forks and take them to an authorized Answer Products dealer for a free inspection and repair. To determine if your bicycle's fork is part of this recall and for more information, call Answer Products Inc. at (800) 423-0273 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission protects the public from the unreasonable risk of injury or death from 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, you can go to CPSC's forms page and use the first on-line form on that page. Or, you can call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or send the information to info@cpsc.gov. To order a press release through fax-on-demand, call (301) 504-0051 from the handset of your fax machine and enter the release number. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information from CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov or by calling the hotline or sending your request to info@cpsc.gov. You can also subscribe to CPSC's email subscription list which normally sends all press releases the day they are issued.