Shimano 11-speed crankset failures: the timeline as recall draws to a conclusion

When Shimano launched its Dura-Ace 9000 groupset back in 2012, it introduced a new weight-saving technique, where the outward and inside faces of the cranks were bonded together, with a cavity between them. An advance on the previously hollow-forged design of Dura-Ace 7900, Shimano claimed its new Hollowtech design saved weight with no loss in rigidity.

A few years later, reports began to emerge of crankset delamination and failure, reaching their thousands before Shimano acknowledged there was a potential issue with the bonding process.

This led to the recall for inspection of around 2.8 million 11-speed Dura-Ace and Ultegra cranksets worldwide and Shimano agreeing an $11.5m penalty in the US for failing to report the problem promptly. 

With the deadline to submit a claim approaching…