Big bars banned Down Under.
A product safety recall has been issued to a number of Giant and Liv (Giant’s female bike brand) due to them having handlebars wider than 700mm.
An organisation called Product Safety Australia have requested a recall of 2015/2016/2017 Stance 2 bikes, 2017 Embolden 2 bikes and 2017 Tempt 1 bikes.
The official reason given for the recall is that the “Handlebar width exceeds the maximum standard requirement.” This is in accordance to an existing but apparently rarely implemented safety guideline in Australia that no handlebar should measure wider than 700mm.
Check out the full product recall notice.
Why these handful of models from Giant have been singled out is not entirely clear at this point.
We certainly can’t think of any current off-the-peg mountain bikes that come with handlebars that don’t break the safety regulations. Even XC bikes generally come specced with 720mm wide bars at least.
The product recall advises any customers affected (ie. anyone who owns one of the bikes listed above) to take their pride and joy back to their local Giant/Liv dealer to have the bars “modified”.