A product safety notice for a number of Babboe cargo bicycles has been issued today by Ireland’s Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC).
The affected models are Babboe CITY, CITY-E, MINI, or Mini-E. However, the CCPC also highlights that Babboe has advised customers not to use their bicycles if they are on the longer list below.
The official action by Dutch authorities followed investigation by Dutch news outlet RTL. A former Babboe employee told RTL: “I have often seen emails from customers stating that there has been an accident.” Another is quoted as stating: “I’m surprised there have been no deaths yet.”
Babboe is a budget cargo bike brand owned by the Accell Group, which also owns Raleigh, Batavus, Lapierre, Haibike, Winora, Ghost, and Koga. The warning and recall do not affect cargo bikes made by other manufacturers.
IrishCycle.com contacted the CCPC last month to confirm the situation after Dutch authorities warned of the risk of “very serious injuries,” especially if the bike’s frame fails while cycling in traffic. At the time, Dutch authorities had yet to issue an EU-wide notice, but they have now done so, and on the basis of this, the CCPC has, in turn, issued a notice on its website.
A spokesperson for the CCPC today said: “The CCPC has been in contact with Nederlandse Voedsel- en Warenautoriteit (NVWA) on this issue in the past weeks as the Dutch authority continued their investigations. This is a serious issue and we have been keen to progress it as quickly as possible.”
The CCPC’s safety notice said: “Babboe is preparing a recall of CITY, CITY E, MINI and MINI E cargo bikes. The product presents an injury risk. Hairline cracks may appear in the frame of the models shown. These cracks can lead to the frame breaking, which may lead to serious injury.”
“In Ireland different Market Surveillance Authorities have responsibility for different pieces of EU legislation. The Health and Safety Authority are the Market Surveillance Authority for the CITY-E and Mini-E bikes (and all e-bikes/electric bikes),” the CCPC said.
Owners of Babboe’s CITY, CITY-E, MINI or Mini-E cargo bike models should enter their frame number on checkyourframe.co.uk to see if their cargo bike falls within the recall.
Frame number locations include on the front of the seat tube (on E models), on the back of the seat tube (on Mountain models), above the mid-drive motor (on Mountain models), and on the left of the bottom bracket — further details and images of these locations can be found at checkyourframe.co.uk.
The CCPC said that Babboe will contact affected customers about the recall timing and next steps as soon as possible and, for any further information about the recall, consumers can contact Babboe directly by email at service.uk@babboe.com.
The CCPC said that it would provide further information when available.
It highlighted that Babboe is also “advising customers against using the below models for the time being” but these are not yet part of the recall:
- Babboe Curve / Curve Mountain
- Babboe Big
- Babboe Dog
- Babboe Mini Mountain
- Babboe Pro Trike
- Babboe Pro Trike XL
- Babboe Carve Mountain
- Babboe Slim Mountain
- Babboe Go Mountain
- Babboe Flow Mountain
- Babboe City Mountain
- Babboe Curve-E
- Babboe Big-E
- Babboe Dog-E
- Babboe Max-E
- Babboe Pro Trike-E
- Babboe Carve-E
- Babboe Go-E
- Babboe Flow-E