I had the opportunity to talk to Richard Sterino (Campy USA Marketing Manager) over the telephone for an hour a few days ago and this broken crank issue came up in the conversation. The following remarks are my interpretation of topics we discussed at length and should be considered only statements of opinion. Richard has worked for Campy for over 20 years, has seen the company "grow" to 400 employees internationally, and is definitely a Campy knowledge expert because he has worked with all the major Gruppos since the early eighties. As a result, he has served as a Campagnolo "expert witness" whenever Campagnolo gets sued in court over alleged defective parts. Apparently, these civil tort lawsuits against companies like Campagnolo are being filed more frequently which causes the company to be careful about any express or implied warranty.
Richard adamantly says that Campy cranks are built solely for racing and should be considered to have a limited life. Therefore, use of Campy Road equipment for Mountain bike or BMX use violates the Campagnolo warranty and safety recommendations. These cranksets are often subjected to many many miles of continued stressful use on the crankarms where racing/Mountain/BMX heavy riding sometimes causes the crankarms and/or pedals to crack when there is a bike crash, or for no reason at all. Any buyer of used Campy equipment needs to exercise caution because the past history and use of a used part can never be clearly discerned. Prehaps the only way to throughly examine a crankarm is by performing an x-ray that will highlight non-visible cracks or concerns. However, x-rays of used alloy or steel equipment is extremely expensive and not cost-effective! Please note that Richard may have company sales in mind because he is in the business of selling new parts and not supporting older discontinued lines that we all still enjoy.
Consequently, the old adage that Campy parts were supposedly 'guaranteed for life' from the 1970's is now replaced with a "limited warranty" only through the original registered bicycle retailer who would return the part back to Campy for evaluation. Campy USA has the sole responsibility to evaluate and determine the validity of the warranty claims which are only presented through the registered bicycle shop. The bottom line is that if you use Campy new or especially vintage components, you should always be careful and inspect for cracks in the crankarm spider and/or around the crankarm pedal eye. E CAVEAT EMPTOR
BTW, he says "Hi" to e-Ritchie (personal friend) and extends his regards to the CR group!
Regards, Steve Neago
Cincinnati, OH
> Slightly sobering website with broken cranks--
> http://pardo.net/
>
> In twenty five years plus I have never seen a Campagnolo crank break at
> the spider. I have seen them break in the middle of the arm where
> Colnago has panto'd their name in the milled out groove. Usually cranks
> fail at the pedal eye. NOTICE THAT THE WEBSITE SHOWS ALL BRANDS OF
> CRANKS FAILING!!! Keep your bike clean and do periodic visual checks of
> your highly stressed parts and you won't have a problem. And yes, even
> steel cranks can fail.
>
> Chuck Schmidt
> South Pasadena, California