Greg Parker A2 MI USA
Wrote:
<Of course the competition's Engineers told you that Campy could have picked a better alloy - remember they were telling you this thirty years after Campy made that decision - more material options / tempers had been created in the interim!>
1983 minus 30 is 1953. I don't think Campy had cranks this early. Most of the aluminum alloy design was done during WWII. Campy chainrings were made using the best material, 7075-T6.
<Let me also guess that the sales of NR/SR cranks far, far exceeded the sales of Specialized cranks - so therefore the population of Campy cranks was much greater, as we've discussed recently relative to this exact issue of crank breakage.>
Remember, Specialized cranks were used for all the MTB bikes Specialized sold, along with all the other bikes and aftermarket cranks. I would not be so sure of the greater number of NR cranks.
One last little side note on this crank topic. I am very sure that the forging blanks that I saw at the Campy factory in 1983 or so were made in France. I was also told that the 6al-4v titanium stock for the SR parts was from USA. So they did buy materials from sources other than Italy.
Modern parts have to be defended in product liability lawsuits. Any designer of bike parts will surely have this in mind today.
Jim Merz
Bainbridge Is. WA