Re: [CR]Campagnolo crank breakage?

(Example: History:Ted Ernst)

Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 10:10:37 -0700
Subject: Re: [CR]Campagnolo crank breakage?
From: "Bainbridge" <gotfleas@earthlink.net>
To: <marcus.e.helman@gm.com>, <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
In-Reply-To: <OFE7861996.458F92B5-ON85256D4E.00531D66@mail.gm.com>


When I worked for a Campy distributor I used to make a daily pilgrimage to see all the returns. Crank failures were the top reason for returns, but nearly all the problems were preventable.

The most common failure was a crack at the spider and as Steven suggests, simply rounding the sharp edge will go a long way to reducing the stress riser.

The other common failures were breaking at the pedal eye, failure of the arm due to prolonged rubbing against a front deraileur cage, catching a pedal in a corner and starting a fracture and finally splitting at the spindle hole.

All of these can be prevented by both good mechanical practices and frequent inspection. Most of these cracks are there for quite a while before the catastrophic failure.

The best place to see these failures is Ric Hjertbergs page

http://pardo.net/pardo/bike/pic/fail/FAIL-001.html

Bryant Bainbridge Portland, Orygun
> From: marcus.e.helman@gm.com
> Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 11:11:38 -0400
> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> Subject: [CR]Campagnolo crank breakage?
>
> At the risk of sounding like that Gilda Radnor character on SNL, what's all
> this I hear about Campagnolo cranks being subject to sudden catastrophic
> failure? Is it true? Do I really need to closely inspect my cranks before
> each ride?
>
> Thanks,
> Marcus Helman
> Huntington Woods, MI