I don't get overly concerned about small cracks at the spyder, as there is a lot of material there, and I don't think the crank will suddenly fail there with a small rider like myself. However, the other common Campy failure mode of cracking at the pedal hole is a lot more scary. When I discovered cracks there in the NR left arm on my 1968 Legnano, I replaced the arm immediately, as I could visualizes some really unpleasant conquences of continuing to ride it. I usually take a black marker, outline the crack, marked "cracked" on the arm, so I don't accidentally use the arm again, but keep the cracked arm an an example of the types of cracks to be alert for. I have also kept a pair of old AVA bars as a prime example of the really nasty cracks that can develop in these.
Regards,
Jerry "those who do not learn from history end up with road rash" Moos
Brandon Ives wrote:
> Yes they did make a "warranty" crank, but to this day they won't believe
> it was a design flaw. I have a letter in storage from around '92 that
> states this. If I can find it I'll post it. They said the "double
> hump" was just the evolution of the design not the fixing of a
> problem. This letter and all my warrnty information came about from my
> talking to them about a track hub cone that was broken while new in the
> box. I don't know how, my only guess is when the locknut was tightened
> against the cone an internal stress killed it. I showed it to the Campy
> rep and he said it couldn't be one of their cones, even though it had all
> the Campy markings. I still have the cone somewhere too.
>
> The break above the pedal eye I've only seen once, but the pedal hole
> itself breaking was fairly common. The only time I ever saw it happen in
> person was following a friend climbing up Snoqualmie(SP?) Pass outside of
> Seattle. I was really scary.
>
> enjoy,
> Brandon"monkeyman"Ives
>
> "Nobody can do everything, but if everybody did something everything would
> get done." Gil Scott-Heron
>
> On Thu, 12 Apr 2001, gregparker1 wrote:
>
> > Brandon:
> >
> > I sorta hear you, but since they redesigned the crankarm to eliminate the
> > stress riser (later, "double-bump" versions), and gave away a bunch as warranty
> > parts (the infamous "11" and "21" parts?), it would be tough for them to
> > say the problem never existed.
> >
> > Of course, that wasn't the only spot they failed at. I've heard of more than one
> > failure just above the pedal threads. That would be exciting if it happened under
> > full load!
> >
> > Greg Parker
> > PC A2 MI
> >
> >
> > Brandon Ives wrote:
> >
> >
> > >That's because Campy always said our stuff never breaks and if it did it's
> > >your fault. You can't fix faults if you don't believe they exist and
> > >never see the parts. I've tried to return tons of stuff to Campy over the
> > >years and the only way to get a replacement was to go through the bikes
> > >maker. They've gotten better over the years, but they still won't admit
> > >that they built a massive stess riser into the NR and SR cranks.