Greg: you wanted tallies of broken cranks? here goes. All Campagnolo NR, going back to when I started almost 40 years ago:
Me, a cyclist since the mid-60's = 2, one of which caused a serious accident I detailed in a recent CR posting. Riders alongside me which I personally saw: three that I can distinctly remember. Cranks shown to me at my shop, asking if I could send them back to Cramp-An-Go-Slo for warrantee: at least six. Ones returned, claim denied, by said Campy? Every one I sent. Reason given: any sort of mark, scratch anywhere on the arm constituted "abuse", etc. Ironically, during the late Bill Wooduls (sp?) tenure in the Campy bubble-top tech support van at races, it was sometimes possible to get brand new chainrings to replace one's worn ones. Ditto derailleurs, etc. Riders used to look forward to hustling new parts for free out of Bill. No wonder Campy stopped race support for so long.
Not counting the above: My pal Ben broke several which I did not see, but he reported to me. He broke the arms about an inch or so above the pedal hole. One time, he had a right and a left, somehow shortened and pinned them back together and then welded the seam to make 150 mm arms for his son. Ben reported to me that his brother Bob (a Pan-am team member at the time) broke them routinely. All of the above occurred in Northern California/ Nevada from the late 60's to the present.
Most of what I am citing were NOT old cranks with a lot of mileage. Some were quite new, in fact. I'm sorry, but I still believe Campy NR cranks were a defective design and/or execution. IMHO, any brand of crank should break so rarely as to be unheard of, and I have heard of plenty. I could also go over and probably rustle up a bunch more at Della Santa's if you would like me to. He has a ton of stories to tell. Maybe NorCal roadies WERE that much stronger in those days? I mean, we gave the world Mount, Boyer, LeMond and....
Hey while we are setting/breaking records, how about Cinelli pedals? One axle there for me. Frames? Had a fork blade fall out of the crown while waiting for a red light to change. Hmmm, I thought my Frejus was feeling squirrely.
Been breaking my silent lurking too much lately. Richard Bulis Verdi Nevada just over the hill from California in more ways than one.