Old 05-08-20, 10:16 AM
  #13  
Salamandrine 
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Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: Los Angeles
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Bikes: 78 Masi Criterium, 68 PX10, 2016 Mercian King of Mercia, Rivendell Clem Smith Jr

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I used Avocet cranks for a while BITD. They were sort of a weight weenie crank. Lighter than the competitors. I did break one, right in the middle of the left arm. The second set lasted for years and I never had a problem. Old cranks broke sometimes. It's a crapshoot. I learned my lesson after the first broken crankarm. Always inspect your crankarms for cracks on a regular basis. If you do this you won't get a nasty surprise.

Best way to check the taper is to put it on a BB spindle. FWIW I've never actually seen the proprietary non standard taper that is supposed to exist. Avocet cranks weren't available until 1979. It would not surprise me if all of them produced with the Avocet brand were the same and had standard tapers. My cousin worked for Avocet BITD. I'd ask but he's kind of a jerk and we no longer are in touch. Ofmega branded would have been rare. They'd only come in as OEM cranks on Italian bikes.


WRT Campy cranks, you see more cracked ones because that is the crank that nearly all racers used. They are the cranks that got zillions of miles put on them. That used campy crank quite likely has 50,000 or more miles on it. That used SR/Sugino or whatever almost certainly did not. People that did the big miles bought campy because other brands did not hold up, generally speaking.
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