Old 05-08-20, 09:30 AM
  #12  
79pmooney
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Originally Posted by Chombi1
Campy had their own problems with their Record cranksets developing cracks at the spider crank arm junctions.
Also at the pedal holes. Both thought to be caused by stress risers (Sharp edges and corners) on the cranksets. So cracking also happened with the best of them. Same goes with early model 630 Mavic Cranksets.
Oh yeah. I got to watch two Campy cranks break across the pedal threads in my racing days. Both times from the perspective of the guy on his wheel. (Snuck around both times. Don't know how but I REALLY like super fast steering race bikes!) The Japanese went to rolled threads that were cursed by the mechanics of the day because to mix with the revered Campagnolo, you had to either re-tap the Japanese part or force the fit, (Now, once that is forced a first time, the parts screw together and apart nicely thereafter.) But the Japanese rolled threads were metallurgically right and rarely cracked.

But back to Campy and Avocet. We all knew much of the the Campy equipment when I was racing had many miles of use by very strong riders because that was what there was, Not a lot of choices, (And nobody who was anybody rode Japanese. Just wasn't done.) For a lot of us, money was tight and Campy expensive. Replacing those cranks just because you crashed? Not happening. (Both cranks I witnessed break were ridden by riders considerably bigger than me. And back to Avocet. I weighed 155 in those days, was/is long and skinny and you can pack all my fast twitch muscles in Shaquille O'Neal's big toe. I bought the cranks new. Rode them from ~1982 - '95; maybe 15,000 miles. (A little less than I said in my first post. Memories are coming back.)

Yes, I would have also broken Campy NR the same way because I would have ridden them until they broke, But it would take me 40,000 miles or more to break them. And the much cheaper Japanese pedals, many of which I have ridden to their grave? Haven't broken one yet. (They are officially "dead" when the crank arm is worn to 75% of original from road grit and winter shoes. Or the taper is shot. Or the chainring boltholes elongated. When it comes to the pedal threads, the cheap OEM SRs, Suginos and Shimanos are far more reliable than the classic NRs.)

Ben
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