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Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
Pics to come when I get home tonight...so stfu.

So apparently, metal fatigues and that can result in two words I have great disdain for: catastrophic failure.

I turned a corner on my way down to the multi-use path I ride into work everyday. I was out of the saddle accelerating down the hill and about 3 pedal strokes in *BAM*. The end of my driveside crank breaks in half. (A piece of the crank is still threaded onto my pedal...which is NOT attached to the bike anymore...sigh)

So I go down on my right side in the middle of the street at about 10 mph or so. Elbow is dinged up, shoulder is munched, hip and cheek lack a majority of the skin that used to be there, and my ankle has a few deep gouges. Besides the crank, only my saddle got a little messed around the edges, so that's a plus.

Now I'm looking at ~$500 for a new crank set (plus cassette and chain for good measure), and another ~$150 for a new helmet. Rang my bell pretty good by slamming the back of my helmet into the ground and it is now in 3 distinct pieces. My backpack is gnared. I had a banana in it that pretty much liquified upon impact. That would've lightened up my day considerably if I didn't hurt so much.


Ow.
 

RUFUS

e-douche of the year
Dec 1, 2006
3,480
1
Denver, CO
Did you fall over in a sandpaper factory?? How did you get chewed up that much at 10mph?

Sucks to hear, good thing it didn't happen at a faster speed or in traffic.
 

sanjuro

Tube Smuggler
Sep 13, 2004
17,373
0
SF
I had a crank arm snap at the pedal once. When you don't expect it, and you are putting the hammer down, it is never pretty.
 

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,647
1,116
NORCAL is the hizzle
Man. The thing about breaking pedals and cranks is that is usually happens right when you are putting the most pressure on the part, and as a result those failures can be super sketchy. I went cartwheeling through a busy intersection once, and off the trail another time.

Cool story, eh bro? Bro? :p
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
Did you fall over in a sandpaper factory?? How did you get chewed up that much at 10mph?

Sucks to hear, good thing it didn't happen at a faster speed or in traffic.
Eh...10-15 I guess. It wasn't very fast. And it was nowhere near as violent as my 30+mph crater that left my collarbone broken and shoulder blade in 2 pieces.

Hip was first point of impact and I'm 6'7" 260 so I have some extra help in the leverage department. Concrete is a bit pitted on that road too....

Fun times for the LBS when it's "Greg's Show and Tell Day".
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,227
20,004
Sleazattle
How tight do you torque your pedals? Seems like a loose spindle could cause/exasperate that kind of failure.
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
How tight do you torque your pedals? Seems like a loose spindle could cause/exasperate that kind of failure.
I don't use a torque wrench, so I don't know the lb/ft but the pedal was tight. Those cranks had probably close to 20k on 'em and I had every intention of finally changing the front rings in the next couple of weeks. That time table got moved up for me though...
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,227
20,004
Sleazattle
I don't use a torque wrench, so I don't know the lb/ft but the pedal was tight. Those cranks had probably close to 20k on 'em and I had every intention of finally changing the front rings in the next couple of weeks. That time table got moved up for me though...
20k could do it. You may want to torque-em up and use washers now that you know that you are prone to such disasters.
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
20k could do it. You may want to torque-em up and use washers now that you know that you are prone to such disasters.
Heh...creaking and clicking noises started about two weeks ago. I had already cracked a previous version of my current frame and thought it was going to do it again, so I looked over the entire frame for cracks (didn't even look at the cranks...). Found none, so I thought that it might be the BB threads creaking. Doh.

Got a new set of cranks, new cassette and chain, and helmet coming for Monday. Hopefully my neck won't be sore by Tuesday morning. The rest of the bumps and scrapes and soreness is fine. But my neck friggin' kills. Arg.
 

-dustin

boring
Jun 10, 2002
7,155
1
austin
Holy ****. If you don't call Shimano about that, I will. I'll even pay to get the cranks shipped to me. That's an awesome failure.
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
Holy ****. If you don't call Shimano about that, I will. I'll even pay to get the cranks shipped to me. That's an awesome failure.
I'll give em a shout or email on Monday probably. If they don't want the part back, it's going on my wall of busted sh*t. Got my e-thirteen bashguard that's in 3 pieces, the helmet that saved my bacon when I busted my shoulder up (the damage I did to it is impressive), and whole slew of other stuff that I've busted over the years.

Also:
lol @ fatwhitepersonproblem tag!! Awesome.
 

-dustin

boring
Jun 10, 2002
7,155
1
austin
hm...odd. who did you talk to? can you get some more pictures of the failure? like where the aluminum split?
 

Secret Squirrel

There is no Justice!
Dec 21, 2004
8,150
1
Up sh*t creek, without a paddle
hm...odd. who did you talk to? can you get some more pictures of the failure? like where the aluminum split?
Talked to Randy. I'll get a couple more close-ups tonight.

Oh. And I found out that I stripped the end cap on my rear axle on the driveside. I went to change my cassette last night after getting the new parts and the entire freewheel assembly fell off. I don't know enough about rear hubs to figure out if I'm completely f*cked, so I need to find someone around here that knows Phil Wood hubs....

Fun...