Broken Bike Parts
Jun 29th, 2004 (Tue)
Stress fracture in a Campagnolo Veloce crankarm.
Here are photos of bike parts I’ve managed to break or encounter over the years. The amazing thing is most of these broken parts were due to normal everyday use and not subject to abuse or accidents. Included are photos from both the major component manufacturers–Campagnolo and Shimano–on my own or friends’ bicycles.
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| This page documents just some of the broken bike parts I've had (or encountered) over the years. Shown here is my friend Dave and his crankset that totally seized onto the bottom bracket, and the only way to remove it was to cut it off. | A real shocker: in Feb. 2003 on a training ride, the 2 largest cogs on my 9-speed Shimano Ultegra cassette had SHEARED OFF! I replaced it with an SRAM cassette after that... |
| During the 2003 Davis 400k Brevet, my home-made light bracket snapped in half. Fortunately, I was just a mile from a store where I bought a whole roll of packaging tape, and taped the light to my handlebars (and ride until 2:00am!) | In early 2003 my right Campy Chorus Ergopower lever was shifting a lot less precisely. Here's why: this tab (held by my pliers) from the "G-spring barrel" broke off. Fortunately, Ergopower levers are fully serviceable, unlike Shimano's. |
| One day my left crankarm was really creaking from the very start of a 60-mile ride. At Mile 50, I looked down and saw the reason: a prominent stress fracture in the (Campagnolo Racing T) crankarm itself! (With ~12,000 miles, I think.) | My Speedplay cleats--which I have never replaced since I got them in 1999 (also ~12,000 miles?) were not in great shape anymore either, though they still worked fine. (And lasted about 4X longer than the plastic cleats for my previous Sampson Stratics. |
Due to the large number of photos, only the first 6 of 22 are shown. View all photos or play slideshow.