Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - How to kill a crank - Clyde style! :)

Here's how my non-drive crankarm looked after taking it off today:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2349/2525894999_dff6a36234.jpg?v=0

As they say.. them innards ain't supposed to be round! :D Here's the BB, excuse the dirt it fell on the ground shortly before the pic:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3122/2526717526_639aa036cf.jpg?v=0

Oh, and yes, I'm sure it was rounded off inside..

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2301/2525893911_f0044cd781.jpg?v=0

Removal of it was rather easy with the proper tools. My riding partner and good buddy Oliver was awesome enough to loan his tools, expertise, and front yard for repairs. The BB came out after some encouragement, then I cleaned the inside of the frame with about 2 lbs of Simple Green. I then re-applied lots of lithium grease, then installed the new Shimano Octalink BB.

After that I installed the new crankarms, pedals, and gave it a whirl! After 23 miles yesterday and 31.5 miles this morning I needed .5 miles to hit my 1,000 mark for the year. I'm happy to say that pedaling around Oliver's neighborhood on a newly improved Hardrock, I passed by the 1k mark for the year! The bike probably has about 2,500 miles on it, but still rides like a champ. Here's a shot of the new crankset, installed and working great:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3023/2525898953_8b4c7e6bff.jpg?v=0

And finally, my noble steed. Looking forward to many more years of service from it, even if the mileage isn't so high after the purchase of the mileage king of a LHT:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3268/2525897425_2b7f2e226e.jpg?v=0

Amazingly, I've never destroyed a crank.
The funny thing is that all of my lighter (non-Clydesdale by a LOT) friends have!

Good job on the repair! The right tools get the job done quickly!

I went through a similar experience about 7 years ago... snapped the crank arm right off. The cast aluminum had a very slight defect, but my pedal mashing just made it worse. Wound up with a torn up leg from the front sprocket, and sore nuts from the sudden fall.

V

Sweet. The BB on y old Trek 7200 was creaking like a son-of-a-gun before I bought my current bike. That BB had about 7,500 miles on it so I would be interested to see what it looks like.

That's a first in my book! The Octalink cranks were supposed to IMPROVE strength. I can say that I've never seen one do this.

Nice to have friends with tools Huh!

Sweet. The BB on y old Trek 7200 was creaking like a son-of-a-gun before I bought my current bike. That BB had about 7,500 miles on it so I would be interested to see what it looks like.

Wow, that's quite impressive. Mine was creaking forever, but then the non-drive crankarm started going loose. On a hammerfest home one day, well, you see the results right there. :)

Good news, if you get the right tool, changing them out yourself is silly easy. Park Tools sells the correct adapters for everything, and they're downright affordable. I'm going to invest in some of their stuff very soon, as this repair alone saved me $20 - which would have paid for the two tools I used (BB adapter and crank puller).

That's a first in my book! The Octalink cranks were supposed to IMPROVE strength. I can say that I've never seen one do this.

Nice to have friends with tools Huh!

The guys at the LBS basically said what amounted to "holy crap..". :D I wear it as a badge of honor, mainly, that I can destroy such things in such a manner... Clyde power!! :)

Good job on the repair! The right tools get the job done quickly!

I went through a similar experience about 7 years ago... snapped the crank arm right off. The cast aluminum had a very slight defect, but my pedal mashing just made it worse. Wound up with a torn up leg from the front sprocket, and sore nuts from the sudden fall.

V

OUCH!! I heard of someone else doing similar, snapping a crankarm, that's one of the reasons I very rarely (if ever) stand while pedaling.

Just looking at your seat angle gives me the heebie jeebies. ;-)

Just looking at your seat angle gives me the heebie jeebies. ;-)

Hahah! I had it up there as when I started riding that bike earlier this year, I was wearing pants (waterproof) that would slide off the saddle - and I just never moved it. About five minutes ago during my "lunch break" I adjusted it back to normal person level. I didn't realize how uncomfortable it was.. :)

The guys at the LBS basically said what amounted to "holy crap..". :D I wear it as a badge of honor, mainly, that I can destroy such things in such a manner... Clyde power!! :)

You ought to have some fun and mount it on a plaque and hang it up somewhere:)

Sweet. The BB on y old Trek 7200 was creaking like a son-of-a-gun before I bought my current bike. That BB had about 7,500 miles on it so I would be interested to see what it looks like.

Feel lucky, mine died around 2500 miles. Had a nasty crack in it.

By the way Bdinger.... didn't you just replace this not long ago?

By the way Bdinger.... didn't you just replace this not long ago?

Nope, that's the original crankset, but it did break about three weeks ago and I'm just now getting around to replacing it :). I've broken just about everything else except for a crankset, but hey, now I've gotten that covered to.

And.. 20 miles on it today, feels good. Feels great to hammer up the hills with it, that's for sure!

Maybe I just remember you talking about the BB \ cranks being a known issue on the hardrock

now that you have the LHT you can turn that proud machine back to a real XC bike and get it on the trails.

Spin you *&^%^%#$@##*(*()?><":{P{.

might be a specialized issue in general with crappy sub standard parts. I am following another thread in the road section where a guy with an 07 Spec. Allez Elite had a similiar problem (I have the exact same Allez elite triple 07 so that is why I am following it). He has only a couple hundred miles on his and already has the metal shavings and clicking, just waiting for it to completely fail.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I already got an Ultegra set on order so I won't have to go through the hassle of having the bike out of order like you did.

Again thanks for the update and pics.

JOE

might be a specialized issue in general with crappy sub standard parts. I am following another thread in the road section where a guy with an 07 Spec. Allez Elite had a similiar problem (I have the exact same Allez elite triple 07 so that is why I am following it). He has only a couple hundred miles on his and already has the metal shavings and clicking, just waiting for it to completely fail.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I already got an Ultegra set on order so I won't have to go through the hassle of having the bike out of order like you did.

Again thanks for the update and pics.

JOE

I've also seen similar threads on other forums about the Hardrock Sport and Rockhopper - any models that used this particular truvativ crankset. What does the Allez Elite use? I wonder if it's a Truvativ issue..

might be a specialized issue in general with crappy sub standard parts. I am following another thread in the road section where a guy with an 07 Spec. Allez Elite had a similiar problem (I have the exact same Allez elite triple 07 so that is why I am following it). He has only a couple hundred miles on his and already has the metal shavings and clicking, just waiting for it to completely fail.

Anyway, thanks for the info. I already got an Ultegra set on order so I won't have to go through the hassle of having the bike out of order like you did.

Again thanks for the update and pics.

JOE

You know, it may be that they got a bad batch from the supplier, bicycles like most other things are not made from raw ore processing, instead Specialized contracts to a company like Shimano or SRAM or any one of a half dozen companies, the installer at Specialized (or the sub contractor who actually makes the bikes), looks at a crank, it looks fine, in that it's not cracked or broken. The part supplier gets material which they cast or mill into a crank, the material machines fine, so they put it in the box with others. The material comes from a company that mixes various metals to get an alloy, if they goof, or the smelter goofs in smelting one of the metals, then you can get just such a situation. Alloys are mixed several tons at a time, and smelters also work on volume.

The real issue is, what specialized or their dealer are going to do about it. Probably replace it under warrantee.

well, for the specialized allez elite they are using a Sugino crank (not sure of the BB, etc..)