Well, this kind of sucks. How does this even happen?
UPDATE!!! Commenter Salsa demanded a first-person account, so here goes:
well salsa, i was trackstanding at the stop light on valencia at 19th st, heading south. the light turned green, so i pushed down with my dominant (right) leg in order to accelerate adequately enough to address the small slope.
I feel some weird tension, hear a sharp SNAP, and then notice my control over the bike has diminished severely. i wobble to the right and manage to dismount without crashing. onlookers are stopping and gawking, many having assumed that cranks were unable to snap in such a manner.
the cop behind me passes me and yells out the window, “your pedal’s back there,” so i walk back into the intersection and collect it. then i take a picture.
UPDATE 2!!! My bad! The crankset is made up of Sugino components. Sorry to besmirch your good name, Shimano! This still sucks though . . .
 leg in order to accelerate adequately enough […]</p>
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ohhh man…and right before bike to work day. get those cranks switched out asap then send the broken ones in for warranty.
“How does this even happen?”
Ummm… you mean something mechanical breaking?
Without any story with the pic, I’ll guess it got hack-sawed part way then whacked with a hammer. But I’d love to hear the bs “it just broke” account of events.
well salsa, i was trackstanding at the stop light on valencia at 19th st, heading south. the light turned green, so i pushed down with my dominant (right) leg in order to accelerate adequately enough to address the small slope.
I feel some weird tension, hear a sharp SNAP, and then notice my control over the bike has diminished severely. i wobble to the right and manage to dismount without crashing. onlookers are stopping and gawking, many having assumed that cranks were unable to snap in such a manner.
the cop behind me passes me and yells out the window, “your pedal’s back there,” so i walk back into the intersection and collect it. then i take a picture.
was that bs enough for you?
Bummer! Glad you weren’t injured (er, were you?). OK not bs, but I bet it already had a hairline fracture in the arm from a previous impact before it snapped off. The forces exerted by even the most hard core cyclist wouldn’t be enough to cause that kind of failure: my money’s on it being previously compromised by a hard impact. Your chain looks messed up too, esp. that link in the upper left of frame. Time for some new parts!
that sucks.
also, your chain could use a good cleaning.
I’ve seen quite a few cranks snap…”good” ones, too. Not that unusual in dirtjumping and dh racing…especially without freewheel hubs. No conspiracy suspected by this observer, just a bad casting/forging/QC issue.
Those cranks are some cheap non-branded ones from Taiwan that Bianchi supplied with the bike, not Shimanos. Not to say this hasn’t happened to shimano cranks…
I echo what mitch in the richmond said about a manufacturing issue eventually leading to failure.
About a block from there about a year ago, the bolt hitching my seat post to my saddle snapped. So I know what you mean about “control over the bike has diminished severely”. I was just lucky to have the wherewithal to *stand up quickly*, not sit on the now-saddleless post (oh, Frida, I’m thinking of you my dear) and go fetch my seat.
But the main question is, COULD IT BE SOMETHING ABOUT THAT BLOCK? A Bermuda Triangle of snapped bike parts? Ok, I jest, but the manufacturing explanation is just not exciting enough, true as it may be.
If that’s a shimano crank, it’s gotta be 20 years old. When was the last time they made a black square taper 5 arm road crank (or mtn- it’s hard to tell the BCD in the pic)? Good luck on ‘warrantying’ it.
A Pake crank is 60 bux with a chainring.
Can you edit the title of this post and maybe give Shimano the courtesy of a strikethrough? Mitch and Jason are right. A Shimano road crank might fail if you’re dirt jumping with it.
Glad you’re OK. I scraped the hair of the tops of my toes once when I busted the a cottered spindle – while accelerating a raleigh 3 speed, in flip flops, in San Diego.
sugino crankset. not sure how to strikethrough in the title though.
I think there’s a tag for strikethrough but I don’t remember.
Do you mind checking to see if the crank says “Forged” on the inside, where the pedals go? I’ve got a 2006 San Jose with “Forged” there. And I’m worried about my toe hairs. hehe.
I’ve been using tube steel cranks for years, although I snapped an old Syncros Revolution crank clean off – but it doesnt count cuz it slapped a boulder at 30….but I digress….Profile Racing cranks are my jam going on 10 years now…..all steel. There are lots of bombproof knockoffs too, for almost every BB type. Not quite as aesthetically pleasing as those sexy vintage foot prongs the kids are rocking these days, I will concede.
That happened to me one night of blissful fast riding in Eugene, Oregon, when I raced across an empty parking lot only to discover the speed bump, in basic black to coordinate with the adjacent pavement.
Believe it or not, I did the same thing but it was a curb for a parking spot and I was drunk, not a broken crank. 10th ave east of lincoln, Eugene, years past. I don’t drink and ride alone anymore. If I had knocked myself out it would have been a long cold night.
To bike geek out with Mitch a bit here – you should come out for polo. Sounds like your bike could handle it. I’ve never tried steel cranks (outside of 1pc bmx) but if these break, that’s what I’ll buy next.
I think what happened with Andrew’s crank, is in ~2008 Bianchi made an assumption that San Jose buyers aren’t as strong / heavy as Andrew. Or they assumed that the price point was the important thing for the sale. So they put the cheaper not-forged cranks on. Anyway. Blame Bianci, or the price point.
/bike geek crap.
Happy Bike to Work Day!
Devin
5 days ago I had my surly® crosscheck™ frame of 3 years CRACK IN HALF at a stoplight™® while POLITELY waiting for the green. Ugh.
btw: Taiwan makes mmuuuuchhh better parts/ uses better steal than the commie mainland.
This same thing just happened to me, except that I was riding full speed on a busy Manhattan street. Fell off backwards and hit my head, ending up in the ER with a concussion.