Dangerous Parts?

[messiah]

My Sugino Mighty cranks were forged and they broke like a pretzel. I was lucky enough to be on a stoplight, I just put my feet on the pedal an bang!, it was broken...

I had a set of these, they were the cold forged ones that came on my 1995 Kona Explosif.

I eventually bent the drive side arm... it was a DH race when I landed off a 6+ft drop and my pedal hit a stump. Bent the spindle in my Shimano DX DH spuds as well. I always thought the "cold forged" Mighty's were good cranks, the normal Sugino Impels and the "white Industries" ones they made for Marin were soft as cheese and bent like such.

Kooka Cranks. The first ones they did with the double shoulder at the bottom bracket and for long BB's pretty much all bent, but I thought the later type for shorter bottom brackets were much better?

I've chosen my components over the years by items I trust. I know I'm hard on kit so I tend to go for the tried and tested or brands I trust. I also check my components regularly for cracks or if I hear noises I don't like then it's complete strip down time.

There have been a good few items I've thought about buying... and then decided against. If I crash due to to my own mistakes then I can live with that, the few crashes I've had due to component failures have been some of the worst, I for one am not willing to take risks in that way.

I don't have a garage queen and I doubt I ever will... bikes are for riding... but I'm very glad other people do... I love looking at them.

 

[Will Palmer]

for example, you said nuke proof hubs had problems, i never used the carbon ones but i have been using a nuke proof titanium and alloy hub first bought in 96 for a road bike and now in use on my cyclocross bike, never been touched and it's spinning lovely till this day!

I had a pair of the Carbon flavour NukeProofs in '95/'96 and they're still in use today by my best mate on the same rims - been retrued a few times and a few spokes replaces but they were raced by myself and him BITD and happily sit on his '93 Cindercone which he rides round town to this day

Reminds me... I must get them back... :twisted:

 

[Wold Ranger]

Failures

I think Utahdog has a very valid point, I've had a few crashes through equipment failures and they always resulted in pretty horrendous injuries as a result. one of the worst was a snapped left crank on a road bike! I went over the bars, full 360 and ended up on the road knees first at around 35K, took all the flesh off my right kneecap and most of my left palm and had to have a transfusion, through blood loss, was still getting bone splinters coming to the surface years later. Modern components have to meet safety standards by law. Retro?-no such standards were imposed and well the age don't help at all, even NOS stuff, as metal particularly Aluminium Alloys weaken considerably with age and internal oxidation. So just because a part is unused don't mean it's not been weakened, it may well be 15 years plus old??? There's a lot to be said for fitting modern components on say an old Skool steel hard tail. from a safety aspect.

 

[legrandefromage]

I've had one genuine failure in some 100,000 miles of riding - left hand crank on my Toplines - the right is still in use.

Ok, seatposts have bent, manufacturing defects have shown up now and again but these were usually replaced under warranty without further issues.

I remember (before unvisersal disk mounts) only being allowed to purchase a Hope disk brake if combined with a Hope approved fork (I had a Judy downhill) - at the time, I found this perfectly acceptable.

Outright poor design has been a factor sometimes (Coda disk brakes, Suntour X-press) which has forced a change, but so far nothing catastrophic.

A lot of CNC'd gear may have slipped under the net but as to fully built up bikes - these were covered by a British standard test which is and was way, way better than any CE mark.

A lot of alu parts were/ are made of aerospace grade material -

Worried about an alu part 15 years old? Why?? If so there would be no flying examples of Spitfires (60+) , F-16s (1976), B-52 (1952) , no Audi A8 (1994), Mercedes w126 S-class (1979), No alu block engines over 15 years old...

 

[legrandefromage]

Sorry - TWO genuine failures - my Hope Ti-glide hub cracked after 12 years and some 40,000 miles.... :roll:

 

[cherrybomb]

Ah those pesky Hope Ti hubs.

I'm getting all excited about the rumour that Hope might still be able to repair them.

 

[Wold Ranger]

Fatigue

Just on the topic of BBMF very little of the original planes in term of load bearing stuctures are left, Aerospace alloys weaken with age as they oxidise and the Aluminium softens relatively quickly, bear in mind they were only built to last a few weeks at the time, when speed of production was everything and longevityhad no relevance, the same can be said for MTB parts to an extent. Hope Ti hubs are a good example. TBH I have always found anything from Shimano to be pretty bombproof altho never very pretty. Campag did the bombproof and pretty!

 

[typhoon]

:shock: Bikes owned since the mid eighties;
Raleigh Ozark...used XC and NEMBA downhills!!!
Gitane XT-equipped MTB...XC and spanish trips
GT Timberline x2...all sorts usage
GT Psyclone..all sorts inc. racing, DH, trips to Morrocco etc
Mount Vision..every use possible
Specialised FSR XC...24 hr racing
DBR Axis tt....never used!!!!
GT Tequesta...child duties.............................the point of this random list is, having ridden and been involved with mountain bikes since their rise in this country, over many 10's 1000's miles and in many countries....I HAVE NEVER HAD ANYTHING BREAK....EVER!!!!!
Am i just lucky or living on borrowed time? It always amazes me to hear tales of woe and broken stuff...just never had it happen, yet it seems so prevalent....think i've been lucky

 

[cherrybomb]

Personally, never had anything break catastrophically except when I've stacked it (even then it was usually me and not the bike :roll: ).

I'm not sure about the 'aluminium goes soft over time' thing either? :? Aluminium has a much shorter fatigue life than steel, but that's to do with cyclic loadings (of which there are loads on a bike) not internal oxidation.

The argument about air frames just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There are plenty of 50+ year old aircraft still flying and to suggest that they've had their entire alloy structure replaced is just daft!

The biggest problem with aluminium is stress points caused by whatever reason, (bad design, surface pitting etc.) causing crack propagation. Once that starts and it isn't sorted, you're on a very short ride to disaster.

 

[legrandefromage]

Personally, never had anything break catastrophically except when I've stacked it (even then it was usually me and not the bike :roll: ).

I'm not sure about the 'aluminium goes soft over time' thing either? :? Aluminium has a much shorter fatigue life than steel, but that's to do with cyclic loadings (of which there are loads on a bike) not internal oxidation.

The argument about air frames just doesn't stand up to scrutiny. There are plenty of 50+ year old aircraft still flying and to suggest that they've had their entire alloy structure replaced is just daft!

The biggest problem with aluminium is stress points caused by whatever reason, (bad design, surface pitting etc.) causing crack propagation. Once that starts and it isn't sorted, you're on a very short ride to disaster.

Dodgy casting no amount of CNC will make up for ...

Re: Hope hub - like I said some 40,000 miles on a back wheel with 32 spokes pulling this way & that.... :roll:

My GT frame is gusseted to the nines to stop that old chestnut of head stocks coming away...

Alu E-stay frames - so many memories of riders carrying cranks in one hand, bike in the other... tee heee!