just found a crack in my non-drive SLX cranks. gutted.

anyone else seen this before??

bought them brand new about 2 years ago (might have the receipt somewhere). what are madison like with warranty? are they still under warranty??

ta!

Your warranty lies with the retailer, not Madison.

Contact the shop you bought them from.

Without proof of purchase with Madison you’re screwed IME. You have to go through the shop where you bought them in any case, they will asses them and if needed will return them to Madison. However, over 2 years old and no receipt, don’t hold your breath for a new one….

ok, so i need to find my receipt and figure out exactly when i purchased them before making any attempt to claim…

Plus be carefully with your wording regarding Madison on this forum. 😉

I’ve broken cranks before by my shoes (and overshoes) rubbing away the side of the crank. I can’t really tell from the photo but I think this might be your problem, in which case I wouldn’t think you’ve got a claim.

You’ll struggle because of how worn they are, never mind then losing the receipt.

but its still worth a try. if not get a new arm. or 2nd hand one off here or the bay.

I’ve never seen that before! Take comfort in being proper hardcore – be proud of your destructive capabilities! 😀

It’s hard to see on the picture, but it looks like you’ve significantly worn down the face of the crank reducing the thickness of the hollow construction until its breached through or been weakened by the thin wall resulting in a stress crack. It’s more a wear issue than a manufacture failure. It’s hard to see properly of a photo, but I’d guess you’ve worn them down a good couple of mm looking at the profile of the other side.

NDS replacements aren’t that expensive, £30ish IIRC, probably worth it if your DS are in decent nick.

Without a receipt forget it, with receipt but over 2 years hmm.

My tuppence-worth…

I don’t think the wear is an issue, probably just the coating that’s affected.

A 2-year-old crank just shouldn’t crack (unless it’s been seriously crashed or something, but then there’d be evidence of a big impact)

Last year I snapped an 8-year-old RaceFace crank. RaceFace offer a lifetime warranty on their cranks.
I’d no receipt, but had a bank statement showing the purchase (from CRC). Returned the broken crank to CRC with a copy of the statement, CRC did the necessary leg-work, and a few weeks later a RaceFace box arrived with a new chainset 🙂

Result!

So, don’t lose hope – contact the shop you bought the cranks from, a bank statement should be sufficient proof of purchase if you’ve no receipt.

No guarantee, but worth pursuing.

Shimano warranty is 2 years for SLX kit.

I’ve never seen that before! Take comfort in being proper hardcore – be proud of your destructive capabilities!

i wouldn’t say that they’re massively worn – obviously are a bit, but i can’t see them being worn down by 2mm as suggested. wouldn’t really expect them to fracture like this even if they do suffer from a bit of ‘normal wear’…surely the construction should last years?!

anyways, had a rummage and can’t find the receipt (moved house recently) so going to contact both the shop and madison and try my luck – got nowt to lose!

they were bought from Alpine Bikes in Inners whilst up there for the weekend (snapped a set of stylos :oops:) – what are they like for dealing with?

cheers joa3v16

Judging purely on the photos posted I’d say there is quite a bit of material worn away from the crank caused by shoe rub.
If you look at the top and bottom edge of the crankarm there is quite a difference in shape, this material loss may be enough to have weakened the crank suffieciently to cause cracks to propagate.

I agree – it’s almost like you’ve worn so much material away that you’ve got through to the ‘hollow bit’ inside the crank.

So, don’t lose hope – contact the shop you bought the cranks from, a bank statement should be sufficient proof of purchase if you’ve no receipt.

Proof of purchase doesn’t have to be a till receipt. Bank statements, credit cards, boxes, bags etc can all be used to demonstrate PoP.

Ask them nicely and see, what’s the worst that could happen?

how are they thatt worn?

Heel rub, imagine scuffing it with a bit of sandpaper, 80 times a minute, for 2 hours, twice a week for 2 years, thats essentialy what riding in mud is.

You can do similar damage to chainstays, I’ve written off frames like this.

there’s a pic on here somewhere of an XT crank that snapped for the same reason – massive foot rub. It had actually snapped through, so you could see the thickness of the rubbed side vs the thickness of the frame side

IMO this is due to incorrect usage of the part. if your foot is rubbing that much, you need to adjust how your feet are on the pedals. This isn’t (imo) normal wear. Not saying that shimano won’t warranty it, but if they do, I’d believe its more out of good will.

Wow, good going there!

I’m always amazed how some people wear their crank arms. Mine are 8 years old and just slightly ‘scuffed’.

Good luck trying but personally I think the chance of getting a replacement is slim to none. At the end of the day it most probably would be put down to wear and tear. Dig in your pocket, get a new one, go ride hassle free, job done. 🙂

gosh, you’ve worn a lot of metal off.

do you wear sand-paper trousers or something?

IMO this is due to incorrect usage of the part. if your foot is rubbing that much, you need to adjust how your feet are on the pedals. This isn’t (imo) normal wear.

My heels are pretty close to the cranks all the time so in winter when I wear overshoes they often rub the cranks. It’s quite sandy where I ride and its just like grinding paste. I put some tape on the cranks now if I remember. I don’t see how this can be incorrect usage. The only way I could reduce it is to put a washer over the pedal thread to space them out from a cranks a little.

hmmm, maybe you’re right – looking at the two sides you can see how one seems to be worn considerably more than the other. so much so that it’s a completely different shape. will have a proper look at the crank again tonight.

IMO this is due to incorrect usage of the part. if your foot is rubbing that much, you need to adjust how your feet are on the pedals

well, it’s hardly incorrect usage of the part is it?! i ride flats, my feet move around on the pedals a fair bit but are generally in the position that’s most natural. i don’t see how i could adjust how my feet are on the pedals!

Heel rub, imagine scuffing it with a bit of sandpaper, 80 times a minute, for 2 hours, twice a week for 2 years, thats essentialy what riding in mud is

yep, and the rest!!

Dig in your pocket, get a new one, go ride hassle free, job done.

😥 been digging in my pocket constantly the last couple of weeks for new frame and parts. still going to try my luck with Alpine but i suspect this will be the outcome.

anyone got a spare non-drive SLX crank they want to sell me?

gosh, you’ve worn a lot of metal off.

do you wear sand-paper trousers or something?

i’ve done a LOT of riding over the last two years…and a lot of that riding in the wet peaks.

I put some tape on the cranks now if I remember.

yeah i was thinking about this – just bought a roll of tape from biketart – would this help reduce heel rub or simply just peel of after a few rides???

luckily i have a spare set of xt cranks that will go on my new frame, maybe i’ll tape them up…

By the looks of it, I’ll have to concur with those that say that it’s not a warranty issue – simply wear and tear from you rubbing the crank, making it weaker (and possibly adding stress concentations if it wasn’t worn completely smooth) and resulting in the inevitable crack.

those that say that it’s not a warranty issue

I’d let the retailer or Madison decide whether they think it’s warranty-able …

If Alpine can’t/won’t help, I’d contact Madison directly.

would this help reduce heel rub or simply just peel of after a few rides???

I guess it depends ont he stuff you use and how well it is applied.

At the end of the day would it not be preferable to replace some heli tape every month or two to extend the life of the cranks.

That looks more like a defect in the actual aluminium material than it does damage caused by stress.

Are those black spots down from the crack in the first picture dimples in the surface of the crank arm? and are there any other areas on the cranks surface that are uneven, if there is uneven surface material under the anodizing anywhere, then the actual material is at fault.

Is the dark colouring inside the crack shadows or is the material discoloured 😀

With a crank that worn I wouldnt even have thought about warranty let alone starting a thread on a forum about it. I would have thought about going down the bike shop and buying new cranks.

well, it’s hardly incorrect usage of the part is it?! i ride flats, my feet move around on the pedals a fair bit but are generally in the position that’s most natural. i don’t see how i could adjust how my feet are on the pedals!

Wearing away the metal due to constant rubbing isn’t incorrect usage? 😯 How much wear do you reckon you’re allowed before it does become incorrect usage – would it be reasonable for them to refuse a warranty on one where you’d worn right through to the hollow bit? I don’t see how the way you pedal is Madison’s problem either.

Looks knackered through use to me. Just buy a new one.

if using cleats set your shoes up properly and helitape arms if need be?

I’m expecting a follow-on post for faulty shoes that have a hole in the heels :p

wtf, there are some pr!cks about aren’t there. this, for example:

With a crank that worn I wouldnt even have thought about warranty let alone starting a thread on a forum about it

off the back of this thread i actually went home and took a closer look at the profile of the crank and compared to the drive side which is a lot less worn (still got SLX logo). the shape of the worn one is considerably different – i’ll try and post a picture or two later on if i can be bothered, but it’s quite obvious that the metal has worn down from heel rub.

so therefore this thread has highlighted the fact that i appear to have one spaz foot and the crack is almost certainly down to excessive wear and i’ll probably not waste any more of Robz/alpine bikes/shimano warranty dept’s time trying to pursue a claim of sorts.

for the record i’m not some naive fool who thinks things don’t wear and break (should see my spares bin) – i just spotted the crack on what i considered to be a solid component on my bike, was a bit concerned that it might have ended in tears if i hadn’t spotted it and came on here to seek like-minded opinions on what to do/the cause. is that not what forums are for?

so anyway, i’ll be helitaping my XTs and searching for a spare non-drive SLX if anyone’s got one lying around (don’t expect Robz to offer anything constructive).

Peachos, just out of interest, any idea how many miles you’ve done on those cranks, or could you give us a rough idea of usage?

Ms Spanner rides ‘heels in’ and has started to experience the same type of wear on her XT’s- driveside though in her case.

Thanks.

well i bought them in October 2009 & have probably used the bike on average 3 times a week, usually riding between 20-40km (so say 30km) at a time.

so that’d be around 90km per week x say 80weeks, give or take a few

=

around 7000km / 4350miles. perhaps?

I gave you a constructive suggestion. Go and buy new cranks. It would indeed save you wasting a lot of time.

Sorry but this sort of thing just bugs me. Its clearly very worn and not a warranty issue. Doesn’t really require much debate.

If your tyres or brake pads wore down from friction/normal use would you want them warrantied too?

Thanks.