SISL XX1 spider failure-photos added

[Bgoetz]

I recently picked up a SISL crank setup for XX1. The crank and spider were used, but purchased from a very reliable source, who purchased everything in August. After picking up a SISL2 with Leonardi spider, he gave me a good deal on his SISL with XX1. Well 2nd time out it felt like I clipped my non-drive pedal on a root, except when I kept pedaling nothing happened. I then looked down and realized the spider had broken allowing the crank arm to turn inside of the spider! I got the crank along with the receipt from the previous owner to my LBS to see what could be done. But upon hearing I was not the original owner Cannondale said no dice on any type of warranty, not only did they not warranty it they really didn't offer any explanation as to why the spider would have broke under normal use.

I have a new spider on order, but have a couple concerns, one why did it break in the first place and how do I avoid it again? Two, when the spider turned on the arm it kinda messed the mating "nubs" up on the crank arm and goofed the threads that the lock ring threads to up a bit. We confirmed at the LBS that a spider will fit over the "nubs" and the lock ring threads on, I guess my concern is that the damage causes some type of failure down the road. How much stress is this area under, should I be concerned?

Anyway, I have photos, but don't really know how or if I can post them since I am a new member.

Any help/advice is greatly appreciated!

[Anders]

Just upload to tinypic.com or similar and insert the IMG link.

If the spline leaves some room you could fill it up with some epoxy glue that hardens up.

[Bgoetz]

I will try to get some pics up, if for nothing else for people to see a failure that occurred under normal use. I actually think the SISL2 spider install has you use blue loc-tite

[DanW]

I don't wish to sound negative but you bought a second hand part and it failed while you were using it normally. Even if it was a friend and they were normally careful is it possible the component took a knock or two or was installed incorrectly in the past? What spider and manufacturer was it? LBS's must hate the old "I broke this secondhand part now help me warranty it" story. If you follow the instructions correctly for the new part I'd imagine you'd be ok as it seems to be a rare failure.

[Bgoetz]

No I understand, but the guy that previously owned/installed it does everything by the book. If he had damaged it in anyway I have a good feeling he would have been honest. It was Cannondales spider for the SISL/xx1 setup, which is aluminum, so if there was any type of previous damage or install issue I would have expected it to fail during my first ride. Plus given the part, I have a hard time coming up with how it could have been damaged, I suppose it could have been bent, but how, I would have seen signs of an impact.

Now sure, I could be wrong and there is certainly a part of me that recognizes their reaction of assuming that I am, but all my experiance says this thing just plain failed.

Maybe someone with some experience with these products can shed more light on how it could be installed wrong or could have been damaged without obvious signs of damage

[Bgoetz]

[Bgoetz]

[Bgoetz]

Ok the photos added are of the break in the spider, which caused it to open from around the crank arm, then causing the arm to turn inside the spider. All of this happened in a matter of a few pedal strokes. The second is the damage to the mating teeth on the crank arm

[Anders]

Send the spider to me and I will have my metallurgist look at it. You need to investigate the surface to know if this was caused by inclusions in the material, a manufacturing issue or extreme stress caused by an impact.

[Bgoetz]

Send it to Denmark, I suppose if I just toss it in a envelope it should not be too costly. I will look into what I need to do next week and how much of a PITA it will be.

What do you think of the crank arm, I feel fairly comfortable that if the spider fits on then just fill it with blue loc-tite and call it good.

[Anders]

Ship as a letter it's cheap. Send me a PM. It look like only a small area is affected so not a big issue.