It never rains, but it pours.

Springtime in Vancouver can involve weather that is rather like being in a rainforest. Funny that. Along with the deluge of water falling out of the sky  that arrived this weekend, I managed to break my second pair of cranks in a week. Coincidence? Impossible.

The first set are, to be fair, not completely broken as I have managed to bodge them back together. Having one of them fall off five times during the ride was an inconvenience, but fun times were had all the same. Today's broken-crank droplet fell rather heavily though. No amount of bashing it with a stick was going to get it to stay on, and the fun had to be postponed until next time. 

Another one bites the mud

A classic spiral fracture of the left spindle-end

I can't complain, I think I've had 8 years of complaint-free service from these, so it seems fair that their first complaint was a full resignation. Failure analysis with my eyes reveals surface rust on the upper part of the fracture, indicating that the crack has been propagating for some time. I don't like to think of some of the things I've ridden up and down on these with the axle half snapped. Thank you cranks for choosing a non-catastrophic time to leave my service.