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It must be really bad luck to break BSA cranks - where did they break?
That broken Chater crank was shown to me by an ancient bike shop owner, and his take on it was that he was really surprised it had happened.
I doubt if these breakages are really a feature of age - quite often it happens with relatively new kit. As for abuse,the most likely problem is hitting a kerb or falling off, in which case the crank will usually be bent and should have been disgarded. I suppose it's always possible some one may have straightened a bent crank and left it weakened, but it will take a lot to persuade me that steel cranks are not safer than ali.
clubman-
The bsa broke about 2/3rds of the way down, just above the pedal thread. I felt a twisting motionwhen pedaling, got off the bike and it had started to split/tear across the width of the crank. The pair I have on my Paragon now seem solid though...(famous last words!) I forgot, my RRA crank did the exact same. They were famous for breaking though it seems. Maybe I'm doing something wrong...
jeff80
I've had several cranks break-on set of BSA steel double fluted-but I think they had a noticed fatigue crack under the old chrome that I could not see, and one set of TA pro vis 5's-both sides of which split (at different times) around the pedal thread-but the previous owner had let the bike they came of get quite rusty so perhaps not that surprising (and one side may have had damaged pedal threads from using newer pedals with a slightly longer/wider diameter axle). Thankfully no really bad injuries , just a broken thumb on the last one that was more of a nuisance than anything as it took a while to heal. I think it can happen to any older cranks really, steel or otherwise, as you can't often know what they have been through with previous owners....