Miche cranksets considered harmful?

Come back Professor Eddywilly - all is forgiven, even your cotter pins!

Looks like these are all Primatos - has this happened with the Pistard 2.0s?

I don’t there’s been much, probably much fewer users of Pistards compared to Primatos though.

Design must account for some of the failures but given that Miche have other components known for cracking (Supertype seatpost) I suspect the alloy of metal they use is also largely to blame and therefore all their products might be considered ‘at risk’.

Went and picked the bike up from the office today. Here's a couple of closer pics in case anyone's interested:

Scary stuff!

I bought a Miche Pistard Air about 6 months ago and now the axle keeps unscrewing itself. I haven't had a closer look and can provide pics if anyone is interested.
My bike mechanic convinced me to buy a new bottom bracket and have him install it and then when riding I found the problem wasn't fixed and he said they don't have any replacement bolts in stock currently so he couldn't replace it, but he didn't bother to mention that right away.

My turn now unfortunately. Same place as others reported here.

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Yip, that's the way they all go

I’ve fitted a bunch of these and it’s a really common problem. I can’t offer you a solution beyond thread lock and a torque wrench though unfortunately.

I’ve had a couple of snapped Primato chainsets too, and nearly all of them (bar the early ones tbf) creak like a motherfucker.

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I'm looking for a replacement and found some Stronglight Track 2000 cranks. They look absolutely identical to the Miche ones though, even requiring the same BB axle length. Safe to assume they are also prone to this issue?

Nah Stronglight's are pretty different.

I have a couple sets of them and they are totally different shape on the back where the cracks propagate on the Miche cranks.

Most track cranks use the same bb length.

Perfect, thank you

After going through this thread, I am getting paranoid about riding a Miche Primato Advanced. Is there any particular model that I should check mine against, or I should just accept that it will snap at some point and replace it with something more reliable? (a Sugino 75 perhaps?)

just accept that it will snap at some point and replace it with something more reliable?

Probably this.

Check that bit of web that’s behind the crank arm and/or listen out for any creaking.

The risk of injury if they do fail seems pretty high so I’d err on the side of caution and if there is any signs of cracking or any noise then get them swapped out ASAP.

@Zebra @M_V Did you have good experience with Stronglight? do you recommend them?

I'd give a qualified 'yes'.

I have two sets, both bought used* and both have had various use on track, fixed road and fixed gravel bikes.

I think both pairs have developed a bit of a creak now but no obvious signs of cracking nor imminent failure.

For what I paid for them and the use I've had out of them I'd definitely consider them 'money well spent'.

*I couldn't tell you when I last bought a set of cranks new. Concurrently with the Stronglights I have also had a set of 'bought used' Campy Pistas, which maybe always creaked and eventually the left hand arm came loose during a ride resulting in destruction of the taper in that arm, a set of 'bought used' Dura Ace 7402s which have been rock solid and 3 or 4 sets of 'bought used' Hollowtech 2 cranks which have all been faultless.

TLDR: Stronglights seem to me to be alright, bought brand new and properly installed and maintained I'm sure they'd work and last pretty well indeed.

That said, if you don't need the length, bcd or aesthetics that square taper track cranksets offer then there may be better ways to spend your money.

The cranks themselves yes, but the chainring was terrible in my case - not round at all.

If I remember right the Stronglights fowl the chainstay on some frames but I've never heard of any breaking.

I just bought pair of these Miche cranks. It looks like, that they redesigned them aroud the area, where it (used to?) crack.

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And q-factor has gone down to 129mm ...uhhh looks promising!

Hopefully this is the start of good things, I want to love Miche! Especially considering the discontinuation of Omniums, Campy Pistas, and old age of Dura Ace 7700s.

@steelest I've used a Stronglight Track 2000 for about 4 years of year-round commuting, so ~20,000 km with no issues, either ring or cranks. Bought new.

if you don't need the length, bcd or aesthetics that square taper track cranksets offer then there may be better ways to spend your money.

can you elaborate on that?

very interesting! Does it have a model number on the crank arm that we can use to distinguish old model from new model?

Regarding the Stronglight Track 2000, I am wondering if I can use the same Shimano square taper BB I have been using with the Miche Primato, or will I need a dedicated BB? I know that Sugino, for example, really have their own not-JIS standard of BBs.