Anybody else had as bad of luck/experience with the Ultegra 6800 cranks as me? I had the right crank arm bend and break about 3 hours into my ironman bike race 2 years ago. They replaced the crank under warranty with the same model even though a new model was available. Now almost 2 years to the day…

Looking at my records, current bike has about 3800 miles plus an additional 90 or so hours on the trainer and no issues with the 6800 cranks. Previous bike also had 6800 cranks and no issues after about 6700 miles. My FTP is much lower than yours however.

Thanks Shimano ! Suffice to say you’re not alone.

Yes, I’ve gone through two and a third is starting to exhibit the “squeak” that then goes on before breakage. I’m a heavy sweater and I have a feeling that it’s due to sweat and corrosion due to high salt content in the sweat.

I recently went with a 105 R7000 crankset over Ultegra just for peace of mind. Interestingly enough the instructions contain the following: Check that there are no cracks in the crank arms before riding the bicycle. If there are any cracks, the crank arm may break and you may fall off the bicycl…

:rofl: Surely that’s a joke ?

I’ve ridden ultegra 6800 for 2.5years on my main bike with no problems but that’s just one experience. Either you had bad luck or have very strong legs.

It’s not happened to me but I have absolutely seen it happen to other riders with shimano cranks.

Not at all, right on page 4: https://si.shimano.com/pdfs/dm/DM-FC0003-06-ENG.pdf

I guess they have to cover themselves… I also liked this, wonder if anyone has followed the instruction literally. “The two left crank arm fixing bolts should be tightened at the same time rather than each fully tightened separately.”

Ultegra 6800 cranks = junk

Equipment

MikeMckinney July 27, 2020, 10:28pm 2

hasn’t happened to me but there is a BikeRadar article on the crankset Understanding a Shimano Ultegra crank failure | Exclusive - BikeRadar

Topic		Replies	Views
PSA - Shimano recalls 760,000 Hollowtech road cranks Equipment	225	8204	April 25, 2025
Shimano R8000 Crank Crack Equipment	23	8825	March 16, 2021
Chain fell off during sprint Equipment	78	4611	March 10, 2025
Cracked Crank and Performance Equipment	7	471	May 6, 2022
New Shimano Di2 Dura-Ace R9200 & Ultegra R8100 Equipment	393	25198	April 15, 2024

Ultegra 6800 cranks = junk

Related topics