# Sheered Crank bolt



## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Apr 2017)

What do others think of this?


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## raleighnut (23 Apr 2017)

That isn't the bolt that has sheered, that needs a new bottom bracket assembly if you can get the broken bit out of the crankarm.


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Apr 2017)

Wasn't sure. I think you're right. The bike's only 15 months old! Cost me a trip to A&E, two nights in hospital and at least two months off sick!


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## raleighnut (23 Apr 2017)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> Wasn't sure. I think you're right. The bike's only 15 months old! Cost me a trip to A&E, two nights in hospital and at least two months off sick!


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## midlife (23 Apr 2017)

Blimey! What happened?

Shaun


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## raleighnut (23 Apr 2017)

midlife said:


> Blimey! What happened?
> 
> Shaun


The bottom bracket shaft snapped.


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## bikingdad90 (23 Apr 2017)

Ouch, bet that hurt! How the heck did you do that? Powerful legs?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Apr 2017)

Well, if my legs did that am I safe riding bikes?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Apr 2017)

raleighnut said:


> The bottom bracket shaft snapped.


Left pedal snapped off (as you can see!), right foot went to apply power, and with no resistance my foot went straight into the road.


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## marshmella (23 Apr 2017)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> Left pedal snapped off (as you can see!), right foot went to apply power, and with no resistance my foot went straight into the road.


Jeeeez sounds horrific.get well soon


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## simongt (23 Apr 2017)

Judging by the first photo, the bolt in section began to fail a while ago; substandard component - ? Bearing in mind how much torque a BB axle has to endure, they HAVE to be made very strong.


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## mitchibob (23 Apr 2017)

Bottom bracket on my brompton didn't last much more than 6 months, but then I replaced once I realised it was going.

Did you have any warning signs? Knocking or something?

Get well soon. Just started physio after an accident myself, although this was going into the side of a car that pulled out on my while I was doing 20mph. Brompton doesn't look too bad, but doesn't fold like it did, and haven't recovered enough yet to give it a proper look. Only came out of cast and splint on Friday, one splint left, and can't do heavy lifting for a few weeks yet.


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Apr 2017)

mitchibob said:


> Bottom bracket on my brompton didn't last much more than 6 months, but then I replaced once I realised it was going.
> 
> Did you have any warning signs? Knocking or something?
> 
> Get well soon. Just started physio after an accident myself, although this was going into the side of a car that pulled out on my while I was doing 20mph. Brompton doesn't look too bad, but doesn't fold like it did, and haven't recovered enough yet to give it a proper look. Only came out of cast and splint on Friday, one splint left, and can't do heavy lifting for a few weeks yet.


Ouch. Poor you too! 

I had no warning signs - nothing that springs to mind. The only dodgy noise I did have was solved by a new chain and rear sprockets. 

Did the car driver not see you, or just didn't realise how fast you were going? I've had people begin to pull out on me before, only to come to a halt when they thought better of it!


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## TheDoctor (23 Apr 2017)

That's bloody unusual. I've had the same BB on my Bommie for eight years.
GWS, and hope there's no long-lasting ill effects.


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## doginabag (24 Apr 2017)

Seems to be a not too uncommon problem. I have seen a few crank arms go and pedals. In fact I had a pedal shear on me about a year ago on a Tern bike. These kind of failures tend not to give any warning as they start as a very small defect in the casting which initiates a crack and grows slowly over time, and it's almost always when you are pulling away which is when the most amount of force is applied to the component that it fails.

More luck than anything else that it doesn't result in a serious accident. When it happened to me I was pulling away from a set of lights with a bus behind me and onlt because of the drivers quick reactions did I not end up under it. Sound like you weren't so luck, hope you recover soon!


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## NotAnother Cyclist (24 Apr 2017)

Yes. Where it happened does tend to have articulated lorries bombing round the corner - so my first reaction was to drag myself out the road. Luckily a few moments later a police car happened to be passing, so they sorted me out! 
Broke both my leg bones, so may be a little while before I'm back on my bike.


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## mjr (24 Apr 2017)

doginabag said:


> [...] it's almost always when you are pulling away which is when the most amount of force is applied to the component that it fails.
> 
> More luck than anything else that it doesn't result in a serious accident. [...]


I don't really understand how a pedal vanishing is sufficient to unseat a casual rider rather than cause an epic wobble. Are you standing on the pedal to push off, as I think some cycle training courses teach? Are you pulling hard on the bars as you start off? Am I just really cautious starting because I've ridden some seriously untrustworthy bikes over the years?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (24 Apr 2017)

In my case, I wasn't actually stopped - the lights changed as I was stopping, so I was accelerating without having already stopped. The pedal didn't vanish from beneath my foot - it was the pedal on the other side which had vanished. I was pushing down on a pedal which suddenly lost all resistance. 
I was sitting down, not standing. I wouldn't call myself a casual rider - I was trying to keep to the speed of the traffic as one would do in the outside lane of a junction!


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## doginabag (24 Apr 2017)

mjr said:


> I don't really understand how a pedal vanishing is sufficient to unseat a casual rider rather than cause an epic wobble. Are you standing on the pedal to push off, as I think some cycle training courses teach? Are you pulling hard on the bars as you start off? Am I just really cautious starting because I've ridden some seriously untrustworthy bikes over the years?


Really? So if you go to put your full weight down one leg and the pedal falls away from under you, you can't see how, with a bike between your legs, you might not have proper balance when you hit the ground?
Even if you do style it out, you have no forward momentum, the driver behind if they are close can still potentially hit you whether you are up or down.


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## mjr (24 Apr 2017)

doginabag said:


> Really? So if you go to put your full weight down one leg and the pedal falls away from under you, you can't see how, with a bike between your legs, you might not have proper balance when you hit the ground?


I can't see why one has "put your full weight down one leg" instead of just pushing the pedal enough to make the bike move... but @NotAnother Cyclist has explained it as "trying to keep to the speed of the traffic". I can't do that and gave up trying some time ago. Sod 'em. I've as much right to be on the road as they do. 



doginabag said:


> Even if you do style it out, you have no forward momentum, the driver behind if they are close can still potentially hit you whether you are up or down.


That's ever-present "fear from the rear"  - even when I have forward momentum, motorists generally go faster but haven't hit me yet. Most are fairly good about not driving into things - hooking, crossing, side-swiping and dooring are all much more common collision types.


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## Cycleops (24 Apr 2017)

I would complain about this to Brompton. This really shouldn't have happened on a bike this young. If it was the States an injury lawyer would have already been engaged.

Hope you recover soon.


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## Drago (24 Apr 2017)

...and the injury lawyer would have gone back to his game of Golf when he discovered the bike hadn't been serviced recently by a qualified engineer.


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## NotAnother Cyclist (24 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> ...and the injury lawyer would have gone back to his game of Golf when he discovered the bike hadn't been serviced recently by a qualified engineer.


But would a service have picked this up?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (24 Apr 2017)

Cycleops said:


> I would complain about this to Brompton. This really shouldn't have happened on a bike this young.


I've emailed them.


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## Kell (25 Apr 2017)

First off - Ouch. Hope you get better soon.

Second. I've never heard of this, and therefore have to assume that it's fairly rare. I'm always wary of putting too much power down at junctions after my chain snapped and I landed on the cross-bar of my old Dahon. Broke my Cocyx which still hasn't healed properly and becomes uncomfortable on long car journeys in particular. As per you though, as the time I was more concerned with the cars that were bearing down on me.

I'm still confused as to how there was no resistance on your right foot though. Did the jolt of the BB snapping knock your chain off? (I don't suppose you'd know the answer to that in all honesty.)


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## Drago (25 Apr 2017)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> But would a service have picked this up?



Perhaps, perhaps not, but you can bet the vendor will tell the court it will, and now the item has failed the buyer can't disprove any such claim. 

Presumably to don't do pre ride checks yourself?


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## Cycleops (25 Apr 2017)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> I've emailed them.


I really think you need to scare them a bit and stop them thinking that they can fob you off with a pat response as @Drago says.

If you can engage one of those no win no fee lawyers ( hateful I know) he'll write the correct sort of letter and that will let them know you're serious. That'll put a firework up their a**e. They may even make you an offer straight off which will mean you won't have to an engage engineer to write a report.

Good luck.


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## mjr (25 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Presumably to don't do pre ride checks yourself?


Typical pre-ride checks won't detect a failed crank-BB attachment unless it's pretty much hanging off, would they? I don't think it's in the ABCD or M checks - checking the cranks is in the M check, but not with similar pressure to a hard start.


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## Drago (25 Apr 2017)

ABC isn't a full pre ride check, only suitabke as a quick top up check if you leave a bike unattended for a short ride. M is short for Mickey Mouse if you're serious about safety.

If the damage were in any way visible, which is quite likely, BESTCOP would have picked it up. I practice what I teach, and those lessons are written in the blood of less conscientious riders.


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## mjr (25 Apr 2017)

I'm flabbergasted that anyone thinks a motorcycle-style BESTCOP (Brakes, Electrics, Steering, Transmission, Chains/belts, Oil, Pressures) should be done before every ride. I also doubt that a cracked BB axle would be spotted even then - it's pretty hard to see much of that axle and I'm surprised if anyone looks closely enough at the non-drive-side BB axle while rotating it to spot what's probably the thin end of a crack. Edit: and BB axles are often black or dark brown and the crack could easily be full of black/brown crud.


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## simongt (25 Apr 2017)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> But would a service have picked this up?


I would suggest VERY unlikely unless all the respective components were 'parade ground' clean and the service monkey was in the habit of going over every component with a pretty powerful magnifying glass. And as the shear appears to have taken place within the part of the axle that was inside the crank arm, even less likely that it would have been noticed - !


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## Drago (25 Apr 2017)

Funny you mention cleaning. Apart from making a bike good and spangly, it you do it properly it forces you in inspect and touch every component, making regular cleaning an important part of the safety regime.


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## mjr (25 Apr 2017)

Drago said:


> Funny you mention cleaning. Apart from making a bike good and spangly, it you do it properly it forces you in inspect and touch every component, making regular cleaning an important part of the safety regime.


I see... and you're careful to clean out cracks in the BB axle that you don't know exist which are mostly inside the crank end? Sorry but


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## classic33 (26 Apr 2017)

mjr said:


> I'm flabbergasted that anyone thinks a motorcycle-style BESTCOP (*Brakes, Electrics, Steering, Transmission, Chains/belts, Oil, Pressures*) should be done before every ride. I also doubt that a cracked BB axle would be spotted even then - it's pretty hard to see much of that axle and I'm surprised if anyone looks closely enough at the non-drive-side BB axle while rotating it to spot what's probably the thin end of a crack. Edit: and BB axles are often black or dark brown and the crack could easily be full of black/brown crud.


With the exception of the oil, all are checked before riding. Pressures is tyre pressure only.

I'm surprised that you said you don't check brakes and steering are okay, before riding off.


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## Drago (26 Apr 2017)

You might be flabbergasted @mjr but its what the countries premier training body endorses. It takes maybe 30 seconds, which is not an unreasonable price to lay to avoid being a quest of the NHS.

I'd be a damn sight more flabbergasted if my crank fell off and I ended up in Hospital, like the poor unfortunate OP. I know which I prefer.

No disrespect to you mjr, you do what you want on the bike, but I'm MIAS L5 and get paid (occasionally, when I can be bothered) to train the Feds, Ambo and Search and Rescue personnel in basic maintenances, advanced on road skills, off road techniques, nutrition and hydration, defensive tactics, first aid to FAST level, search techniques, and a load of shizzle. Were not talking mickey mouse bike ability stuff. When you're one of the thirty of so L6 trainers in the country then you'll be qualified to pick fault with the syllabus.


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## mjr (26 Apr 2017)

classic33 said:


> With the exception of the oil, all are checked before riding. Pressures is tyre pressure only.
> 
> I'm surprised that you said you don't check brakes and steering are okay, before riding off.


I check the steering as I unpark the bike and brakes as I pull away (I actually do ABCD in reverse order), but I don't check the electrics, most of the transmission (removing the chain guard/case is not a quick check), oil, or pressures beyond a quick glance because they're mostly non-critical, failures are more obvious when moving and I don't carry oil with me everywhere. Checking the footbrake while not riding requires a stand and isn't definitive - it's better to do it when riding away and going slow enough to stop by putting feet down if needed.



Drago said:


> You might be flabbergasted @mjr but its what the countries premier training body endorses. It takes maybe 30 seconds, which is not an unreasonable price to lay to avoid being a quest of the NHS.
> 
> I'd be a damn sight more flabbergasted if my crank fell off and I ended up in Hospital, like the poor unfortunate OP. I know which I prefer.


A 30-second version of any check is almost certainly not going to spot a BB axle cracked between crank arm and frame. You'd need to wash all road dirt off the nooks of the BB area to stand any chance of seeing it and probably still wouldn't spot it then - are you really washing the bike every time before you ride off from some cycle parking?

In short, I feel you're being unreasonable blaming @NotAnother Cyclist for not checking the bike enough to spot that. It's up there near a steerer splitting in two inside the head tube for a hard-to-spot freak failure - you might spot it if you do a full service at the right moment, but not in ordinary use.


Drago said:


> No disrespect to you mjr, you do what you want on the bike, but I'm MIAS L5 and get paid (occasionally, when I can be bothered) to train the Feds, Ambo and Search and Rescue personnel in basic maintenances, advanced on road skills, off road techniques, nutrition and hydration, defensive tactics, first aid to FAST level, search techniques, and a load of shizzle. Were not talking mickey mouse bike ability stuff. When you're one of the thirty of so L6 trainers in the country then you'll be qualified to pick fault with the syllabus.


The syllabus is fine. I'm just saying it's completely incredible to claim that some people actually do enough check to spot a BB axle crack before every ride of a bike. I even suspect that many of the people you train would say they do whatever check you say in order to pass the training, but really don't if the local Police bikes are anything to go by - the East of England Ambulance seem to keep their bikes in better nick, but they carry a lot more weight so I suspect they get serviced more and any faults are shown up more quickly by the stress of carrying all that kit.

Most people don't do such checks for motoring and that's far more dangerous, to others as well as oneself.


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## TheDoctor (26 Apr 2017)

I don't think anyone would spot a BB axle that broke inside the crank. I've just had a look at my Brompton, andI'd never see that break without taking the cranks off. I sure-as-hell don't do that every ride, or even every year.
As I said, I've *never* seen a BB break like that. The OP was incredibly unfortunate IMHO, and I can only hope that Brompton will do the right thing.
I'm sure they will.


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## 12boy (27 Apr 2017)

In 40 some years I have never had a bottom bracket spindle break. I have, however, had a seat post break yesterday although that was entirely due to my own foolishness. Some years ago I scratched a 1/2 inch horizontal line across the post in the front to aid in getting the right height after dropping the post to lock the wheel in a fold. I figured being steel there would be no problem especially since it was about an inch above the frame junction. That was wrong. While riding home yesterday, I felt the seat slipping away beneath me and stopped to see if the bolt holding the pentaclip was loose when I saw the post hanging backwards, neatly torn along that line. The steel in the seat post was a lot thinner than I had supposed it would be and since there is a lot of stress it just tore it neatly across. Perhaps if the scratch were on the back or side it wouldn't have failed at all, but no more scratching seat posts for me.


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## rogerzilla (16 May 2017)

I'm glad my Bromptons have Shimano BBs!

Another relatively common and unforgivable Brompton failure is the RH crank arm shearing from the chainring (they're just swaged together on most Bromptons, although I understand new ones have proper crank spiders). Most likely with more powerful riders who like to make a quick getaway from traffic lights.


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## NotAnother Cyclist (27 Sep 2017)

Update:

https://www.brompton.com/About-Us/BB-Checker-Consumer


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## bonzobanana (27 Sep 2017)

Hopefully any costs Brompton mount up because of this can be reclaimed from FAG. When I've replaced bottom brackets in the past I've never even seen FAG as an option. Without knowing any details or reading this thread I suspect this is a lightweight aluminium component or at least hollow steel bottom bracket. Many years ago at 26 stone I rode every workday up a steep 1km hill using a budget steel mountain bike that was £60 new and that bottom bracket is still fine today but of course its a solid steel bar and made no attempt to be lightweight. Obviously the 26 stone bit didn't last long though as I was rapidly losing weight at about a stone or more a month. To me that is an unacceptable failure on the part of FAG.


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## Kell (27 Sep 2017)

I changed mine anyway as it felt gritty and not particularly smooth.

Standard Shimano UN version in there now and it's been perfect for 18 months.


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## GavD (22 Jun 2018)

Been enjoying my Brompton. Bike's just over 2 years old and roughly 1000 miles.Then this happened to me on Monday. Lost balance, fell into the road.
Gave me a bit of shock, a few bruises and scrapes. Thankfully no broken bones.


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## GavD (22 Jun 2018)

NotAnother Cyclist said:


> I've emailed them.


I take it your accident was the reason for the recall @NotAnother Cyclist
What was their response ?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Jun 2018)

GavD said:


> I take it your accident was the reason for the recall @NotAnother Cyclist
> What was their response ?



They inspected it, gave it a service and fixed it. I don't know if my accident was the reason for the recall, but several BBs have failed - whether my accident made them err on the side of caution and do a recall - possibly.

https://www.ft.com/content/aec54da2-a468-11e7-9e4f-7f5e6a7c98a2

I assume your bike will have been one of the ones recalled?


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## raleighnut (23 Jun 2018)

GavD said:


> Been enjoying my Brompton. Bike's just over 2 years old and roughly 1000 miles.Then this happened to me on Monday. Lost balance, fell into the road.
> Gave me a bit of shock, a few bruises and scrapes. Thankfully no broken bones.


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## GavD (23 Jun 2018)

I was lucky when i fell into the road. In the traffic behind me was a little old lady driving an old car. Most drivers round here would've had their foot on the gas & it could've ended very differently.

I didn't know of the recall until after I'd taken a tumble. Put my serial number into their website :
https://www.brompton.com/About-Us/BB-Checker-Consumer and confirmed that it should've been swapped over.

Went into LBS this morning, the guy there said they'd changed a lot of bottom brackets but he'd heard of very few breaking. 

I'm not very comfortable that there are other people out there who haven't swapped their bracket. There's a low risk of failure but a failure could potentially be fatal. 
I'm wondering if there's more that Brompton could do ?


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## NotAnother Cyclist (23 Jun 2018)

It was in a lot of newspapers at the time. They also emailed everyone (presumably everyone who's registered their Brompton - have you registered yours?). It wasn't a secret that they'd done a recall, short of taking out newspaper and TV adverts I'm not sure what other action could be taken? Presumably any dealers would deal with any that come in for a service.


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## NotAnother Cyclist (4 Jul 2018)

I see Brompton have re-sent the recall notice by email. I wonder if @GavD has informed them of his accident?


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## Kell (5 Jul 2018)

Pretty sure I've had one of these before, but wouldn't swear to it. But minutes after reading this thread this morning, I got this email. 

I'd imagine anyone that's registered their bike with Brompton would also get one. Though I don't ever remember getting anything from the shop I bought it from.

As it happens, I swapped out my BB ages ago anyway for a Shimano unit, so I'm ok.


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## Milkfloat (5 Jul 2018)

They sent an email to me too - I don't even have a Brompton, maybe they want me to check the hire ones. However, I am glad they are still taking it seriously.


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## simon.r (5 Jul 2018)

Kell said:


> As it happens, I swapped out my BB ages ago anyway for a Shimano unit, so I'm ok.
> 
> View attachment 417792



I’d done the same, but had kept the old BB as a spare. Brompton / Evans were happy to take my old BB off me and give me a new one.


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