Kickstarter sheared

[v10]

Attempting to start my '78 Strada today resulted in a spectacular 'air-kick' as the kickstarter sheared off at the swivel union. Mine is one of the earlier type with the fold out pedal at the top rather than at the boss. The bike has 367cc big bore 11:1 pistons but that shouldn't make a huge difference to the kickstarter load, hey? Has anyone else experienced this failure? A bit scary. I'm going to try one of the later types of starter where the straight lever folds out from the boss, they look much beefier. There's no lekky starter on my bike.

[EVguru]

Had it been re-chromed?

[v10]

No, I don't think it has ever been re-finished, the chrome was quite worn away in places.