You are reading a single comment by @dancing james and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
-
If the effective crank length is the same (bb to pedal) and they are made similarly you would need more metal to produce a curved crank.
If you are comparing two cranks with the same weight and length then the staight one would most likely be stronger (this is assuming both are solid cranks or both are similarly made hollow forged cranks).
Arches in buildings are stronger because of how the spread the load into compression in the bricks, a straight lintel bears a lot of the weight in tension (the underside) which is not ideal for concrete etc.
dancing james
Ignoring the disproven power advantages of a curved crank, is the shape itself stronger than a straight crank? I'm basing this question on the understanding that arches are stronger than a straight lintel in buildings. However im not sure if the load needs to be applied in the center of the arch for this to be true, as opposed to at the end in the case of a crank i.e. is the force applied at the pedal of the crank arm producing a tensile force across the crank? I'm not an engineer so forgive any mistakes in my use of terminology.