170 to 160 - bad idea?

He's putting SHORTER cranks on.. so cornering will be even less of an issue.

RPM cranks. Dunno cost but they're cheap
Older Campag cranks (as I had on the Soma) £40 with ring and bb
Shimano 600 road cranks (as I had on the Raleigh) probably even cheaper
Sugino XD's from hubjub are sub-£50

Just save your money. Don't they teach that in school these days?

all of those options, bar the RPM would be great.

But there seems to be fixie/fixed conversion fever in the air. All the aforementioned rather ordinary cranks are fetching well above what I would expect them to be worth.

Anything Campag is like gold!

Iv had a try with them FSA, was rather dissapointed. They seem a little flexy, and not so well made. The new set on a bike in the shop, already had rusty bolts.

RPM bb did not feel great either.