Crank Length if you have 2 bikes

I've UTFS until i'm blue in the face and popular internet search engines but cant find an answer - maybe i'm being too fussy. Here goes:

If you own more than one bike and your training and racing seriously should you have the same crank length on all of your machines?

I would have thought that having the two bikes as similar as possible would be of benefit for training but track bikes tend to have shorter cranks than the 175mm ones I have on my road bike.

I'm asking because I want the track bike i'm building to be OK on the velodrome so logic (and possibly rules) tell me i shouldn't have longer than 170 mm cranks on it.

Yes.

^

Specificity is great but it doesn't take too long to adjust to one or the other. Depends on your road and track event types, how long you have to train for each discpline, etc. You might be using longer cranks on the track if you were riding pursuits but say racing crits on your road bike. Basically, unless you're thinking about Olympic Gold or National Champs or something.. "meh" is the answer.

What hippy says.

If you have a race bike and a winter trainer, the same crank length is a good idea. If you have a cyclo cross bike, the crank length will be different from a road bike as will a a road bike and a track bike.

Crank length differences, providing the bike-fitting is good, don't really cause many issues.

If you're training/racing, chances are that you're going to be pretty picky about your position on your bike(s). I'll disagree with hippy here: If you have different crank lengths, if you're serious about it, you'll notice the difference quite quickly. (For the same type of bike of course!)
It's the same thing with different bike shoes, cleats stacks, pedals thicknesses and even different thicknesses of padding in your shorts if you use those.

Also, select the length of your cranks carefully, track may require shorter cranks to be able to stand in the turns or something like this, but it can help also with opening your hip angle for better breathing. That said, the oposite might be true as well for other disciplines like pursuit where you don't need to trackstand.

But as cliveo put it: it's not just about the length of the crank, it has to work for the bike itself, and a good overall fitting will be a must do anyways.

what if youve got 7 bikes?

seems like youre asking 2 things,
do i need same length cranks?--- the difference between cadence on different length cranks might be something MDCC tester would know but I doubt it makes much odds.

what length cranks on velodromes?, depends which one really, most coaches advise 165's for garunteed clearance. although you can use 167/ 170 on HH easily,
dont try it at Calshot though

Thank all!

I guess basically what I've found out is that using different crank lengths is not a cardinal sin. It's not messing my knees up or something. And that while in an ideal world our multiple bikes would be set up as close to one another as possible that isn't possible if your doing more than one kind of event.

I've alway been very fussy about setting my bike up - you really can tell when it's only a little bit out. But until I lived relatively close to a velodrome and so considered getting a track bike of my own rather than a hire bike - I hadn't ever considered how track crank lengths would affect this.

Are there specific rules about pedal clearance at different velodromes?

welcome, keep reading
http://www.lfgss.com/forum23.html

I'll disagree with hippy here: If you have different crank lengths, if you're serious about it, you'll notice the difference quite quickly.

I didn't say you wouldn't notice it.
I said it doesn't take too long to adjust.

^Aye, I have 165mm track cranks on the "bike of all work", and 175mm on the CX bike and the road bike, the geometry is sufficiently different between each bike that I pay attention to things like steering response and so on when swapping between bikes, the crank length thing sort of fades into the background.

Just to echo what hippy and Dammit have said really.

I have:
165mm on a fixed conversion (with atac mtb pedals/shoes so effectively shorter).
165mm on a track bike.
172.5mm on the road bike.

I can notice the the difference yes, but the bikes don't fit in exactly the same way (as they're used for different things) so it's not an issue AFAIK.

No doubt professional athletes and amateurs at high levels will match setups more, but then they will be much more focussed on a chosen discipline.

I have the following cranks:
165mm on commuting bike (fixed)
170mm on my beater (fixed)
172.5mm on my geared road bike
175mm on my MTB.

I do notice a difference but, as Hippy said, it does not take long to get used to it.

It is worth noting that different length cranks offer different benefits - ie. shorter may be better for high cadence riding (ie. track), longer ones for when you may be pedalling at lower cadence but need more leverage (ie. MTBing).

On that subject (sorry for the hijack)...

For SS cyclocross should I be looking at 175mm cranks (or maybe even longer)?

I'm 5,11" and it's mostly leg.

why long cranks for cyclocross? doesn't clearance play a large part on a rougher surface?

You check your pedals if you go over anything likely to strike them, so I don't think longer cranks are a problem.

I've no direct experience of riding sscx but talking to a couple of people they tend to ride a lower cadence than you would on the road to keep the bike pinned over the rough surfaces. I don't know how typical this is, or if longer cranks would be good for this. I'm interested to know as I fancy giving it a go soon.

Crank length, like q-factor, is an odd one. Plenty of people choose a length based nearly purely on the use of the bike in question. Plenty of people do the opposite, and base their crank length purely on fit.

I'm of the latter type, and run 165mm cranks on all my bikes (ikle legs). Except for my SS 29er, which has massive 175mm cranks for leverage. But thats a completly different style of riding.

Basically its a bit, meh. As Hippy said.

The one thing I would say, is that if 175mm fits you on the roadie. There's no reason to go less than 170mm on the track bike. Check in the trackie section. But I cant see why you cant just run 175mm on the track.....

....just dont lean.

http://www2.bsn.com/cycling/cranks.html

Here's a start to your reading, I reckon it takes me too long to get used to (=100% fluent, smooth) different cranks, so all 6 or so bikes are on 170, incl track, tandem, road and mtb. YMMV.