Crank Length?

Hippy is right, listen to him.

heh. i did eventually make a full recovery. aaaand, no thanks. nothing like being unable to sneeze, cough, laugh, or even breathe properly for the best part of a month (to say nothing of the concussion, bleeding and spectacular super-nova-esque bruising) to make you re-evaluate your drunken cycling habits...

...9 pints is my limit now.

i too have done the three-weeks of agonising broken rib floundering due to 172.5 pedal strike.

only 3? lucky bastard, laughing hurt for about 2 months after i did mine in :(

heh. i did eventually make a full recovery. aaaand, no thanks. nothing like being unable to sneeze, cough, laugh, or even breathe properly for the best part of a month (to say nothing of the concussion, bleeding and spectacular super-nova-esque bruising) to make you re-evaluate your drunken cycling habits...

...9 pints is my limit now.

I had Bronchitis with 3 cracked ribs I feel your pain.

Coming off a bike whilst showing off hurts the pride more then anything lol

only 3? lucky bastard, laughing hurt for about 2 months after i did mine in :(

you're right... thinking about it now it was more like 6 or 7 weeks yeah. third time i've done it too. jeez it's all coming back to me now. one of the worst, no THEE worst aspect of it was being unable to muster the necessary core muscle contractions to shit, or even fart properly for the first week or so. fucking unbelievebly horrible! haha.

Sorry for further dredging but i was too scared to start a new thread in the track section!

Am i allowed to use 170 or 172.5mm cranks at Herne Hill as it is quite a shallow bank? I should also say that it is only for the saturday group sessions, no racing or anything.

Cheers

Just a quick question & I did UTFS - but no answer:- has anyone noticed much of a difference when riding fixed on a crank length more than 165mm, have you noticed a lot more grounding when leaning, etc (albeit it is acknowledged that you should never lean).

thanks for moving - exactly what I was after

170 on road bike and fixed gear (high cadence), 175 on brompton, 180 on ss mtb (low cadence high leverage)

i can't run 165s without it feeling like a toddlers bike -

170 on road bike and fixed gear (high cadence), 175 on brompton, 180 on ss mtb (low cadence high leverage)

i can't run 165s without it feeling like a toddlers bike -

Pretty much ditto but 5mm shorter all rond.

175 ssmtb
170 cx commuter
165 fixed and roadie

Spinning the 175s on the way to a trail is far from ideal.

Deciding between 165 and 175.

If long legged, 34" inseam, would it just be best to go for 170s? Also if long legged, would spinning fast be easier than for someone of short legs; does leg length affect ease of spinning/cadence?

I ride 175mm on everything, geared and fixed. But then, I have long legs.

Funnily enough, just earlier today, I read this very interesting article: http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/06/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-with-lennard-zinn-when-it-come-to-crankarm-length-no-easy-answers_178528

It's got me thinking I should be running a much longer arm, at least on the road bike. Linked in that article is this one: http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/06/bikes-and-tech/technical-faq/technical-faq-with-lennard-zinn-why-tall-bikes-often-handle-poorly_121162

Which was hugely interesting to me as a 6'6" guy. I then spent the next few hours that I was supposed to be working actually looking up frame builders and trying to figure out how on earth I could find the cash for a top tier custom frame build by a guy that understands this shit and wondering what it would be like to ride a bike that was designed properly for someone my size.

It's more about femur length than total leg

c-c?

{h/y}x{i+o/f}

I've found some miche pista cranks in a local ad for like 40 Euros, but they're 155. Should I give them a shot? FWIW, I'm 5'10.

Hey guys,

Sorry for new thread, struggled with the search function a little.

I am looking to get a new crankset (black sugino 75s) and seem unable to find them in stock size 170, which is what I currently ride. My question is, do the 5mm make such a difference? I am 6'3, ride 44/16 if that makes a difference.

Any help would be hugely appreciated.

=)

Depends on the application.

A quick search of the internet outside of this forum will return loads of calculators and perceived wisdom. Most calculators will probably return 172.5 for your height.

If you going to be skidding around town, there is no need to worry. In fact, a poll of this forum will return a very high percentage of 165s because (apparently) there is 5mm less chance of pedal strike. I went around a corner too fast once.

Depends on the application.

A quick search of the internet outside of this forum will return loads of calculators and perceived wisdom. Most calculators will probably return 172.5 for your height.

If you going to be skidding around town, there is no need to worry. In fact, a poll of this forum will return a very high percentage of 165s because (apparently) there is 5mm less chance of pedal strike. I went around a corner too fast once.

Thanks.

Not a fixie skidder type. the 170s I've had for 2 years or so seem to be fine, occasionally I feel my knees go a bit too high and once or twice had a pedal scrape the tarmac taking a corner sharpish but wasn't really having problems with them.

Suppose my legs are on the long side and wondered if there is a big no for people my height getting shorter cranks.

And, you know, a few more opinions would be welcome.

I doubt whether you'd notice any difference. (This is all coming from my head and a calculator rather than wisdom through experience, but...) if you went with the 165 and raised the saddle by 5mm so that the seat-to-bottom pedal reach was the same, you wouldn't be any more cramped and your knee wouldn't come up (quite) as high.

Also to put it in perspective, the relative difference in length is less than 3%, so any changes in complicated things like leverage and torque would be more than offset by the smallest change in gearing.

If you're riding fixed on a road frame. You may want shallow pedals and short cranks. But if your BB is'nt too low, get the 170s.

I'm 5 7'' with a 31'' inseam - I've been riding 165's on my fixed and find them alot more comfortable than my touring bike, which has 170's, and gives me twinges in the knee (same pedals and cleats on both bikes) I think it's down to q-factor aswell as the tourer has a triple and the q is a lot wider than the fixed. Worth changing the cranks on the tourer for shorter ones? better to be safe than sorry etc?

I'm 5 7'' with a 31'' inseam - I've been riding 165's on my fixed and find them alot more comfortable than my touring bike, which has 170's, and gives me twinges in the knee (same pedals and cleats on both bikes) I think it's down to q-factor aswell as the tourer has a triple and the q is a lot wider than the fixed. Worth changing the cranks on the tourer for shorter ones? better to be safe than sorry etc?

I'm also 5'7", and now have 165s on everything, save the SS offroader. If you use a rough calculator, you'll likely be fitted to something even smaller than 165mm. So the 170 is the full 5mm in the wrong direction.

Having said that, I would have thought there were several other factors which play a bigger role. Saddle position, Q-factor etc.

I spec new bikes with 165s, but I dont feel the effect so much as to swap out a functioning 170 crankset. I dont have a knee twinge though.

I have to dig this up again. how big is the difference really between a 165 and 170mm crank?

I don't ride the track and the things I wonder about are how big is the change from 165 to 170 if everything else stays the same? and does it really increase the chance of touching down in curves because of those 5mm?