Will shorter cranks help?

[RoadRaven]

You might need to experiment
Having ridden 170 cranks on my race bikes, I have recently gone to 175 cranks on my time trial bike because of the type of riding I do on it. (I have 172.5 on my NEW road race bike)

I have heard some espouse the theory that shorter cranks can be a useful option instead on longer...

So, to sum that up... I have nothing useful to say to give you solid direction

[LBTC]

Hey, CC

If it helps at all to know - Bif, the Torrent you rode while you were here, has 170 cranks, while Portia, the Santa Cruz you tried briefly, has 165 cranks. Of course there are a lot of other differences between my two mtb's and more still compared to yours, but maybe you could tell the difference in the crank length??

I prefer the 165's. But I'm really short.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[kelownagirl]

I have 165's on my old bike and I'm getting them on my new bike too. And I'm a tad taller than you.

[crazycanuck]

RR-you're too funny..

T-The only thing i remember about the Santa Cruz was it felt a bit cramped but i was on it for just a v short time @ the top of the lake. Bif felt fine & got me through the panic of getting accross the road and up the hills...

I'll visit a bike shop on the weekend & have a gander with them..

[RoadRaven]

*Rave takes a bow to only member in audience of 1 at the Comedy Show*

Thanks CC - I try... maybe tooooo hard

CC... forgot to mention, in case u forgot, I'm 5'10"

Just to add more detail to my not-very-helpful info...

[crazycanuck]

RR..i'm sending you an air slap at the moment

Hopefully when we venture to NZ @ christmas we might have a slim chance of catching up. That way i can thwack ya!

[dianne_1234]

This presentation by Jim Martin suggests to me that crank length doesn't significantly affect power output:

http://www.serottacyclinginstitute.c...gTechnique.pdf

So I choose crank length for other reasons, like knee health, pedal clearance and a balanced feel.