shortest cranks?

[OakLeaf]

175 is huge!

I'm 5'3" and I can't ride longer than 165 mm without knee trouble.

Do you have Shimano on your bike? Dura-Ace, Ultegra and 105 all come in 165 mm.

I'm pretty sure there are cranks you can get in 160 and 162.5, but I don't know what.

[sundial]

Oak, I have SRAM Force.

[Eden]

I have 165's

There are 155's out there, but they tend to be manufactured for BMX bikes, so getting a set that fits your BB and chanrings might be hard.

[SadieKate]

You need to look for a crank that is compatible with your bottom bracket and the rest of your gruppo, but that doesn't mean you are stuck with SRAM. You can certainly start your research on their site though.

[sundial]

Eden, perhaps I may need to think of changing cranks on my mtb (Specialized Epic with 172.5mm shimano cranks) instead of the road bike? Maybe more options that way? Sadie, I will check with my LBS and see if we can form a game plan. The reason I'm looking at changing stuff on my road bike is that it is the lightest bike I do have and I will probably be riding it initially when my knee gets more flexible. I have several other bikes though that I can tinker with instead of the road bike. I just thought it might be easier for me physically to ride the lighter bike with shorter cranks.

[SadieKate]

I get you! I got into roadbiking following 4 knee ops and used 165 cranks (I'm about 5'3.5" but with long legs). I now use 170s on everything.

[Sylvia]

As previously said most road bike cranks go down to 165mm. If you need to go shorter, then there will likely be a balance between the how short you need to go, the quality of the crank and the price you are willing to pay. Here is a post I made a while back on short cranks.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showt...917#post532917

[sundial]

As previously said most road bike cranks go down to 165mm. If you need to go shorter, then there will likely be a balance between the how short you need to go, the quality of the crank and the price you are willing to pay.

Sylvia, thanks and I do agree with you. If I go shorter I will have to consider the quality of the part and the price I am willing to pay. Eden got me to thinking about my mtb so I tossed the idea around with my better half and he talked with my favorite mechanic at the LBS. They are ordering in Shimano 165mm cranks for my mtb. I am really interested to know if I can actually turn the pedals with these cranks. It will be much easier to work up to 165's than the 172.5 in my opinion. Right now I can only crank the pedals forward to 9/10 o'clock and backward to 3/4 o'clock. SadieKate, my knees will probably thank me for the smaller cranks. Thanks for the tips everyone. I appreciate your help.