Originally Posted by
bobbycorno
In a word, NO. Back in the 70's, the same argument was used for any crank length other than 170 and any handlebar width other than 40 cm. The situation is better now, but bike stuff is still made for folks of "average" size and proportions. Step outside the middle of the bell-curve, and it's pretty much hit or miss, usually the latter.
Hold on, I think you're confusing the issue a bit. You are quite right, of course, that the bike industry basically decided one handlebar size would work for everyone, when in fact it doesn't. But at the same time, they were making stems in many different lengths for years. Even toe clips came in four different sizes; because it's really quite unpleasant to use the wrong size. It's an important point, though, that you can take any bike and install on it any width handlebar you can find, any length stem, any length toe clip. And this is not true of crank arm lengths. Ideal crank arm length is a function of BB height, which is simply not adjustable. So a frame is necessarily designed for a certain length of crank, and if you vary the crank arm by more than a few mm either way, the whole bike's geometry changes. Be it right or wrong, the industry decided it's just too problematic to offer a great variety of crank arm lengths. Just about anyone
can use 170's, and that was good enough.
Okay, having determined that 170mm is an
acceptable crank arm length for everyone, it is by no means clear what is the
ideal crank arm length for anyone. There has been remarkably little research into ideal crank arm length. Do you know any formal study involving a full range of crank arm lengths from, say, 100 to 200 mm? Presumably there will be a range of acceptable, sandwiched between too short and too long; but has anyone really figured out where "too short" or "too long" starts? If so, I haven't found it. I personally have experimented with everything from 140 to 175, and found them all perfectly acceptable (but shorter is somewhat preferable). I would like to try even shorter ones, but it's just too complicated.
Originally Posted by
bobbycorno
Oh, and I love the advice from the "middle of the curve" folks, that basically amounts to, "Well, it works fine for me, what the f**k is wrong with you??"
Who's saying that?