Korina

If you're like me and can't see the vid, go to "Quote" and the link will show up.

EDIT: It was late and I forgot to post the link to the cranks he referenced, Dixna La.

tcs

I'm intrigued, but if I shorten my cranks I'd ideally want my bottom bracket to be lower and I'd want to lower my low gear to maintain my lowest gain ratio.

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gain.html

ThermionicScott 

That Appleman crank looks like a neat way to try out different crank lengths.

My first couple of road bikes had 170mm cranks, which worked well enough, but I sometimes had hip or knee pain by the end of longer rides. I used 165mm cranks when building up my fixed-gear (Sheldon Brown's influence, probably), and found I really liked them, so I switched my rando bike from 170mm to 165mm. It's probable that I will choose 165mm for all future bikes. Any shorter, though, and I'd feel like my shoes were tied together!

SurferRosa

He's like 5'1", right?

jaxgtr

My Stages Bike SB20 has multiple crank length options, 165, 170, 172.5, and 175. Found that 170's were best for me, but the 165 was intriguing and I used that length for about 2 months, but just found 170's worked best.

cyccommute 

I’m not shy about spending money on bicycle equipment but…damn! $500 for a crank set is a bit much. da Vinci Tandems sells a crank with different lengths for less than $300, even for a tandem set.

LarrySellerz

PathLessPedaled isn’t 5’1”. I got beef with the guy, but he isn’t that short

Korina

I know you're just being snarky, but he's 5'8" with short legs.

Thanks for that; I had forgotten to include a link to the cranks he mentioned, so it's in the original post now. They're much less than $500.

spdntrxi

I got beef with him too.. he got snarky with me way back . He does not like racers.

cyccommute 

$485 for a black crank. Add $100 if you want colors. You can rent the sizer crank for $50 but it’s only for determining crank length.

Craptacular8

I believe he's said he's 5'8"

boozergut

So many of his videos are of custom made bikes/frames and other accoutrements.

ThermionicScott 

Sex sells!

cellery

Imagine coming to some dark corner of the web to publicly air your lowkey seething rage about something a small-time alt-cycling youtuber said to you once.

Korina

Different supplier; the ones I linked are from Alex's Cycles. Admittedly, they're not cheap as they're a la cart, but they're cheaper than many other places I've seen them. And they're available in silver!

Polaris OBark

Yeah, but he has a 37" inseam.

GamblerGORD53

??? Must be 27" legs. He has a silly short bike with his bum way over the back wheel. I gave him a comment last year about the small size.
I hope his new bike fixes the problems.
I made my comment this last video too. I have 3 bikes with 3 diff cranks, and I just retired my 180 mm one for other reasons. My knees couldn't care less.
It might have something to do with my back thigh cramps. But then I had few on my 2 tours with the 180s.
>> How the hell do tandem teams handle short/ long with the wife?? LOL.

Polaris OBark

Canadian inches.

Eds0123

He claims he is 5'8" on his "good days" 😃

cyccommute 

I didn’t watch the video and only saw the Appleman cranks in the title card. My mistake.

Velo Mule

Thank you @Korina for posting this on C&V where I seem to spend a disproportionate amount of my Bike Forums time geeking out. This is a good topic that is getting more attention recently. I think I remember other bike fitters years ago also advocating for fitting the crank length to the riders body, but perhaps we are hitting a better time for this topic.

Decades ago I started road racing and increased my mileage. Training hard meant more knee pain, but, I reasoned that was part of the pain of training and pushing harder. It turned out that I had a problem. It has a fancy Latin name, but the bottom line was bicycle racing was not my sport anymore. Just for the record, I didn't give up so easy. I tried increasing my cadence greatly, toeing my pedals in, toeing my pedals out, bringing my knees in at the top of each pedal stroke, using my ankles more, pedaling circles, pedaling with almost no pushing down and just pulling up, raising the seat height until my nether region's went numb and visiting two orthopedic surgeons that specialized in knee and sports injuries.

​​I went on to other sports. Now, decades later, I just can't get away from bicycles. It was part of my growing up and something that I devoted a lot of energy to. Here I am again, and increasing my recreational riding and experiencing knee pain again.

The YouTube video from Russ from Path Less Pedaled brought attention to the thinking that the crank length should be proportional the riders leg length, at least if you are experiencing knee, hip or other issues from riding. I checked out Matt Appleman's webpage and found simple advice on find the right size or better size crank for my body. This also led me to check out Rick and Amy Shultz's article on bike fitting and crank length.

I am 5' - 10" tall, which puts me in the center of the bell shaped curve of men's height. How each male gets to their overall height may differ. For me, I have a long torso and short legs. I took some quick measurements and it looks like I need to explore shorter cranks. I have some 165's in the the parts bin. I will clean them up and find a bike in the garage to swap them onto. I will give the bike a few rides and see how I feel. It won't be as scientific, but it is a first and no cost step. Matt Appleman also points out that a 5mm change really isn't much. But for me, going beyond that means buying parts, so I may not reach no pain in a weekend.

Could 160's or even 155's be in my future? We will see.

Korina

@Velo Mule, I hope it works for you. 5mm may not sound like much, but that's 10mm over the entire stroke, which makes a difference. Let me know how it goes!

PS We're in General.

Velo Mule

See that, I'm so used to being on C&V. Thanks for getting me oriented again.

Cranks were swapped today to this lower end Tracer crankset with 165mm arms and I went for a ride. You are right 5mm is not much, so I had expectations of things pretty much feeling the same. I also moved the seat up 5mm so that my leg extension would be the same at the bottom of the stroke as with the original 170mm crank.




While I was expecting not to be able to tell the difference, I did feel some things had changed. My cadence was faster, I rested less and pedaled more and I even found that going up the small hills on my ride were less of a chore. I am feeling less or little after ride pain as well. But I did say that this was going to be non-scientific. I used my Schwinn LeTour Luxe. I haven't ridden it in more than a few weeks. It has has Phil Wood hubs and Panaracer tires. This bike just seems like it has less friction than my other bikes. And then there is the administrative bias. I know what is on the bike and I have an outcome that I am expecting.

So, is the short crank better for me? To be fair, it will take more than one ride, however, so far, I like the shorter crank.

Korina

@Velo Mule, that's great! Less pain is always a good thing. Please report back after a few more rides, see how you like 'em.

CrimsonEclipse

I reduced my crank lengths from 170-175 to 150-160.
Night and day difference. Changes how you ride.
Also eliminated my saddle sores since I don't have to tilt my pelvis anymore.

It's not about height, it's about inseam.