corwin1968

I'm referring more to my bike in particular with a huge amount of seatpost showing, a stack of spacers and a high angle stem. The bike was simply too small for me and what I had to do to make it fit really detracted from the looks of the bike, in my eyes.

marimorimo

I can't tell just by the photo--Shimano Acera M391 cranks comes in either 170 or 175 mm. You could either look up your bike's specs or look at the inside arm of your crank as the length is usually inscribed there. Your cranks look a lot like my old ones (2015 FX 7.4 WSD), by the way.

As to whether your cranks are preventing you from pedaling optimally, only you can really tell. The majority of people use crank lengths of 170-175 mm no matter what their height is with seemingly no problems (plus it's not like they really think about their cranks or have anything to compare with). I did have a dutch bike with shorter 165 mm cranks which I noticed was easier for me to spin compared to my FX so I looked into the possibility of changing my cranks. As to what is the supposed optimal crank length, the lazy way to calculate it is approximately 10% of height, or the more accurate method of 21-21.7% of cycling inseam.

Based on that, I estimate your optimal crank length is at or around 165 mm, which is lucky for you in case you decide to change cranks as there are many available options at that length. Finding other lengths aside from 165, 170, 172.5, 175, or 180 is like searching for a green unicorn. Changing cranks is not that simple and is quite costly (you might need to change the entire crankset with chainrings) so I do not recommend changing cranks unless you really feel held back by your current ones. Also, 5 mm is not that big a difference and you might not even notice it. When I changed my cranks, the difference was 17 mm so it was noticeable. My cadence increased, but it was already quite high even before I changed cranks.

yashinon

Thanks for the info! I believe they are 170mm. I am OK with what I have, just wished they were black instead of silver. BTW I imagine that in Japan you have unique choices in bikes, as you mentioned owning a Dutch bike. Why did you go with Trek?

ColonelSanders

Thanks for that info.

Rsmith11

Big fan of the looks of Trek FX's. Particularly the 7.2 which I will be purchasing soon.

nick779

Have any of you replaced the stock Bont H1 Saddle? Every 7 series bike I ride has had that atrocious saddle.

I loved the 7.4 I test rode, but the 7.3 is more in my range.

Little Darwin

I struggled with the H1 last year because I thought it felt like the right size, but I never got used to it. It was my first year on the used bike.

This year my 7.3 is sporting a Selle SMP TRK which so far (only about 30 miles total) is working very well for me. I tried one on a friend's bike late last season just to see how it felt (after riding mine for 46 miles and hurting) and it felt great. I rode with cycling shorts all last year, and this year with short rides, I am getting less pain without cycling specific wear... I am looking forward to riding with my shorts!

As with any saddle, what works for me may not work for you.

I have definitely decided that I will assume any saddle on a bike I buy is a throw away item.

flan48

Good morning! I have a 2012 7.4FX, with a 17.5" frame. I too noticed how light it felt, so I weighed it by first weighing the bike plus me, ad then weighing just myself. I did that twice to be sure, and the bike weighed 24.6 lbs.

Best regards

ColonelSanders

Thank you for that feedback.

When you weighed your bike, was it completely stock from the store, without any additional lights, speedometers, waterbottles etc on the bike?

nick779

Ill have to keep that in mind, Ive test ridden a handful of bikes and the best stock saddle so far is oddly enough the cheap OVAL 300 saddle on a fuji sportif 1.3 I rode

BrockLee

Bought the 7.3 FX last month in matte black. So far the only mods are red cabling instead of black, and red bottle cages. With internal cabling I wanted it to look like blood vessels. I dig it. Now I'm on a mission to slowly customize it to my own liking, physically. That basically means I want less black and more whatever color.

ColonelSanders

Looks like the American market at the very least, will get a lovely orange colour option on the 7.4 FX this year.

Trek 7.4 FX - Trek Bicycles in Charlotte NC

pitchersduel

picked up a trek fx 7.3 2015 yesterday. first bike in ages...the matte black looked nice...i decided to go with a volt green...apparently trek recently switched up the green color...it was like a lime green...but this volt green is like neon. LBS had to order one...so wont be able to ride until next week...but still pretty stoked.

yashinon

You like the orange color? A back and orange would be nice.

ColonelSanders

Yes, I am a big fan of orange in general.

Dirty Red

I picked up a '15 FX 7.3 Lime Green, I thought the green was a little more unique than the matte black. Call me crazy, but I'm digging it!

quicktrigger

I could have gone for that orange, but for $700, I would expect disc brakes, so that probable would have killed it.

QT

Grey.

You get better components instead.

pitchersduel

yeah i went with the "volt green" which to me looks more like highlighter yellow...but still. i agree with you...i wanted a little color to the bike...the matte black is sexy, no doubt...but i went with the green

quicktrigger

Knew someone would come back with that answer. I did miss the carbon fork in the specs. Agree that is a ride improvement. Rest doesn't do much for me, but that is me. So for me, it's not worth it, but your mileage may vary.

QT

flan48

Yes, exactly, as I wanted to know (don't really know why!) its weight without add-ons.
Best regards

flan48

I got rid of the stock saddle on my 7.4FX within 2 or 3 weeks, as for me at the time, it was like riding on a brick -just awful. Last year I got rid of my Bontrager CRZ saddle, and after trying a few alternatives, ended up with a Selle Royal Lookin Athletic -love it, as it kind of bridges the gap between a too soft comfort saddle and a too hard, for my type of bike, road saddle.

I also upgraded to Wellgo B-184 platform pedals which have so-called studs or pins that grip like crazy.
In actuality, I even replaced said pins with "grippier" ones from Wellgo!

Best regards

johnbash612

Hi Ya'll! This forum helped me pick out my brand new Trek FX 7.4 2015 so thought I'd finally stop lurking and join the FX hype train. I bought the crystal white color. I knew I wanted the 7.4 after I tried the 7.3 and 7.4 back to back. As a heavy set dude, the carbon fork makes a massive difference in bump absorption. I was obsessed with the lime green color available for the 7.3 and assumed I would get that, but I decided to choose the 7.4 for the ride quality. I was still impressed with the crystal white color. Its very clean, and the blue and green accents are subtle and small but super cool. The white color actually has sparkles in it, I've pretty much named my bike Robyn Sparkles. I love that the cables run through the frame in the new design, it makes the bike look very clean and protects those cables from getting banged up. So far I've been extremely impressed with the ride. I've put on about 50 miles which is a lot for me. The ride can be aggressive when you want it to be, and relaxing when you need that too. The seat was uncomfortable at first but I've grown to "settle" with it, its not great, but good enough for my commuting purposes. I had to make some adjustments on my own because I was too lazy to take the bike to my LBS, plus its a great learning experience to learn how to do it. The front brakes got off balance pretty quickly, I had to adjust them. I took my wheel off once or twice carefully and it still happened. My gfs 2014 Trek 7.2 had the exact same issue. I also had to adjust the front derailleur, I had chain rub like nobodies business, so I had to adjust the high/low and actually pull the cable tighter on the derailleur. With that said, the adjustments were damn easy and a great way to learn about my brand new bike. This bike is extremely customizable and has mounting holes in every spot you'd want them to be as a commuter.

I'm a huge fan of this bike, it is the perfect bike for me. Gets me from A to B quickly, has the flexibility for a good exercise loop, and can mount my ridiculous basket for errands I need to run (basket not pictured, I'm embarrassed).

ColonelSanders

Congrats on your new bike, but I really want to see that basket.

Little Darwin

Me too...