Originally Posted by
Wilmingtech
I am 5'11 and a 185 lbs and am typically more comfortable on a 53.5-54cm (within certain geometries). I currently own a Ridley Helium in a medium which is like a 56.
I have the bike setup to fit me and it's not uncomfortable on long rides. My question is...
I have a long ride tomorrow that is mostly climbing (15 miles up 4000' and another 7 up 2000'). Would it benefit to slide the seat up a half cm and throw a 172.5 crank on there? (I typically ride with a 175)
I've got the crankset here in the garage and it would take me all of maybe 30 min to set it up. Just not sure how much the shorter crankset would help, if at all.
Thanks!
-Sean
I have no opinion on the best crank for you. We are all very different, both on our body's dimensions and what works best for our musculature. But I see two red flags in your posts. Raise the seat 1/2 a cm? That 's huge! Have you been riding a too low seat this whole time? For me, 2mm is noticeable, 3mm (1/8") is real. Different people advocate different levels of seat height change for differing crank lengths, from non to 1/2 the crank length difference and a few, the whole crank length difference. I've never seen twice the difference.
Also, you seem to be OK on 175s. 170s feel really bad. So half way between OK and really bad is going to be better? Now I am like you are currently. I rode 170s never thinking about it until my first true race bike came with 175s. For me that was huge! Now I hate 170s and 172.5s feel short. But I am longer limbed than you. Was 6'1/2" until I started shrinking with long limbs. I ride a 59. It may be that you have "trained" yourself to be comfortable on a longer than optimum cranks and now find, because of that training, that shorter cranks feel "wrong".
Ben