Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
Maybe. I wouldn't put it quite that way. Obviously. However, if they were doing it right, cranks would be adjustable. Same way seat posts are. Stems ... well they try ... but they know, and we should know, that every contact point we have with our machines should be infinitely adjustable. It's above my pay grade to say exactly HOW. But the same species that has a Mars mission on the back burner should be able to figure things like this out. Ideally these parameters would be adjustable AS you are riding, but I don't think anyone would be terribly upset if they could at least adjust for expected conditions on a ride to ride basis. FFT.
Well to be clear, the text I quoted only lend credence to what might be a misrepresentation of what you used it for. However, in general I'm only seeing your posts as saying we should not experiment and should take the bikes as they are sold to us and not try anything different.
I also question your statement about pro's and longer cranks. I'm wondering if that is both current and past, or just more in the past. In the days of Pantani and others that are said to have favored long cranks, there were fewer gear selections and range of gearing on a bike more limited. Limited in the respect that if you had a wide range, then you didn't have the choices of close gear ratio spacing that you might need to put out your best paced power for a particular speed and grade.
Pantini liked to ride out of the saddle too when in the hills and mountains. I'll always be of the opinion that if one likes that then they will be a lower cadence rider that will benefit from a longer crank. However for those that like to sit and spin higher cadences, a shorter crank will benefit them more. How short or long? I don't know. I'm only talking generalities.
As to crank length should be adjustable, that just means that cranks will be even more expensive and heavier. There just isn't a current design and manufacturing technology that will lend itself to the production of a lightweight crankset that is adjustable for length at a cost we'd pay.