Heatherbikes

HI, I have mostly ridden stock bikes, 170mm cranks, never really thought about it until a few years ago and wondered about the leg pain from cycling. I am 5'2", stand over heigh 29.5 inches. I should be riding 156 or 158 or 160. 165 might be a bit much, but is more available than others. I have recently acquired some gorgeous road bikes with campy cranks, all 170mm. However, how much difference can a few mm make?
I do have some vintage raleighs with very short cranks, and do have a specialities ta crank with 160mm arms waiting for a bike to live on. I do feel that I overextend my legs with the 170mm cranks. I only rode the raleighs for a good year or so and the mystery pain went away. Now back to road bikes with 170mm cranks, the pain/strain in my legs is back. So, is anyone riding with the calculated cranks, shorter or longer? I am sure taller people would benefit from longer cranks!

Berta

My inseam is shorter than your inseam, la la, la la la..... I have the Sugino XD600 with the 165mm cranks on my mtb and I can feel a little difference from 170mm. I realize that 165mm is still not ideal for my height, so I'm not a good candidate to answer your question, sorry, but I've wondered if anything much shorter than 165mm would feel strange to me and take some getting used to. Might be good for me, though. How do the vintage Raleighs' cranks feel compared to your newly acquired road bikes'? I'm assuming there's a more noticeable difference than my 170mm to 165mm.

Retro Grouch 

There is a fellow in Minneapolis who has made a cottage industry of shortening bicycle cranks. He's reasonably priced and does a very nice job. Not every crank can be shortened and there is a limit to how LITTLE he can shorten a crank because he has to leave some metal above the old hole. I doubt he can shorten a 170 mm to 156 mm. If you're interested I can find his information but it might take me awhile.

Looigi

Here's one: Crank Arm Shortening

Heatherbikes

Thanks, I do know about bikesmith! The problem is that my cranks are 170. Although my vintage raleigh cranks have almost no metal below the pedal hole....although they are steel.
I am interested in how people compare riding stock pedals to riding the longer or shorter pedals.

VegasTriker

I'm 5'4" in height and for most of my life I rode a series of bikes with 170 mm cranks. I switched to recumbents more than a decade ago and trikes in 2003. The first two trikes came with 170 mm cranks even though they were both small frame models that fit me perfectly. When I stripped out the crank arm on a Schlumpf Mountain Drive on the second trike I replaced the arms with 155 mm cranks. Frankly I couldn't discern a darn bit of difference. The latest one came with stock 165 mm cranks. I'm approaching 5,000 miles on it since April 3013 and I wouldn't consider changing the cranks. I wonder if there isn't something else like the fit of the bike frame that is giving you problems.