amaferanga
Veteran
- Location
- Bolton
It's amazing what a bit of marketing and bold claims can do to peoples perception of a product.
Help settle an argument about crank length.
- Thread starter Cyclopathic
- Start date
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Psycolist
NINJA BYKALIST
- Location
- North Essex
i think that i've only understood about 10% of this thread, but oddly, i've enjoyed reading it. An amazing breadth and depth of knowledge
but i'll just ride thanx
GrasB
Veteran
- Location
- Nr Cambridge
Back to back rides on ellipticals & round rings said instantaneous power up, sustained power down from a powertap... it's obvious that the power meter was effected by adversing blurb
.
A longer crank length will provide better torque leverage, that's a fact of engineering but its not the only consideration. Crank length combined with leg length influences the degree to which the leg bends. That in turn influences muscle efficiency.
I switched from 175mm cranks to 152mm on my recumbent and I swear the shorter cranks create less pressure on my knees and makes cycling easier (I'm 5'8" or average height). Of course my impressions could be imagined & caused by placebo effect. I don't have any scientific evidence that shorter cranks improve leg muscle efficiency.
I switched from 175mm cranks to 152mm on my recumbent and I swear the shorter cranks create less pressure on my knees and makes cycling easier (I'm 5'8" or average height). Of course my impressions could be imagined & caused by placebo effect. I don't have any scientific evidence that shorter cranks improve leg muscle efficiency.
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
In the recumbent world this is a 'helmet-ish' issue.
There are riders claiming a change from 170mm to sub 150mm made them a lot faster. This is likely to be wrong and a placebo effect.
What is known is that reducing crank length effectively ups the gear ratio as expressed as distance the foot moves to distance the bike moves. So increasing the crank length will effectively drop this ratio. I considered using shorter cranks on one of my trikes but in the end didn't as I climb very steep hill from time time (33% anyone?) and the leverage of a longer crank is needed for those 'winching' moments!
There are riders claiming a change from 170mm to sub 150mm made them a lot faster. This is likely to be wrong and a placebo effect.
What is known is that reducing crank length effectively ups the gear ratio as expressed as distance the foot moves to distance the bike moves. So increasing the crank length will effectively drop this ratio. I considered using shorter cranks on one of my trikes but in the end didn't as I climb very steep hill from time time (33% anyone?) and the leverage of a longer crank is needed for those 'winching' moments!
