Can I just say, it is so nice to have an honest and respectful reply to things. Don't be afraid to project. Bike fitting is tricky. You have smashed your triathlon racing already to date, even if the bike does not fit you perfectly. Imagine what you can do with some tweaking. You have to remember some of the experts on here are the best in the business, so the advice you are getting is some of the best you will hear worldwide.

I share your childhood in terms of being that kid who sucked at all sports. Always picked last, always making up numbers. Never learnt to swim. Not saying I am smashing it now, but consistently in the top 10-15% of finishers for my swim and bike, running less so but that is more injury related. As for a male dominated career.....I work in Women's Health but as a male.....only look after women and work in a women's hospital where 90% of the staff are women.....if you think men can be brutal I can share some lovely stories from my side!

Good luck with all the changes.....if you can post some followups etc.

One of the good things with Tri (which it seems that you've discovered already) is that a so-called 'ideal' physiology or set of proportions is a long way subordinate to a host of other factors.
One of the not so good things is that bike manufacturers, most stores and many fitters fail riders at the smaller end of the spectrum. Your bike doesn't currently fit you. Nothing wrong with you. Fortunately your bike can be modified.

Adding some data to this thread, this is an example from a recent fit. Rider is a keen TTer, long torso. In a very low and narrow position.

Data collected via 3D Motion analysis.
You can see that shortening from 170mm to 155mm cranks had positive impacts on several metrics.
Min knee angle is the closed angle over the top of the pedal stroke (frequently an issue for smaller riders) - shorter cranks open this up.
Min Hip angle is likewise the closed angle over the top of the stroke - this looks like a bit of an issue for you (judging from your hip shimmy at the top of the stroke). This was opened from 43deg to 45deg.
Which then had an impact on his knee and hip stability (I watch the knee lateral travel carefully during fits as hip tension usually shows up as increased knee travel).
So he was pedalling more freely, with better stability (these things pretty much always equal more comfort) despite a lower torso angle (relative to the ground).
I don't have the results from the frontal area measurement on this computer (another 3D analysis tool) but that improved too (thanks to the flatter torso).

Out on the road he felt better and set a power pb after a couple of rides.

I do this a lot. Normally the hip angle opens a little more than this example, but it's a consistent result - more open hips, better stability, better aero.
In your case, you wouldn't be raising the saddle to compensate for the shorter cranks (normally in a fit I get the saddle height roughly right before we change crank length) so you wouldn't change your torso angle, but you're already quite flat.

Don't waste time with over 150mm cranks. Go straight to 145mm https://speedandcomfort.com/...riant=18076098723904

One of the common errors in fitting shorter cranks is not to adapt gearing. Basically every 7.5mm on the crankarm is one tooth on the back. Thus 15mm shorter (to use a round number) would mean that instead of riding in a 52-17 you would now ride a 52-19 for the same foot speed (CPV). Don't think that being in an easier gear shows you've lost power or speed - your gear goes from the pedal to the road (everything between those points is part of the gear calculation).

Shorter cranks are all about freeing up your hips for comfort and maybe power.

For aero - you do look a bit cramped. You want to find ways of relaxing your arms/shoulders so you can drop your head better. The first thing I'd look at would be different extensions to relax wrists, tilted up so you can brace against them. Then would try wider armrests and stretching out a bit. What you do with your arms is mostly important for what it allows you to do with your head.

Thanks you so much for your words, Dan, Amnesia. That meant everything.

I've lowered my seat by ½ width electrical tape and moved it forward (it's a Dash Tri, so very short rails). I also moved my cockpit forward and angled my bars up.



I'll put my helmet on next video.

That looks better, but I think the saddle is prob still high.

Pay special attention to what Cyclenutz says as well, he has fit a number of pros, notable among them is Teresa Adam; she has one of the best fits in pro triathlon, especially among female pros.

Someone is selling a 145mm crank on the classifieds for $110 :)

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

spectacular. you're ready to do some damage! if you lowered your saddle another 5mm (a half a centimeter) i wouldn't complain. but i like it!

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

thankyoooo

Ok, saddle coming down, and I'll look back up to Cyclenutz' advice.

I don't think there was a "you don't fit your bike" cascade. Your bike works for you, or it should. You don't work for your bike, or shouldn't.

What there was IMO, was a cascade of "your seat is too high", which the people you ought to listen to translated as "your cranks are too long". This has nothing to do with how tall or short you are, it's a matter or scale or proportion. I didn't even read you post, had no idea how tall you were or what size bike you were on. You could have been 6' tall on a size XL or something, it doesn't matter. Your video was an indicator of something not right.

That others like you also might ride like that is an indicator of something not quite right socially or culturally within the group of those like you, not that it's ok to ride like that, or that you should. For every equipment choice decision there is an optimal choice. For you, personally. Regardless of your morphology. Regardless of your past results. Regardless of what more successful people do.

Some people can handle 165mm cranks, some can't. That you even have them on your bike is not the result of a robust decision making process but because of 50 years of cycling industry inertia. Your seat was too high because your cranks are too long... for you, personally... because somebody decided 50 years ago that your bike should come with crank length "x". No more no less. It's an easy fix.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I’m 5’8”
I have 145 cranks on my tri bike from Cobb. Best thing I ever did.
I have 165 on my road bike. Can’t tell the difference when pedaling. It was weird for the first 2 weeks once i put it on the tri bike but it became normal. No power loss either. I would say my cadence is about 3-5 rpm higher with the shorter cranks but I like that.
So no, you don’t need to change all your cranks.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my video, and for your input. Genuinely I am honoured that I can ask & access expert opinions here.

Thanks. Do switch between bikes often/daily?

Hey, this is really encouraging, thank you.

I'm definitely with the concept of gear-inches as I change to shorter cranks, but thank you for the reminder & encouragement!

I re-read your advice & have already angled up my extensions after bringing them forward today. The pads were (and still are) set at their narrowest setting, so I can look at widening them next to see if I can drop my head.

No. I would say about 90% of my training is on my road bike. Some long rides are on the tri bike. About 4 weeks before a race, I’ll switch to all my training on the tri bike for specificity.

I have 155 mm cranks on my tt bike, 162.5 mm on my road bike, and 172.5 on my gravel bike. I'll ride at least two, if not all three of these within the same week, never notice any issues switching

Thank-you!

Well yes, assuming her priorities of "aero, power, comfort" were actually/really her priorities. You can always ride a bike no matter how ill-fitting or ill-equipped. My broad "unrideable" comment assumes finding that perfect saddle, finding that perfect stack and reach and tilt, etc. All of that would be spoiled by the cranks being too long.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

No worries. We all help out for various reasons, and if you average them all together in a wisdom of crowds sort of way and also filter with a good signal to noise lens you'll come away with good information.

Decision science people talk about an OODA loop for making choices... Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Many of us have the ability to do the first two and then ask for help on the third, and some of us even are very good at doing the first three and correctly assessing the right thing to do. But the last one, the "Act", is the hardest, in that sometimes even super smart people following the OODA loop don't actually *Act* and then get stuck rehashing the same issues. This goes for me too with regard to myself in all sorts of situations, especially long course triathlon.

Don't forget to act, and don't worry what your friends, peers, competitors, local bike shop mechanics, etc. will say about your choices.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Just wanted to pop in here and say WOW! This thread was pretty incredible to read through. I really appreciated the discourse and explanation of the "why" of shorter cranks. Mell--you look so much more stable and powerful with those adjustments. Thanks for having a space where women can get solid advice on fit, and while I am a "tall" woman (5'9"), I still struggle with fit, thus I am still on a 2011 Specialized Transition because I am too afraid to go through fitting something all over again. I did take the advice of another thread and ordered a Dash saddle, but haven't put it on yet. Change is so hard!

So then how tight is "too tight" for a small person?

Subjective by comfort, power, min angle, physiological, something else?

Edit:

Because I'm working on fit for myself and have a min angle of 60° but I also have a tighter hip angle than the OP (90°) because I'm lower.

don't want to speak for eric, but it just depends. usually you can see any sort of impingement in a fit video like this. that's just the most obvious sign. how "quiet" you are able to be on your bike (although a lot of other variables play into that one, some good bike riders are just really "loud" physically) is another one (if cranks are too long you'll have to do SOMEthing to accommodate that in your pedal stroke).

some athletes seem better able to tolerate a tight hip angle and have good bike + run results in spite of that poor decision. marino vanhoenacker is an example that jumps out.



although he didn't always have a good run...

Thanks for your help.

I'm nowhere near that tight. Only at 60° :O

your cranks should be long enough, and no longer

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”