Who has gone back to longer cranks?

Triathlon Forum
1

When I bought my Quarq last year I went with 170mm cranks from my 172.5’s that were on my tt bike. FWIW I have a 87.9 cm cycling inseam. I actually had a good year considering I was never able to train the way I wanted to due to several mtb accidents and injuries. As I think about building my new bike up for next year I’m considering going back to 172.5mm. Looking at my year going to the peer meter lead to very consistent times at our local tt night. all of those time trails were in a 30 second bracket although my fastest for the year was 1 mph slower than my fastest last year.

So who went shorter and now has gone back to longer?

2

so you are thinking of going back because the fastest tt was 1mph slower than last year?

certainly crank length wouldn’t make that much difference, so I’m not sure that is a good reason.

I wouldn’t bother changing it, simply because at worst it makes no difference, and its a hassle to change it =)

3

i did on my road bike, for 3 weeks, but then went back shorter as I no longer liked how it felt with the longer cranks
.

4

I have, and I have 165mm and 170mm cranks I need to sell. Both are SRAM RED. The 165mm has 2 rides in it, and the 170mm has about 10 rides. They are both 50/34. One of them is the Sram Red tour edition which is Black w/yellow.

5

What issues were you trying to solve by going to shorter cranks?
More room at top of pedal stroke?
More power?
Better position?
Did any of these work? (sounds like not really)
I went to 167.5 cranks from 172.5 on my tt bike 2 years ago. I invested at least 6 months into adaptation. In the end they felt really good but I was going slower than I was with the 172.5 cranks. I could not hold good power on climbs, gradual rises, etc like I could on 172.5.

6

When I bought my Quarq last year I went with 170mm cranks from my 172.5’s that were on my tt bike. FWIW I have a 87.9 cm cycling inseam. I actually had a good year considering I was never able to train the way I wanted to due to several mtb accidents and injuries. As I think about building my new bike up for next year I’m considering going back to 172.5mm. Looking at my year going to the peer meter lead to very consistent times at our local tt night. all of those time trails were in a 30 second bracket although my fastest for the year was 1 mph slower than my fastest last year.

So who went shorter and now has gone back to longer?

So…you had an inconsistent year training, due to accidents and injuries, yet you ascribe the 1mph slower to the fact that you went with shorter cranks?

John

7

that’s just mean to call that out
.

8

I’d be interested to relieve you of your 165mm cranks, for the right price.

9

When I bought my Quarq last year I went with 170mm cranks from my 172.5’s that were on my tt bike. FWIW I have a 87.9 cm cycling inseam. I actually had a good year considering I was never able to train the way I wanted to due to several mtb accidents and injuries. As I think about building my new bike up for next year I’m considering going back to 172.5mm. Looking at my year going to the peer meter lead to very consistent times at our local tt night. all of those time trails were in a 30 second bracket although my fastest for the year was 1 mph slower than my fastest last year.

So who went shorter and now has gone back to longer?

So…you had an inconsistent year training, due to accidents and injuries, yet you ascribe the 1mph slower to the fact that you went with shorter cranks?

John

No, the inconsistent training was the biggest and possibly the only factor but considering I’m a masher, 75 to 78 rpm in a tt as an average, I’m thinking a longer lever might be better. I do realize we are talking 2.5mm.

10

Meh. 170 and 172.5 is essentially the same crank length.