Bicycle Mechanics - crank length

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Saskia
12-18-03, 05:03 AM
Hi,

I'm looking into changing my standard cranks of 170mm to 160mm, but have been told by my LBS that a crankset of 160mm does not exist for my hybrid bike (Giant freerider, Dutch company). These shorter cranksets are only used by 'professionals' they say.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,

Saskia

MichaelW
12-18-03, 05:56 AM
Tosh and nonsense.
Cranks are available in single, double and triple chainrings, from 140 to 190mm, if you know where to look.
Shorter cranks are used by shorter people, with shorter legs.


Shimano FC-MJ10 at
http://www.sjscycles.com/store/vIndex.htm
MichaelW
12-18-03, 11:37 AM
There is a good guide to the correct size cranks (plus lots of other great stuff) at
http://www.myra-simon.com/bike/cranks.html

Short cranks are used by professionals on their special track-racing bikes, but for normal racing, they use normal sizes.

AndrewP
12-18-03, 11:43 AM
I changed my wife's cranks from 170 to 152 because of arthritis in her knees. They were cheap ones for a child's bike, the LBS had to order them from the local wholsaler, so they took a few days to come in. To get the chainline right I also had to change the bottom bracket.
deliriou5
12-18-03, 11:54 AM
i think what your LBS means is that you'll probably have to end up changing your BB also... and that the total cost of everything might end up costing more than you paid for the bike! ok... maybe that's an exaggeration, but yeah you'll probably pay a significant fraction of the price you paid for the bike
kerk
12-18-03, 11:55 AM
Andrew wrote - I changed my wife's cranks from 170 to 152 because of arthritis in her knees. They were cheap ones for a child's bike, the LBS had to order them from the local wholsaler, so they took a few days to come in. To get the chainline right I also had to change the bottom bracket.

How long ago did you do that? How did it work out?
Avalanche325
12-18-03, 12:16 PM
Excuse me guys. I think it is totally inapropriate to be talking about how long your cranks are on a bike forum. There are other forums for that kind of talk.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Saskia
12-22-03, 04:04 AM
Thanks a lot for this information, this has given me some ammo!

regards,

Saskia
AndrewP
12-23-03, 09:03 AM
kerk
It was last spring that I changed my wife's crankset. I think the crankset and BB cost about $25 CAN each. I had to try several BBs before I got it right. The chainrings didnt have the Shimano bumps to help with the shifting, but it works OK. My wife isnt a power rider.
BlastRadius
12-23-03, 11:38 AM
Specialties TA makes great cranks and you can get them here in pretty much any size you need.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/zephyr.asp
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/carmina.asp

Harris Cyclery has 160mm Suntour cranks at a decent price too.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/harris/cranks.html