Originally Posted by
gr@sshopper
Ok, stupid question. Can you think of a crank arm as a lever? The bottom bracket is the fulcrum, the chain ring would be the load. Moving the load closer to the fulcrum means less force but movement through a longer distance.
Yes. Torque = Force x distance x cos(theta).
Probably easiest to calculate when the crank arms are at 3 and 9 o'clock.