Lowers the center of mass for better high-speed cornering. As with downhill bikes, which are also trending toward lower BB heights, there is a trade-off, of course. Lowering the BB makes it more susceptible to pedal-strikes; so there is always a fine line compromise between cornering efficiency and enough clearance for 'most' situations. That's another reason low-profile has become the new holy grail of platform pedals - - anything to gain back clearance lost by lowering the BB . . . that and the use of shorter crank arms.


I checked back old posts and my Blindside, when it was freshly built, had a 14.2" BB height - - considered a bit low at the time and I did have occasional pedal-strike issues, even with 165mm cranks.