multimodal commuter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NJ, NYC, LI
Posts: 19,808
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
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While I'm sure you can ride 170's I have no doubt you will be more comfortable (and less likely to hurt yourself) on shorter ones. I prefer shorter ones myself, and I'm 6' tall.
There are actually some pretty good options in shorter crank arms. Look on ebay, search something like "155 crank arm" Bulletproof BMX cranks, for example, come in 140, 145, 150, &c on up, and take 110 BCD chain rings (a common size). Only problem is they're quite ugly. But there are other options. Any of the "fixie" cranks, with one chain ring, can be set up with two.