Originally Posted by
Davekyn
Hi, my inseam is only 28 inches and I’m 5 foot 7. I have short legs I guess.
I generally aim for a frame size of 26”
Will shortening the crank a little (from 170-165) help me with having my seat closer to the ground?
I always seem to have to climb up on bike after adjusting the seat height to account for my bent knee to ball of foot fitting test. Whenever I stop at traffic lights I have to jump off the bike and lean over as well.
I don’t mind if I have to change gears more often because I lose some leverage if it means I can get my seat a little lower to the ground. I think most of the Cheap Kmart bikes that I service without issue have cranks around 170 --- does that sound about right?
Are there many bikes online that are sold with cranks at 165? … or am I asking the wrong question.
What do I want to do? I want to straddle my bike and ride without having to climb a ladder or jump off it every time I stop. The cheap bikes have been good to me, I learned how to service them – I can get my knee bend and ball of foot right and fly around like no tomorrow, but --- alas, I am simply too far off the ground for my body shape.
Looking to buy just a mountain bike for around town – I just want to commute and will also look into getting a bike trailer as well – mostly bike paths to fishing spots on the coast. Also another reason I am going to have to fit myself right this time, I won’t be able to lean the bike much with a bike trailer hey? I’ll need to be able to have complete control – at least with my tippy toes. LOL Oh yea, the other thing is my knees as well - my knees just seem to high when I lower the seat ...
Any thoughts would be good.
Cheers
Dave.
I have the same inseam you do (although I'm several inches shorter in height) and have never had the problems you describe, except on bikes with frames that are far too large. My mountain bikes are usually in the 15" or "small" frame size, my road bikes have averaged 47cm, and I can reach the ground just fine on all of them. Without seeing a picture of you on your bike I can't tell for certain what the issue is, but it sounds like you're trying to ride a bike that is far too large, or has a really unusual geometry. You're right that most bikes are sold with 170mm cranks; you can go to 165s but I doubt that will do enough to satisfy you.
If you get a single wheel trailer- yes it will be troublesome if you load it up and have to tilt the bike/trailer combo at stops. I have a single wheel BOB and learned that fact early on, and it's magnified in my case because I'm small. It's fine when I'm under way. I don't have experience with 2 wheel trailers, but I suspect they're much less mulish in that regard.