Old 11-02-05, 08:54 AM
  #7  
captsven
Spawn of Satan
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Posts: 765
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Liked 1 Time in 1 Post
I am 6'5" with a 36” inseam.

I have tried 170, 172.5 and 175 on fixies. I do mostly open road riding with a little city riding. For me the 172.5, 175's work the best where I live. You can get up the hills easier and, most importantly, it is easier on the downhills. I have found you can descend steep grades easier with longer cranks because it is harder too wind out the rpm's.

I can get the 172.5 up to about 170+ rpm's on a few hills. The 175's would drop that to about 160-165 rpm's on the same hill, and I would lose some speed. I do not like spinning above 170 rpm's for too long, I do not find it comfortable.


The downside of the longer cranks are: I am very aware of my speed on tight turns. Fast downhills with blind turns scare the $**t out of me because of possible pedal strike.

I basically give up maneuverability to go up and down hills easier. That works for me.
captsven is offline