Originally Posted by Velo Mule

Thank you [MENTION=421867]Korina[/MENTION] for posting this on C&V where I seem to spend a disproportionate amount of my Bike Forums time geeking out. This is a good topic that is getting more attention recently. I think I remember other bike fitters years ago also advocating for fitting the crank length to the riders body, but perhaps we are hitting a better time for this topic.

Decades ago I started road racing and increased my mileage. Training hard meant more knee pain, but, I reasoned that was part of the pain of training and pushing harder. It turned out that I had a problem. It has a fancy Latin name, but the bottom line was bicycle racing was not my sport anymore. Just for the record, I didn't give up so easy. I tried increasing my cadence greatly, toeing my pedals in, toeing my pedals out, bringing my knees in at the top of each pedal stroke, using my ankles more, pedaling circles, pedaling with almost no pushing down and just pulling up, raising the seat height until my nether region's went numb and visiting two orthopedic surgeons that specialized in knee and sports injuries.

​​I went on to other sports. Now, decades later, I just can't get away from bicycles. It was part of my growing up and something that I devoted a lot of energy to. Here I am again, and increasing my recreational riding and experiencing knee pain again.

The YouTube video from Russ from Path Less Pedaled brought attention to the thinking that the crank length should be proportional the riders leg length, at least if you are experiencing knee, hip or other issues from riding. I checked out Matt Appleman's webpage and found simple advice on find the right size or better size crank for my body. This also led me to check out Rick and Amy Shultz's article on bike fitting and crank length.

I am 5' - 10" tall, which puts me in the center of the bell shaped curve of men's height. How each male gets to their overall height may differ. For me, I have a long torso and short legs. I took some quick measurements and it looks like I need to explore shorter cranks. I have some 165's in the the parts bin. I will clean them up and find a bike in the garage to swap them onto. I will give the bike a few rides and see how I feel. It won't be as scientific, but it is a first and no cost step. Matt Appleman also points out that a 5mm change really isn't much. But for me, going beyond that means buying parts, so I may not reach no pain in a weekend.

Could 160's or even 155's be in my future? We will see.