Originally Posted by
jimbooth
I found the difference in cranks does affect how I spin. On my main road bike I felt like at speed I wasn't smooth, so I switched from 175 to 170 cranks and now I can spin better. But I did discover that those big hills are harder to climb. I have a cyclocross bike which I ride on the road and on trails with 175 cranks and it feels fine to me. My mountain definitely is better for me with longer cranks, have more power at slow speeds.
Certainly you'll experience a loss of "leverage" with shorter cranks, but you simply use lower gears to regain that. Spin a lower gear faster and you end up with the same force to the rear wheel.
I'm basically using the same "cruising" cogs in back, but using 38T on front instead of 46.
Before, I was using a 13-28 and now use a 13-24. The 38/24 combo gives me an ideal start gear, and I now have more closely spaced cogs for the rest of my range. (13-14-15-16-17-19-21-24) I'm typically cruising on the 14 or 15 cog, so I have "room" to go up/down a bit as the wind changes and still keep my cadence in a rather narrow range that works best for me.
I don't do hills
