What crank size are you using?
 

6'6" 37" inseam 200mm on df and 175 on
Fwd mbb recumbent

Still just dialing in my bent

Same height and inseam here. I rode 180s for 30 years and recently have been switching to 175, and feel I do better on long rides. The longer cranks feel torquey at first, but make me feel like I am never in the correct gear, so I poop out quickly.

So currently I have a rando with 175, MTB WITH 180, Speed Machine, Bacchetta and Screamer with 175 (never tried anything else on a bent), a SS built with spare parts with 180, and a folder with 170. The 170s feel like duds, as does the whole bike of course.

My current bents are at their adjustment limits, so even trying a shorter crank isn't very easy to do. My biggest complaint, however, is that the seats are all too short for my back.

5-11, 42 outseam, 44 xseam, using 175mm cranks.

6'3", 37" inseam, 47" xseam, 180's on my 'bents, 175's on my (seldom ridden) df's.

SP
OC, OR

PS - on my New Year's Day 100k, the 180's and biopace rings worked great - typical cadence 90-110 rpms.

170 crankarms on my singles and 172.5 on the tandem. Can't feel the difference, probably because riding the Screamer is so not like riding the others.
6'1", 32" inseam, 44" xseam.

I'm 5'11" with a 32" inseam/44" X-Seam, and ride 170s. 175s reduced my cadence, and going short did nothing but make me walk a few hills that I normally pedaled.

Thanks this is good info.
Running 200mm for me on tandem to slow my cadence to match my wife on the back (175mm)
Catgita, i built my bent and made my seat 2" taller then normal seats.

6' running 140mm cranks for several years

165mm and 175mm but, I'm not you.

5' 11" 32"inseam,,, 175's on all my bikes, my bent, Delta, mtb and folder..

Used 170 mm for years, finally got used to 172.5 mm, on the upright bikes. My new Cruzbike QX100 came with 160 mm cranks. Going to see how that works out. I have a set of 175 mm cranks I could use.

My legs a bit short. My x-seam is 38 inches. I went to 145mm cranks, and I love them. Very quick to spool up speed. My knees love it too.

Just put on 175 mm Shimano Tiagra cranks on the QX100. Though I don't have a long X-seam (54 cm road bike I would ride), I think I am going to stick with the longer size based on my experience today.

I'm 5'10" and have had my left femur pinned which limits my range of motion a bit.

My Enduro Sport has a 165 mm compact double and feels perfect.

My Rocket has a 148 mm triple which feels "OK" but I think that a little longer would be better. I have a 170 mm Dotek crank that would probably be functional but I think that it's ugly so I'm not very excited about trying it. Does anybody have a 165 mm crankset with a 130 mm BCD for sale or trade?

I've got a pair of Origin-8 (?) 165mm, 130/74 arms I'm not using. PM me if you're interested.

SP
OC, OR

5'6", 30" inseam, 39" X-seam

155 mm both Velomobile & trike.

leggy 6 footer- 155's for me.

165 mm is the sweet spot for me. Longer than that makes my repaired hip joint bend funny, shorter than that feels "choppy" when I pedal.

5'11", 32" inseam, 43.75" X-seam. 170's on all the two wheelers, and 165 on the trike.

Since my last reply, I've gone from 145mm to 155mm cranks. No issues, and seem to be just a tad faster

Recently switched the 175 cranks for 165 cranks. Much better. Now I can ride the Cruzbike hands free much easier. 165 is the shortest Tiagra crank I could find.

Not sure what crank size I am, but my wife sometimes says Im and old crank. :)

I'm 5'9", 32" inseam. Ridden diamond framed bicycles for over 2 decades.
Road bikes I use 172.5 to 175mm crankarms, depending on terrain of the ride.
MTBs, 175mm.
I have been riding recumbents since 2006, started with 170, but changed to 165mm shortly and stayed.
Smaller pedalling circle means I can be smoother, can't use my bodyweight as leverage for pedal power, might as well spinit out smoothly.

Like so much cycling minutiae I dont worry about it. I ride by bent and trike with the crank arms that came with them.