Crankset Length

Omar Villanueva in the Philippines has gone for a set of shorter cranks and he is worried that he will lose leverage on the climbs. Here are our thoughts.

Question:
Hi Guys,
I sold my old Dura ace 7800 and want to upgrade for the new 7900. My question is I’m using 170mm crankset before and want to replace for a shorter 167.50mm because of my short frame, I was 160cm and using Colnago Cristallo frame size 45 the smallest I can get at that time. I’m afraid it will reduce my leverage on climbs, because I was living in a mountainous region. Any Suggestion?

It was a great help from you guys and more power!

Thanks & Regards.

Hi Omar.

All of us must choose the cranks that suit our body size and, very importantly, our riding style. If you have long thighs then you will be able to use longer cranks, short thighs need the shorter cranks. Then of course if you have the power and are capable of handling the leverage of the longer crank then you can use them. On the other hand if you are the sort of rider who pedals more than pushes then the shorter cranks will suit your style.

If you look at the winning efforts of Lance Armstrong during his Tour winning years, then you will have noticed that his pedalling cadence was much higher than many of the other riders, especially larger power riders like Jan Ullrich. Ullrich uses his strength and can handle the leverage of longer cranks, this attribute is from nature or in the rider’s genes that allow him to be strong and have those levers which are his thighs, and this cannot be learnt.

Spinning your legs on a climb can be learnt with practice, pedalling at speed is controlled by your body and what is in your genes, some of us have more fast twitch muscles than others, but we can all reap the advantages of being able to spin. If you are riding with a tail wind then you need to be able to turn the cranks at speed even if you are a power rider as your gears will only go so high.

The other advantage of spinning when climbing is that it is less tiring compared to pushing the larger gears. Spinning when climbing, as long as you can handle it, doesn’t cause the lactic acid to build up as fast as when power pedalling and recovery tends to be quicker too.

Omar, ride what feels comfortable, when climbing with other riders you will notice that they might be pedalling slower than you, but you will still be with them, practice your pedalling and all will OK.

There are our thoughts on crank length, something to think about?