Jan. 20, 2023, 6:48 a.m. -  Codey Chmilar

This winter I have been in the process of shortening the cranks on most of my kids' bikes. 24" wheel bike came with 152mm cranks -> changed to 127mm 20" wheel bike had 140mm -> changed to 110mm 16" bike had 114mm -> changed to 102mm This was driven mostly based on hip angle (and pedal strikes on the 20" bike). I am on the taller side (189cm) and most of my road bikes have 175mm cranks with no issues. That said, I have ridden bikes with shorter cranks (170mm and 172.5) to no ill effect. If I were to build a road bike now, I would likely choose 170mm cranks . I see no downside to going shorter. For mountain bikes I currently run 170mm and would go shorter on a new build. For those curious about trying shorter cranks, all of the above cranks were purchased from AliExpress, and thus far I have been impressed by the quality for the price. All were less than $90 shipped to Canada. Mind you, the kids won't be taxing them too much. I can't say how they will hold up to a 200+ pound rider doing park laps all day.