I’m a low cadence rider too. Thing is, a high cadence off road can lead to bouncing and less control. Too low a gear when a rider is hunting for traction will cause one to spin out. Just like snow mode in certain cars that eliminates low gear when starting from a stop or manually putting the transmission in 2nd gear to eliminate wheel spin.
The other thing with far shorter cranks is you would need to raise the bar height as much as you shortened the cranks. Lots of bikes now are already lower than many riders like. Dropping the bb would add some stability I suppose and still have similar pedal clearance.
I don’t know if really short cranks are a solution looking for a problem or what. I’d like to try shorter cranks just to see what it’s like. Being 5’4" but with a 31 inseam I think I’m an outlier in terms of proportions and fit and me on shorter cranks than a taller riders makes sense. I’d like to see some real science though on crank length and what effect various lengths have. I’ve never seen much on that and the few I’ve read suggest that we are best with what we are used to. But we are mostly pretty adaptable to different things once we give them a fair shot.
Jan. 21, 2023, 2:47 p.m. - Andy Eunson
I’m a low cadence rider too. Thing is, a high cadence off road can lead to bouncing and less control. Too low a gear when a rider is hunting for traction will cause one to spin out. Just like snow mode in certain cars that eliminates low gear when starting from a stop or manually putting the transmission in 2nd gear to eliminate wheel spin. The other thing with far shorter cranks is you would need to raise the bar height as much as you shortened the cranks. Lots of bikes now are already lower than many riders like. Dropping the bb would add some stability I suppose and still have similar pedal clearance. I don’t know if really short cranks are a solution looking for a problem or what. I’d like to try shorter cranks just to see what it’s like. Being 5’4" but with a 31 inseam I think I’m an outlier in terms of proportions and fit and me on shorter cranks than a taller riders makes sense. I’d like to see some real science though on crank length and what effect various lengths have. I’ve never seen much on that and the few I’ve read suggest that we are best with what we are used to. But we are mostly pretty adaptable to different things once we give them a fair shot.