165mm Cranks on Trail Bike

[Grease_Monkey]

Hi,

 

Just for interest, is anyone out there running 165mm or 170mm cranks on their trail bike (or xc for that matter)? If so how tall are you and what is your experience with it?

 

Not looking for the full scientific theories behind it (enough of that on google), just your experiences with it - specifically on how it affects your climbing.

[V12man]

170 - can't feel any difference to my other bikes with 175 - 1.67 tall- never tried 165.

[Dan Dob]

Personally, I think the future of trail bikes will have to be 170mm cranks if they keep on lowering the BB! DH bikes use 165mm cranks most of the time I think and it makes sense if you think about rock strikes and pedaling clearance.. I have wanted to try it out (I'm 185cm tall) but haven't ever had a shorter crank to play around with.

[Grease_Monkey]

My 175mm was way too long, so I wanted a 170mm, but the crank I wanted was only available in 165mm. I will be getting it on Monday from Chain reaction, so hopefully it works for me.

 

Agree with you on the future being 170mm, just makes sense...

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Personally, I think the future of trail bikes will have to be 170mm cranks if they keep on lowering the BB! DH bikes use 165mm cranks most of the time I think and it makes sense if you think about rock strikes and pedaling clearance.. I have wanted to try it out (I'm 185cm tall) but haven't ever had a shorter crank to play around with.

100% agreed, Dan. With the amount of rock strikes I get a 165 would be ideal.

[NukeproofPeanut]

I have 170mm on both my bikes, and GF has 165mm.

It makes a big difference for rock strikes and I find it more comfortable when standing..

 

And I'm 1.7m and she's around 1.6m

[V12man]

Personally, I think the future of trail bikes will have to be 170mm cranks if they keep on lowering the BB! DH bikes use 165mm cranks most of the time I think and it makes sense if you think about rock strikes and pedaling clearance.. I have wanted to try it out (I'm 185cm tall) but haven't ever had a shorter crank to play around with.

This is true - I have had a couple of hard pedal strikes on my Enduro - even with the 170 on - very hard..... fortunately trail shimano pedals are tough.

 

I would definitely be tempted to try a 165 on a trail bike where there is no specific hurry to get uphill - but much shorter becomes tricky t0 pedal - I have a really short set on my unicycle, and pedaling that feels odd (not that I can go much beyond 10m at a time)

[Grease_Monkey]

So my package from DHL arrived in the post today. Installed my race face atlas cranks (165mm) in all of 10mins. I didn't swap out the bottom bracket - just kept the shimano press fit in as it is still smooth.

 

Rode it around the block, and to be honest I can't feel a massive difference. Although I must say my legs aren't pushing into my gut anymore - happy days! I will report back after a propper ride this weekend!

[Grease_Monkey]

Some pics of the crankset installed. For those of tou who know - is that spacing on the non drive side normal? From what I underatand it is supossed to look like that...