Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Bike tech question

Ok, one for the biker number geeks out there...

I currently ride 175mm Shimano cranks on all my bikes. Shimano don't make no longer and I've never made the Campy switch (remember, I'm new at this). I'm starting to prep for the new cross bike so I took a gander at Zinn's custom cranks as an option. If I do his math based on my inseam length that was measured for the frame, it says I should be on 215mm cranks. Yowza!

So option 1 is to go with the math and probably feel like I'm riding a clown bike for a while. Option 2 is to be more conservative and go with a 200mm crank (split the difference). Option 3 is to go with Campy and get 180mm cranks (still an improvement, but not nearly enough). I've never experimented with anything over 175 so I can only take his word for it that it's a HUGE difference.

Any thoughts out there? G, how bout some linkage love to get the short guys to throw their opinions in for us freakishly tall folk?

I think I need more coffee (like I really need to question that).

6 comments:

gewilli said...

180s all the way,

Shimano makes em in Dura-Ace line...

always have... hopefully always will.

If ya don't want Shimano go with the Truvative roleur 2.2 team:
http://www.sram.com/en/truvativ/roadcranksets/rouleur/22team.php

they come in 180s.

I don't think you will benefit greatly from going longer than that.

Unless your bike has a specially high bottom bracket that is...

Ya should really look at the SRAM group anyway - esp the cheaper one... all the word on the street is that there ain't no better value in a component group anywhere.

I'd stay away from those Zinn cranks. They just seem flexy and all, kinda tied into the square taper BB from last i checked...

I love the old 9 speed Dura-Ace 180 octalinkydinky BB think nice and stiff. But then...

all i got are 180 mm cranks on my bikes... every single one of em...

won't ever consider riding anything else...

trackrich said...

Every time I've looked in every catalog I've seen, I don't see 180mm Shimano. Maybe I gotta look again. I have some SRAM stuff on my MTB... very nice.

I haven't wrapped my head around the physics yet to know if your statement that >180's won't matter is true. I think going to 180's is a no-brainer, but there's the option to go longer.

trackrich said...

I correct myself... every time I looked at Shimano I couldn't afford Dura-Ace :) The SRAM stuff is nice. I may have to go that route... looks like the Rival line is the way to go...

gewilli said...

you will gain leverage and power going to longer than 180...

but...

it will feel lumpier (spinning fast is tougher the bigger the circle)...

I think 180 is the best balance between the longer proportional cranks for us gangly effers and the shorter spinning stuff...

also, 180s you will not tag as you pedal through the corners as much... still gotta watch it but watch it less than with longer ones...

If you were a 60-70 rpm peddlin dude, never hitting 80-90 much less 100 the 200-220mm cranks would definitely be an advantage...

timsamsmom said...

Good point. The big Z man does say that if you get up in the 200 range, your bike has to be all funky like in order to not scrape the ground. The Guerch actually has a really high BB so I could probably do it there. I imagine the new ANT will too, but not sure yet. I think my mind is made up on an SRAM Rival group with the 180's. Is it cross season yet?

trackrich said...

ahhhh, the wife tricked me by leaving the home PC logged in as her. As much as I'd like to think she knows her stuff on bikes, she has no interest in this :)