I’m looking at a new hardtail on a bike to work scheme. I’m used to 175 cranks on both my road/ gravel bike and full sus. Are they now out of fashion? The three hardtails on my shortlist* all have 170. I rode a bike with 170 cranks and it felt really odd.

Any options for longer cranks? I don’t really want to have to immediately swap cranks on a brand new bike.

Ta.

*Sonder Signal, Orbea Laufey, Vitus Sentier 29

Not that I noticed when I looked.

I think it is generally because they now have lower BBs to give them more stability. Shorter cranks reduce pedal strikes.

Personally I wouldn’t be buying a bike on the basis of its cranks. But then I don’t think crank length matters that much.

I suspect they sit a bit lower so the shorter cranks help with ground strikes. My last hard tail was terrible for that. Current one sits a bit higher and is fine with longer cranks. That said I would prefer a 170 for other reasons

Unless you’re tall with really long legs you’ll be better off on 170s on a modern MTB. I have pretty long legs and 170 and 165mm cranks on my bikes and although I slightly prefer 170 to 165 I definitely prefer 165 to 175mm.

I’ve got 175 cranks on my signal and it’s fine.

Funnily enough, I just went through the oppositish process on my new Orbea Occam. If it’s a poshish hardtail you’re buying, with 12 speed Shimano XT, then you’re welcome to swap your 170s for my 175s.

I removed them and replaced with 165s. As stated above, modern bikes have such stupid shit geometry that 175s are useless. But if you want ’em, who am I to argue….

😄

Went from 170 on the last HT to 175 on the new (12mnth) one, both have ‘as good as’ same BB drop, can’t feel the difference.

Got 170 on the gravel bike I’ve had for last 5yrs as well, shorter rigid forks and lower BB drop, can’t feel any difference when swapping between bikes, both 1×11

For ref:- if my saddle height/angle, brake lever angle, gears not shifting perfect etc I cannot cope and spend at least 6cans in the man cave trying to fix the problem.

.

I have no idea what length the cranks are on any of my bikes

Thanks folks. Perhaps I’ve been focussing in a bit too heavily on one aspect! 😀

For the record I’m 6 foot and have reasonably long legs, but not freakishly long!

I’m sure I won’t notice if I buy a bike with 170 cranks, but I’ll bear the offer in mind thegeneralist cheers 😉

I’ve always specked my bikes with 165 cranks. But I have noticed no difference with my new(ish) hard tail which has 170 cranks. I’m now pretty sure that it means very title unless you need short cranks for ground clearance.

I’m just going from 170 to 175 on a 26″ Cotic Bfe, I’ll let you know if I feel a difference.

Get the bike you want. Then either try it with the cranks provided to see if you mentally adjust, then make a decision of whether to swap them or not. Or sell the cranks straight away when new and get the length you prefer. There are always loads of second hand cranks for sale, especially nowadays with all the constant changing of “standards”.
Part of the normal procedures of getting a bike, along with saddle, tyres, grips… and so on…

I have used 170 and 175mm on my mtbs and 172.5mm on my gravel bike.

They were all fine.

In the grand scheme of things switching out the cranks if you don’t like them is a minor cost. I’d get the bike you want and then replace at a later date if you need to.

It’ll depend on how low the BB is.