Always ridden 175mm..Im 6ft2.

Pros and cons of going to 180mm?

Or should I even try 165/170??

Buy a frame with a low BB.
Fit some reducer bushes to both ends of the shock.
Then fit some 180 cranks to it and ride through loads of uphill ruts. 🙂

Ah. How about 165?

I’d try them on a rigid singlespeed with 36:12 gearing in a hilly area. 🙂

Will they improve the scenery?

Yes if it’s dark.

I’ve always ridden minimum 170 up to 175(standard)
Fitted some 165mm Middleburns to my SS and its like chalk and cheese.
I absolutely love them and shall be hunting out more sets to fit to my other steads.
I should add i am 5′ 8″ and 28.5″ inside leg

I’m 6’2 also and tried 180s on my ‘cross bike after years on 175s. It didn’t work for me. Having to put the saddle down 5mm to keep the leg extension correct at the bottom of the down stroke meant the up stroke was 10mm higher. Felt really odd. Was nice to have the extra leverage in places and made it a little easier remounting but overall it felt slower.

Fit 180’s, your hips and knees will thank you for it in the long run!

Fit 180’s, your hips and knees will thank you for it in the long run!

Why? Surely pedaling smaller circles is less likely to strain knees and hips than big circles.

I’m about to buy new cranks ready for the new build and considering trying 165mm to help make up for bad technic 🙂
6ft tall and use 175mm atm and regularly have pedal strikes.
What’s the pros & cons of smaller crank arms?

I’m a very similar height to you Hora.

I’ve always run 175mm cranks.

I read a couple of pieces from SSers who sang the praises of 180mm cranks for the longer legged.

I’m currently running just one set and the difference seems visible on the down stroke – I guess a smidge more leverage – but the revolutions don’t seem as smooth.

I possibly need to look at saddle height.

May just all be in my mind but I’m not overly convinced.

Depends on what your trying to achieve.
And how long your legs are. I’m 6′ with 34 inside leg (suits you sir) and use 172.5 on the mtb and 170 on the road. Longer cranks give more leverage for those big push moments but increase amount of movement required from knees and hips.
As I’ve got older I try to keep the pedalling going rather than pushing a larger gear. It definitely helps on longer road rides.
There are stories from the distance past of TdeF riders putting longer cranks on for the mountains. Cyrillic Guimard (hinault and Fignion manager) reckoned it put an end to his pro career.

I run 180mm on the BMX…. about to go down to 175…. only ‘cos they don’t make 180mm SLX cranks 🙁

(100% not relevant to a MTB application though 😀 )

Why not you might as well ride a frame that is to small with cranks that are too big 😉

TBH never tried it but if you have an itch to scratch why not try it

Springtimes hardy perennials…

Why? Surely pedaling smaller circles is less likely to strain knees and hips than big circles.

It’s called irony, and you must be new around here to be unfamiliar with Hora’s inane questions, and the common practice of giving unhelpful responses… 😉

I have 180mm, I wanted the most i could get for my money, same reason I always buy the biggest frame available.

(sensible answer: I didn’t notice any difference)

I ran 180s on my old Inbred SS. Extra leverage when SS’ing = good.

I can’t see the need on anything with gears though…

Rode 170s by mistake (they were on offer, I didn’t read it..).

Can’t say I noticed any great difference.

My CX/commuter bike (singlespeed tricross) came with 180s, I liked them.

Replaced XC bike with 180s too, liked those (though it is run SS half the year, I put the gears in hibernation for winter. And only 1×9 when it has them).

Enduro/AM bike has 175s, I notice the difference, but i’ll take the extra clearance on it cos it’s lowish.

Old DH bike had 165s, which would’ve been annoying for serious pedalling, but it was a DH bike!

Hora, on the basis that in some thread recently you said you had never ridden more than 20miles?, may I make the following suggestion.

The bike is irrelevant, riding a bike is what gets you better, so don’t worry about the crank length, the forks, what frame you have, etc etc etc. Just ride the thing.

Rode 180’s on a singlespeed and they were horrible, too many pedal strikes and felt it was more effort in getting them spinning. The perceived extra torque I’d get with the longer arms on steep/tougher sections never really became apparent and ultimately the bad stuff outweighed the good.

I’ve 165’s fitted to my Horsethief, made the change due to pedal strikes as I had 175’s fitted, originally I was going to get a pair of 170’s or so but read some bumf about shorter cranks and decided to try them. I’ve found that the pedal strikes almost vanished and I’m feeling I’m climbing better, they seem easier to spin and I don’t think I need to get up out of the saddle as much. So for me a win, any cranks from here on in will be of the shorter variety.

Try 165 on one side and 180 on’t other, that way you will be able to feel the difference 😉

I’ve read up- cant find the link now. It IS important off road, onroad not so but I remember I owned a 165mm Blackspire chainset and it felt bad/cramped(?) for my 6ft2.

175 is ideal. 180 not if you ride mixed trails (on rocks etc)- cant find link now though but will do. It matches what I’ve found on the trails.

but I remember I owned a 165mm Blackspire chainset and it felt bad/cramped(?) for my 6ft2.

Course it did princess…