Shorter Cranks

Hi Tribe
If you’ve moved to cranks shorter than what your bike came with, please tell us how much shorter your new ones are and if you’re happy with the new length or you feel they’re still too long or are now too short. Thanks.

Mine came with 165s and I hated them, installed 175s and everything was great again!!

My old bike came with 165's and I swapped them for 160's. I couldn't tell the difference. My newer bike came with 160's and I have no reason to switch.

Kenevo came with 165 and after braking 2 I tried the hope 155 . I’m 5.10 n a half and they are perfect , everything feels more compact and stable . Less pedal strikes and they look nicer !

luna87824 said:

Mine came with 165s and I hated them, installed 175s and everything was great again!!

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How tall are you?

RustyIron said:

My old bike came with 165's and I swapped them for 160's. I couldn't tell the difference. My newer bike came with 160's and I have no reason to switch.

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How tall are you?

RustyIron said:

My old bike came with 165's and I swapped them for 160's. I couldn't tell the difference. My newer bike came with 160's and I have no reason to switch.

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How tall are you?

I have a 32" (81cm) inseam and I went from 165 to 152mm cranks. Much better, imho.

I’ve been looking for some shorter cranks, around 155mm, for Bosch / Isis

Surprisingly I can’t find many manufacturers making them

Hope - around £150

Pinnd - around £150

FSA - around £30 (cast not CNC)

Any others that I’ve missed ?

Colin Thom said:

How tall are you?

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5' 11''

Colin Thom said:

How tall are you?

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183

luna87824 said:

183

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Thanks.

RustyIron said:

5' 11''

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Thanks. Interesting that only 5mm change worked well for you.

Tubby G said:

I’ve been looking for some shorter cranks, around 155mm, for Bosch / Isis

Surprisingly I can’t find many manufacturers making them

Hope - around £150

Pinnd - around £150

FSA - around £30 (cast not CNC)

Any others that I’ve missed ?

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Miranda £30-50

6' 2" 155mm

Been so many pedal strikes with 165's that have just parted with £much to buy 2 sets of Hope 155 cranks for our Trek Rails. I'm 5'10"/178cm with a relatively long inseam. My wife is 5'7"/170cm and shorter cranks would be better for her anyway.

Colin Thom said:

Hi Tribe
If you’ve moved to cranks shorter than what your bike came with, please tell us how much shorter your new ones are and if you’re happy with the new length or you feel they’re still too long or are now too short. Thanks.

Click to expand...

My Levo came with 165 and I hate it. Short cranks feel so un-natural to me. 5'11 32 inseam. I wish it had 175. Pedel strikes can be managed from better riding skills.

EMTB Rider said:

My Levo came with 165 and I hate it. Short cranks feel so un-natural to me. 5'11 32 inseam. I wish it had 175. Pedel strikes can be managed from better riding skills.

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Knee degradation not so much though maybe?
Plenty of longer cranks to choose from for that motor.

Colin Thom said:

Hi Tribe
If you’ve moved to cranks shorter than what your bike came with, please tell us how much shorter your new ones are and if you’re happy with the new length or you feel they’re still too long or are now too short. Thanks.

Click to expand...

My Trek Rail came with 165 cranks, already much shorter than the 175s on my previous Giant Anthem manual XC bike. But the Rail is so capable of climbing the impossibly steep and rocky "tracks" where I live that it has dramatically expanded what I can attempt to ride up. A total game changer! Now I found that even the 165s were regularly clipping the rock steps on the steeper climbs, and either the gradient or my poor technique didn't allow me to get over them even exploiting the Bosch over-run. So I switched to 155 Mirandas and these definitely help avoid pedal strikes. Some people may claim that you notice the different feel while pedalling or the stance width when standing, but I don't. True that on a manual bike you effectively lose one lowest gear in terms of gain ratios (à la Sheldon Brown) but on an EMTB this isn't really an issue. The Mirandas were pretty cheap and nicely made. I'm very happy with them.

I went for Hope 155's, can't say as I've noticed much if any difference with regards to extra effort needed in pedalling from the Sram's my e150rs came with, I changed them for shorter ones mainly because of pedal strikes and I'm a Hope tart, the pedal strikes are almost a thing of the past but I'm still a Hope tart

Tubby G said:

I’ve been looking for some shorter cranks, around 155mm, for Bosch / Isis

Surprisingly I can’t find many manufacturers making them

Hope - around £150

Pinnd - around £150

FSA - around £30 (cast not CNC)

Any others that I’ve missed ?

Click to expand...

Miranda, I have 155 and 152,5 and they work well

I must be in the minority as I noticed a substantial difference going from the stock 165mm E-thirteen cranks to Miranda 153mm cranks.

Im 6 foot with around 34" inseam

Most noticeable was the decrease in leverage/power on steeper climbs and the stand over position.

The Q factor of the Miranda's is slightly wider with an increase of 7mm each side, I believe they do come is different q factors but these were unmarked so I'm unsure which they are.

Another factor is I had to raise my saddle, which I already found too high when descending.
Only way around this for me is to increase my dropper post from a 150mm to a 175-200mm, but thats a costly upgrade if I want to keep to a Fox transfer!

I am getting used to the changes other than the dropper post issue, which for park days I have to lower and suffer a bit on the climbs but the main reason for going shorter was to reduce pedal strikes which I can happily say has been very effective.

I'm wondering if a sweet spot for me would be 160mm crank, but it's a rabbit hole that can start getting expensive!

I just broke 5 ribs from a pedal strike on New Year’s Day. So, 10 mm shorter is something I’m thinking about. Although I would like to try a bike out first that had 10 mm shorter cranks. Until then my plan is to be much more careful of not drop a pedal when I shouldn’t.

I am 5'10 195lbs with A 32" inseam and ride a shimano e8000 motor bike. I went from 175 to 170 crank arms which were only $50 on ebay. I would have gone with 165 if I could of found them for a reasonable $$$. I mainly changed for less pedal strikes and some other hype I watched on you tube. Combined with my pike fork mod from 140 to 160mm with a PUSH coil insert plus a 29r wheel up front yielded mission accomplished / much fewer pedal strikes. And the fork and wheel helped my confidence on descending rock gardens.

Rake is 64.7 (not sure how accurate my measuring tool is) but I do not know what it was before. I do know I had way more pedal and bottom bracket strikes before my mods and am happy with the geometry and the bike overall since purchasing it in 2018. I do not have any comments on ascending differences but it seems fine to me. Bike has original motor with newer / used battery I bought on ebay which is lasting longer than original battery.

Came with 170s and installed 160s. I will never again have long cranks. Pedal strikes, because I suck and always will.

Hattori-Hanzo said:

Another factor is I had to raise my saddle, which I already found too high when descending.

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If you do not drop your saddle and stand on the pedals when descending then there's very likely a nasty accident awaiting you. Just saying.

I have a 29" inseam and my Levo SL and Kenvo Sls came with 165mm cranks and they are both setup mullet. I get the occasional pedal strike along with the same number of BB hits. My Knolly Warden has 175mm cranks and it is NOTICABLY more difficult to pedal uphill than my Levo or Kenevo are (who knew cranks could make such a difference ). I am looking to try some 150- 155mm cranks on my Kenevo and will probably do what @G-Sport did by cutting down some 175mm Creo 1.1 cranks if I can find the parts.

irie said:

If you do not drop your saddle and stand on the pedals when descending then there's very likely a nasty accident awaiting you. Just saying.

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Sorry, I should rephrase, with the 165mm cranks and the saddle dropped to it's lowest position I still found the saddle occasionally got in the way.
This is now worse with the 153mm cranks as I've had to move the dropper/saddle higher to compensate. I believe the only way around this is to get a longer dropper post, or keep the dropper in it's original position and suffer a little more leg strain.

Tubby G said:

I’ve been looking for some shorter cranks, around 155mm, for Bosch / Isis

Surprisingly I can’t find many manufacturers making them

Hope - around £150

Pinnd - around £150

FSA - around £30 (cast not CNC)

Any others that I’ve missed ?

Click to expand...

I had 165mm and replaced with pinnd 145mm no regrets. I’m 6.0ft or 182cm. Short cranks on emtb makes sense to me

22 bullit came with 165s, I swapped them to 160s then to 155s. I'd love tontry 150s...

The gain in ground clearance, in my case (very rocky terrain), far outweighs any leverage advantages longer cranks have. That and you're riding an ebike so...

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