Optimal Bicycle seating

[Quercus]

@scr4

There is no obvious down side to cranks that are too short, as long as you use appropriate (low enough) gears and keep a high cadence.

Well, no downside except for less efficient pedaling. Your leg muscles are most efficient when they can contract and extend through a particular distance. (or do you think tiny, 15mm crankarms would be just as efficient?)

@Malienation

Also, don’t you have to worry about the pedals hitting the ground in turns when putting a longer crankset on a bike that might not have been designed with that in mind?

Yes. In one of John Forrester’s books he relates the story of a race he was in, where the main threat to his team had extra long crankarms, but a standard frame. So they decided to attack in a turn when he couldn’t turn as tightly and pedal at the same time.

[scr4]

@Quercus

Your leg muscles are most efficient when they can contract and extend through a particular distance.

True, but the drop in efficiency doesn’t happen within the distance range we’re talking about here. The recumbent trike manufacturer Greenspeed tested different cranks and found that power output does not drop until you get down to a crank length of 100mm.