175mm Cranks on Track?

Shabby

Does anyone have any experience using 175mm cranks in mass start races? (ie. Not pursuits and time trials).

I don;t spend enough time on my track bike to get used to the 165's. Both my other bikes have 175's and my legs have got used to them. I know conventional wisdom suggests that you use smaller cranks fo the track, but I find them really hard to get going and they've always felt too small for me.

And preempting the obvious answers, I can spin the 175's at 160rpm on the road, so I could easily spin 175mm track cranks at high candences once the season starts.

I just want to make sure they're not going to clip the banks on the steeper tracks.

drewjc

175mm cranks are awfully long for massed start track races, and u would be surprised how fast u may need to spin them (i know track riders who can spin small gears on the road at over 200rpm with 170mm cranks) so u may have to gear up to race with guys on smaller cranks and this could be difficult in longer races. In saying this you shouldnt clip ur pedals on the banks of steeper tracks unless u r going slow like in a madison or sprint type event when u r not travelling fast enough. Have you thought about 170mm cranks as this is a size that lots of track riders are opting for. Im not sure what the other options are but to me 175mm are just too long to ride in massed start events unless you are extremely strong and can push massive gears to make up for the slower cadences.

rickt

Obviously there is no need to go into the biomechanics of the crank lengths (which happens to be my forte) I can quite honestly say that, if by steeper tracks you mean Vodafone Arena, you would be more likely to slide down the banks before you got slow enough to hit your pedals. However on tracks suck as Coburg, which is so rough that I believe even water won't slide down the banks, it is quite conceivable that you may travel slow enough to hit the pedal. Then there is the question of the frame build, ie the elevation of the bottom bracket. Your only option would be to have a play one day down near the duck boards and see how slow you can go before hitting.

Shabby

Thanks Rick, that's the kind of answer I was looking for (you obvoiusly read my post). My concerns were Vodafone and Echuca, particularly when you dive up the banks to avoid crashes.

The thing is, I don't want to spend the couple of hundred bucks on cranks just to find out they will make me stack. The ideal answer is to spend lots of time on the track bike, but it's not feasible to fit it into my life, and I want to race crits as well. Hence, last summer I was probably on my track bike 2 days a week so spinning the 165's was too differnet to the other bikes.


I'd still be interested to hear from anyone who has raced mass start stuff (not pursuits/handicaps) with 175's.

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Zac

You could use 170's or 172.5's and it would work too. I use 175 on the road and 171's on the track and have no problem switching between the two bikes.

king_matt87

I use 17.5 and i hit my peadle even in a eam pursuit depends what ur bike is built for so in scratch aces i ahev to use 165mm or i hit the peadle At the Dune Gray Superadrome i cliped my 172.5 in a warm up eal bad dident come off but oww scary

Zac

How steep is that track, I ride on a 45 degree track and I never clip my pedal.

rickt

I'd be interested to know where the 45 degree track is. The steepest trck in Australia is 43 degrees at Vodafone Arena in Melbourne. The track mentioned in the message by king_matt87, Dunc Gray Velodrome, is the Sydney Olympic Velodrome and is 42 degrees.

king_matt87

The Dune gray supadrome is on adelaide SA

rickt

The Adelaide Superdrome is called exactly that, and is certainly in Adelaide. It doesn't, however carry the name of Dunc Gray. The Dunc Gray Velodrome is in "Carysfield Road Bass Hill NSW 2197. The website for proof is at http://www.duncgrayvelodrome.com
The Adelaide Super-Drome can be found at http://www.recsport.sa.gov.au/superdrome.shtml

Having been at the opening of the Adelaide track as a guest of the Australian Cycling Federation and having met the track designer, Mr Ron Webb, I THINK the facts are pretty right.

Zac

The track I was talking about is the Superdrome in Texas USA. Go to www.Superdrome.com

king_matt87

yer the main reason for not runing 175 cranks is scaping on banks but if u have a good well made track frame teh b/b normaly has enough clearence for 175 and longer. pusuit bik u could run like 190mm cranks if u wanted provided u didn't go u the banks.

Kylie-Anne

Rickt,
I'm a little slow at defending the coburg track, but I must say "saying Coburg is so rough that even water won't slide down it's banks" is just a little too much don't you think!! I'm not sure if your a member of LV or Warr at the moment, but in comparison to the so called track that LV has, I'm not sure that you should really be bagging out Coburg. At least Coburg has banks for water to run off!!
By the way, I'm not sure if you have put two and two together yet, but you may remember me (almost sounds like a simpson's line) as the junior you coached many years ago....small world hey

rickt

Hello Kylie
Yes, knowing who Steve the administrator is, as soon as I saw your name and the "moderator" title I made the correct assumption as to your identity. Anyway while I commend your loyalty to your new club you must remember that to make comparisons, they must be relevant, ie concrete versus concrete, or road bitumen versus road bitumen (Moe's old surface). In my 34 years of track racing I have ridden on every CONCRETE velodrome in Victoria, and several interstate. After all is said and done, Coburg's surface is the most abrasive of the lot. It is even worse than the OLD Warragul track was before it was pulled down in the late 1980's. As to the question of track surface, I am a member of Warragul and am proud to say that the only track I know of in Victoria which rivals Warragul in texture and smoothness is Maryborough. However your comment about the Moe track being flat isn't exactly accurate. Like any track the angle of the banking should be appropriate to the size (tightness) of the corners. With the Moe track being 506m around obviously the banking only needs to be shallow. The Moe track has banking of approximately 10deg. Which is perfect even for high speeds in excess of 60km/h. As to the track surface, it has recently been resurfaced with hotmix and is now less abrasive than the Coburg surface. Unfortunately when concrete surfaces erode they become very abrasive and through the passage of time, without constant washing, the erosion WILL happen. As it has with the Coburg track. While there are some trackies (although only a few) who like the shape of Coburg's track, the vast majority of us don't like its shape at all. It is very much like the W.A. indoor track, which is too tight in the corners and the transitions into and out of the straights are too sharp. That is why, in the last 10 years or so, there hasn't been any support from other clubs for important racing to be held at Coburg. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings.