Ken Kobayashi <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<
[email protected]t>...
> On 1 Apr 2003 16:28:03 -0800,
[email protected] (Don) wrote:
>
> >Anyone with experience: Do you think you lose much power (leverage)with the shorter cranks or do
> >you make up for it by being more ergonomically efficient?
>
> No, you make up for it by being able to use higher cadence. If you shorten the crank by 10%,
> reduce gear ratio by 10% and increase cadence by 10%, the pedal force and power output remain the
> same as before. The difference is that the knee bend is reduced. So if you switch to shorter
> cranks, you really should change to smaller chainrings at the same time.
>
On my GTO I went to lower gearing, 26 tooth granny with a dual drive (about 11 gear inches), coupled
with 155mm cranks. I ride in the mountains some and wanted to insure that could gear low enough for
climbs. This combination - trike, low gearing & shorter cranks - opened a lot of new routes to me.
I have short legs (27" inseam). The shorter cranks seem to make a significant difference in comfort.
And, it is noticeably easier to spin, especially under the added load of climbing. I am not fast
uphill but can spin my way up anything that I have come across so far.
Gary McCarty, Greenspeed GTO, Salt Lake City