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Pro Cycling Crank Length List

Updated 7.29.2020 Below is a list of pro cyclists and the crank lengths used.   Name Height Weight Crank Length Coryn Rivera 61 n/a 170 Caleb Ewan 65 148 170 Tony Martin 73 165 175 Nairo Quintana 66 128 172.5 Chris Froome 73 157 172.5 Mark Cavendish 69 154 170 Marcel Kittel 74 190 175 Lance Armstrong 70 165 175 Alberto Contador 69 137 172.5 Fabian Cancellara 73 179 177.5 Andy Schleck 73 150 172.5 Andre Greipel 72 176 172.5 Vincenzo Nibali 71 143 172.5 Bradley Wiggins 75 152 177.5 Jens Voigt 65 168 177.5 Peter Sagan 73 163 172.5 Richie Porte 68 139 167.5 Alejandro Valverde 69 137 172.5 Joaquim Rodriguez 67 126 170 Roman Kreuziger 72 143 177.5 Thomas Voeckler 6

Kinesiological Approach to Finding your Optimal Crank Length

Rather than using anthropometric methods to determine optimal crank length, I would like to propose an easier method that involves just a little bit of self awareness.  After spending nearly $1k just to experiment with a 165mm, 170mm and 172.5mm crank, crank length greatly affected my technique and even, post-ride recovery.  Just to note, I ran a 53/39 and 11/23 cassette for all three lengths. 165mm At 165mm, I naturally gravitated towards higher RPM's.  Since I was often 100rpm or higher, I always felt glued to the saddle.  I could sustain more power during steady state efforts, experienced the lowest heart rate for the same power, and I experienced the smallest amount of DOMS at this length.  I could definitely ride my fastest century at this crank length, and feel great the next day.  However, the awesome steady state performance came at the expense of accelerations.  Since anything lower than 100rpm felt like slow, pedal smashing, I could not get any meaningful power out of the

Is Running Hurting Your Cycling Performance?

As a runner for most of my life, only transitioning to dedicated cycling for the past few years, I hate to admit that running is the last form of cross training that a dedicated, competitive cyclists should consider.  The reason: Inflexibility. RUNNING RESTRICTS THE AERO POSITION Although the high impact nature of running helps to improve bone density, the adaptations the body goes through can hurt your cycling performance.  The more you run, the better you get because the muscles, tendons and ligaments develop elasticity to conserve energy.  Rather than relying entirely on energy sources to produce a muscular contraction, elastically stored energy within the muscle doesn't require energy consumption, so you save considerably more energy which allows you to run faster for longer.  However, when the muscles and tendon adapt this way, it comes at a major sacrifice: range of motion.  Every muscle used in running will become more inflexible and "spring-like" in order to ha

Is Your Crank Arm Length Too Long?

LONG CRANKS DON'T LEAD TO INJURY... BODY IMBALANCES DO While studies seem to be fixated on the length of the femur, tibia and foot, the fact is this: Inflexibility is the variable most likely contributing to the discomfort associated with long cranks.  This is especially true if you don't have normal range of motion at the hip, knee and/or ankle.  If this is the case, then the length of the bones is the last thing you need to worry about!  Instead, you need to investigate the fascia, muscle, tendons and ligaments.  These are more likely to affect your pedal stroke. "Inflexibility is the variable most likely contributing to the discomfort associated with long cranks." If there's a slight bit of imbalance in any of these structures, this will cause you to compensate and make it difficult to pedal comfortably.  If the body wants to or can't resist compensating, injury is inevitable, and if you ignore your imbalances, you will get injured!  It's better to

Crank Length for Track Cycling

There is a big misconception that shorter cranks provide superior acceleration compared to longer cranks, and this is mainly because short cranks are often associated with the explosive and strong track cyclist.  In reality, the reason why track cyclists have to lift weights and work on explosive training is solely to compensate for the baggage short cranks come with- an increased force required to produce the torque needed to move a smaller lever arm. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE CRANK IS TOO SHORT OR TOO LONG? It's reasonable to think shorter is better, especially when you consider that since the gears are fixed, faster speeds can only be reached by hitting a higher cadence.  But how do you know when the crank is too short? When the cranks are too short, it will be too difficult to turn the cranks because your body simply can't generate the force needed to create torque.  As a result, it will take longer to climb up the rpm's- your accelerations will be slower, especially f

Crank Arm Length Explained

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Everything you need to know about crank length in a flow chart! WHY DOES CRANK LENGTH MATTER? It directly affects the way you produce power- it changes the amount of pressure or force you can put into the pedals and the rate that it can happen. Power = Force (torque) x RPM (cadence) For the same power, if force goes up, cadence goes down, and if force goes down, cadence has to go up.  Too much of either variable leads to problems.  The optimal crank length is one that doesn't require so much force that fatigue occurs too early (too long), but also doesn't make it possible to put any pressure into the pedals (too short). Knowing what length to choose starts with understanding how crank length affects certain aspects of cycling- at the body and the bike. CRANK LENGTH & CADENCE RELATIONSHIP As crank length increases, cadence decreases. As crank length decreases, cadence increases. Each crank length will cause you to naturally select a range of cadences.  It

Chris Froome & Team Sky's Secret - How to beat a team of Short Crank Arms

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If you haven't already read my original post and studied the crank arm length flow chart posted there, please go to the link below. http://eatsleeptrainsmart.blogspot.com/2016/01/crank-arm-length-debunked-long-vs-short.html Chris Froome & Team Sky - The mechanical secret behind their success The success of Team Sky was the result of a collaborative effort to maximize the benefits of short crank arm lengths, but there are limitations that when exploited, are hard to overcome.  When either variable of the power equation is thrown to extreme levels, the human body will eventually fail to meet the demands. Power = Torque x RPM In the case of Richie Porte and Chris Froome, they were on the RPM side of the equation.  Very high cadences achieved only through short cranks have its own pros and cons.  Lets start with how they had the advantage. The Physical Demands of the TDF In the Tour De France, everyone has to race consecutive days, so keeping the hips and legs fresh is