E180RS ....shorter cranks.

[Bomble]

Thanks Bombie…..what is the difference and did you think it worth changing?

The difference with the link or the actual mullet setup?

 

[Walkea]

I have been toying with the idea of going from 165 to 155 myself , so have been researching and asking fellow riders ,most have said 155 are the way to go , now just need to see what ones to go for and how much i want to spend

The Miranda ones seem a reasonable price. My bike came with e-thirteen which are more readily available but around £10-20 dearer than Mirda although etill cheaper than Hope, Praxxis etc.

 

[Mikerb]

Well having thrown all my "aunt sally" potential objections out there and having read all the replies I have now ordered the Hope 155m cranks.
Why Hope? If I am going to try shorter cranks I eventually thought it best to try 155mm and finding any alternative at that size with assurance the Q factor would be enough to clear the chainstays proved difficult.
I should get a chance to ride using them later this week.
Thanks all for your comments.

 

[Mikerb]

Update:

I ended up fitting Hope 155mm cranks on my Whyte E180RS and today was my first ride with them.
As far as the primary aim of doing that is concerned it was 100% successfull. I rode c 11 miles of forest trails I know very well and quite a few of them have sections strewn with very exposed roots that I typically have to pick my way through with care. today i was able to pedal through virtually all of them with no pedal strikes.

As for other differences I admit to being very surprised...if not confused!!

Contrary to a concern I had about difference in pedalling power transfer I actually found the acceleration and general pedalling performance ( all offroad) far better! I am not sure what difference these cranks make to the Q factor compared to the Race Face Aeffect 165mm cranks fitted as standard so maybe that also made a difference. Overall I felt the bike was more responsive to pedal input and at the end of the ride my legs were far less tired than they would usually be on this ride.
I noticed no real difference when sttod on the pedals except perhaps on steep climbs where I felt I needed to transfer a little more weight to the rear of the bike than usual. That was easy enough to learn after a couple of climbs.

Overall not having to be so cautious about pedal strikes and the bike feeling much more willing to go, I enjoyed riding this bike a lot more than I have in the past so I give the Hope cranks a big thumbs up!! ( Still dont fully understand it though!!)

 

[rod9301]

I guess the Hope 155mm cranks have persuaded quite a few Whyte owners to change cranks....primarily to reduce pedal strikes.
I stopped getting pedal strikes on my E180 once I learned to read the trail but it still does mean having to put in half pedal rotations more than I would like......so I became curious.
I have no such issues with the e160RSX.....both bikes have 165mm cranks....but the RSX is 29er which probably accounts for the difference.
So 155mm cranks for the E180 looked a worthwhile experiment......that is until I did more research!
Firstly the Hope cranks are too expensive for an experiment and I doubt they are any better than Praxis or Race Face Affect which are considerably cheaper.
Secondly for every 5mm cranks length reduction you really need to reduce the chainwheel by one size to maintain the same gearing.
Thirdly the shorter the crank the more power you have to input to get the same result in terms of trail progress/speed and pedalling efficiency is already not a strong point on the E180.
Lastly 10 mm is huge reduction when you consider what a 20mm diameter reduction means in terms pedal rotation circumference and that in turn impacts on weight distribution and balance when stood on level pedals.
So my conclusions are to try 160mm cranks probably by Race Face or Praxis , keep the same chainwheel and accept that I will need to be in 1 lower gear most of the time.

I went from 175 to 155, not any harder to pedal, or go downhill.
You're overthinking this, and not the right way