Even shorter cranks?

[Colin Thom]

145mm Pinnd on Bosch cx motor. Moved from 165mm and took the risk. Wow no more pedal strikes and faster lap times with local enduro trail (more pedalling now to get over rocks).

View attachment 116844

From 165 straight to 145?! That’s a huge jump. No regrets?

 

[Colin Thom]

I think 160mm is the shortest I will go.

At 6'1 using Large frame bikes, I needed to adjust my saddle fairly high when using shorter cranks, then raise my stem/handlebars to align with saddle height. And repeat this process each time my cranks were shorter. Not sure how short I can go before the bike becomes unridable!

Also, as I often use my ebike with the motor turned off, propelling a 25kg bike with short cranks can be laborious and frustrating. Really feels like you don't have enough leverage to manually power/move the bike.

Hi. What length did you move from? Your body and bike size specs mirror my own. I’ve got 170’s and am debating moving to 160 or 155. I’m leaning toward 155 but don’t want to have to raise my stem and bars at all so perhaps 160 is a safer bet.

 

[Rocketb]

From 165 straight to 145?! That’s a huge jump. No regrets?

No regrets easier to pedal and 165 feel so long now.

 

[KnollyBro]

Calculator above seems good. Tells me maximum 155mm. Recently put 150mm on my Levo SL and they feel super and no more knee pain.

I seem to be a little ignorant about which cranks would fit on my gen 1 Kenevo SL and Levo SL as I cant seem to find any that would work with that motor. Which ones did you buy?

 

[G-Sport]

Couldn't buy them unfortunately, had to make them from 175mm Creo ones

150mm crank making

160mm is the shortest you can buy off the shelf. There are quite a few frame builders etc who will shorten cranks for you, or you can buy the taps and do it yourself if you have a drill-press or a mill.

 

[irie]

What is (a) the height and (b) the crank length of riders posting in this thread?

 

[Jurassic]

What is (a) the height and (b) the crank length of riders posting in this thread?

I'm six feet/183cm tall and I'm riding 155mm cranks currently (down from 170oem) and considering going even shorter.
I think a lot of people are hung up on traditional crank lengths from analogue bikes but I don't think you can make a direct comparison. I'm still riding 175s on my analogue MTBs (170 on my gravel bike to encourage spinning) but there's no way I'd go back up in length on the eeb. There are just too many benefits and pretty much no disadvantages in my experience.

 

[Niklas]

I‘m 176cm and have 155 on one bike and 152,5 on another. I like the 155 the best, thinks 160 is kind of ok but don’t like 165 at all and have no interest in trying 150 or shorter.

 

[KnollyBro]

Couldn't buy them unfortunately, had to make them from 175mm Creo ones

150mm crank making

160mm is the shortest you can buy off the shelf. There are quite a few frame builders etc who will shorten cranks for you, or you can buy the taps and do it yourself if you have a drill-press or a mill.

Thanks for the build report. Where did you get the taps from (size?)? Did you order the Cranks thru a LBS or direct from Specialized (I can never find anything on their website!)?

 

[G-Sport]

I got the taps from a little tool place in the UK called Tracy tools a looooong time ago, but you can get them on ebay and from Amazon usually (at least in the UK). You want Left and Right hand version of 9/16" 20 tpi BSC (British Standard Cycle).
Cranks were from an online retailer (bike shop) that is a Specialized dealer. Part number in the other thread.

 

[KnollyBro]

I got the taps from a little tool place in the UK called Tracy tools a looooong time ago, but you can get them on ebay and from Amazon usually (at least in the UK). You want Left and Right hand version of 9/16" 20 tpi BSC (British Standard Cycle).
Cranks were from an online retailer (bike shop) that is a Specialized dealer. Part number in the other thread.

I was able to order the cranks today. Did you find some taper taps or did you struggle with a kit like this?

 

[G-Sport]

I managed to get 2nd's which are fine. It's only aluminium so you can probably get away with those or give them a quick tickle on the grinder to add a bit more taper.
Good luck.