Mountain Bike Cranks Vs

As we explained in an earlier article titled the parts of a mountain bike short arms are better for uphill and longer arms better for downhill.

Mountain bike cranks vs. The traditional crank length on a mountain bike is 175mm but 165 170 and 180mm cranks are also sometimes available. Most mtb cranks are 175mm long but riders with legs shorter or longer than the average may feel more comfortable on cranks that better match their measurements. Crank arm length should be proportional to leg length. The mountain bike cranks we re talking about here span a price range from just over 100 to past 500 but they all have a couple of things in common.

Shorter cranks offer better pedal clearance and work best for riders with short legs. Longer cranks offer more leverage and are good for riders with longer legs. In this article we look at the advantages of each setup to help you determine which is better for you. As the name implies it consists of three.

Shorter cranks for shorter legs and longer cranks for longer legs. The first is the triple the old classic. Look around on your next mountain bike group ride and you ll probably see a mix of drivetrain setups. However the evidence leans towards mountain bike crank lengths being too long in general.

Mtb cranksets generally differ in three ways crank length bottom bracket bb type and number of chainrings. Mountain bike cranksets can be divided into three categories by their number of chainrings. Go into any mountain bike shop and chances are every bike in there will come with 175mm or 170mm crank arms with 175mm usually found on m xl sizes and 170mm found on xs s. Trail enduro bikes should run 170mm cranks to still keep a good leverage ratio but also have more ground clearance since the bike will typically have a bit longer travel and might be more likely to smash cranks in certain instances.

While some brands spec 170mm cranks it is often only on their smallest sizes.