Thank you very much. Great explanation. I am 5’5” and after riding a few recumbents, I felt like I was being cramped when the pedal was closest to me, although the pedal furthest away felt fine. I’ll definitely try a shorter set of crank arms. As for the leverage being less on shorter crank arms, first gear has been seldom used on the trikes I have tried for the riding I intend to do.
I am 6'1" tall with a 43.5" x-seam and I ride with 153 mm crank arms. No change of gearing but I have more power and better cadence. Cheapest way of trying shorter cranks is swiping your neighbors 24" wheeled kids bike and swapping your cranks out and his in. Yup they will be steel and heavy and the point is to try them, not use them forever, after all the neighbor, will probably want them back.
Longer cranks apply more torq but with a geared system we don't get more power. Most riders can generate 200-250 watts. My question is do longer cranks contribute to pedal steer? In other words would a shorter crank arm length (which reduces torq) reduce pedal steer?
A few thoughts from the web: 1) Regarding pedal steer, mashing a big gear is usually a major culprit. If you are new to riding a bent it is going to take a few rides to get your body position, leg extension, and pedal technique dialed in. Shorter cranks may help with the pedal steer you are experiencing, but even with longer cranks, it’s probably just a factor of getting comfortable with the bike to the point where you can concentrate on smoothing out your pedal stroke. 2) The biggest tip for reducing pedal steer is to reduce your grip on the bars. With the light, responsive steering it is quite easy to induce movement into the steering without even noticing, especially when gripping the bars hard. If you practice just holding the steering with a thumb and forefinger you should find the pedal steer reduced a lot. When you are used to riding upright bikes it can also take a while to get out of the habit of rocking your upper body as you pedal. This does not add anything on a trike so if you can keep your upper body more still it should help reduce pedal steer and save you a little bit of wasted energy. 3) One of the ways to reduce pedal steer is to pull down at full leg extension like you're wiping your feet, then pull back on the return stroke. Basically you provide power with both legs through the entire stroke. This removes some of the steer since you aren't only powering in one direction. Takes some getting used to. One way to practice is with only one leg clipped in try to do full circles. 4) A proper fitting may help also with pedal steer.
We do not alter the gearing, because a shorter rider does not need as long of a lever arm. If a taller rider wanted to use short cranks to ease knee pain, we can change they gearing if they wish.
But you don’t start pushing with your leg at the end of the backstroke. You don’t push until the spin is at least 45 degrees out from that where the knee isn’t bent so much?
Hi Thomas, We can get various sizes of short cranks. On the ICE trike they are 152mm, and it is ordered that way from the factory. We also have 145mm short cranks. I can special order 160 and 165mm, too.
Thank you very much. Great explanation. I am 5’5” and after riding a few recumbents, I felt like I was being cramped when the pedal
was closest to me, although the pedal furthest away felt fine. I’ll definitely try a shorter set of crank arms. As for the leverage being less on shorter crank arms, first gear has been seldom used on the trikes I have tried for the riding I intend to do.
Great video, I’m having the EXACTLY same problem here here in my trike!!!
Glad you found it helpful!
I am 6'1" tall with a 43.5" x-seam and I ride with 153 mm crank arms. No change of gearing but I have more power and better cadence. Cheapest way of trying shorter cranks is swiping your neighbors 24" wheeled kids bike and swapping your cranks out and his in. Yup they will be steel and heavy and the point is to try them, not use them forever, after all the neighbor, will probably want them back.
Longer cranks apply more torq but with a geared system we don't get more power. Most riders can generate 200-250 watts.
My question is do longer cranks contribute to pedal steer? In other words would a shorter crank arm length (which reduces torq) reduce pedal steer?
A few thoughts from the web:
1) Regarding pedal steer, mashing a big gear is usually a major culprit. If you are new to riding a bent it is going to take a few rides to get your body position, leg extension, and pedal technique dialed in. Shorter cranks may help with the pedal steer you are experiencing, but even with longer cranks, it’s probably just a factor of getting comfortable with the bike to the point where you can concentrate on smoothing out your pedal stroke.
2) The biggest tip for reducing pedal steer is to reduce your grip on the bars. With the light, responsive steering it is quite easy to induce movement into the steering without even noticing, especially when gripping the bars hard.
If you practice just holding the steering with a thumb and forefinger you should find the pedal steer reduced a lot.
When you are used to riding upright bikes it can also take a while to get out of the habit of rocking your upper body as you pedal. This does not add anything on a trike so if you can keep your upper body more still it should help reduce pedal steer and save you a little bit of wasted energy.
3) One of the ways to reduce pedal steer is to pull down at full leg extension like you're wiping your feet, then pull back on the return stroke. Basically you provide power with both legs through the entire stroke. This removes some of the steer since you aren't only powering in one direction. Takes some getting used to. One way to practice is with only one leg clipped in try to do full circles.
4) A proper fitting may help also with pedal steer.
Using shorter cranks reduces the leverage in the pedalling motion. When you go to the shorter cranks, do you alter the gearing ratios to compensate?
We do not alter the gearing, because a shorter rider does not need as long of a lever arm. If a taller rider wanted to use short cranks to ease knee pain, we can change they gearing if they wish.
But you don’t start pushing with your leg at the end of the backstroke. You don’t push until the spin is at least 45 degrees out from that where the knee isn’t bent so much?
You start pushing with your leg at the start of the forward stroke and then alternate with the other leg to spin, once the first leg pulls back.
You can always order longer cranks if the short ones are not working out for you.
You better to buy greenspeed trike Manga.
We also sell Greenspeed Magnums. Those work great for bigger riders.
What size are the shorter cranks?
Hi Thomas, We can get various sizes of short cranks. On the ICE trike they are 152mm, and it is ordered that way from the factory. We also have 145mm short cranks. I can special order 160 and 165mm, too.