Happy new year, good people!
A brief report on my short cranks "experiment"
. So far, I have done about 350Km on these 150mm "Goldix" cranks on my homemade recumbent. The test terrain was rolling flat with some moderate steady climbs ( less than 6%). (I will install on my S40 once I can afford a compatible spider-based power meter)
It's hard to make an objective comparison without a power meter. However, based on feel, my take is:
1. They spin up quick from a dead stop or after a corner.
2. They hold speed really well on flat, rolling terrain.
3. They really feel nice on the knees. The knee does not bend as much on the, very brief, dead spot . (This is the primary reason I will eventually move my S40 to 150mm cranks). The 165mm cranks that originally came with S40 cannot compare to these sweet stubby cranks.
4. Naturally, it's easier to hold a higher cadence.
5. They place the knees further away from the handlebars, making it easier to fit the bike. It allows the hands to have a good natural reach, unrestricted.
6. The climbing requires gears to shift sooner because the cadence drops faster as the grade increases compared to the 170mm. (Currently on 50/34 with 11-34 cassette)
For this reason, I think they will be better on a 1x groupset because of the greater spread of gears on one chainring.
I think on the 170mm cranks (currently on my S40), I can stay on a gear a bit longer before making a shift becuase of the slightly higher torque.
7. Lastly, it feels like one is applying force continously with mimimal dead spots on the pedal cycle. For this reason, the perceived peak power "feels" really good (especially when doing a
bridging technique), and I dare say, maybe marginally higher than on my 170mm cranks. However, holding sustained steady power on a climb is another issue. The percieved exertion feels higher on a climb. I think it is fair to say that one still requires practice and an adaptation period to get optimum steady power on a sustained climb.
