165 mm Crankset on shorter travel Trail bike?

[Duffman]

I know shorter cranksets on Enduro bikes are all the rage, but is there a benefit for shorter travel trail bikes? My Ripley AF XL came stock with SLX 175mm cranks. The low BB does have some pedal strikes, and I'm more of a spinner whose always used 170mm cranks on my road bike, so I was thinking of going shorter. 170mm seemed like a good place, but I wonder if that little difference would even be worth playing around with, Any other almost 6'1 riders go to a 165mm length for a bike that they will be pedaling a lot, not a downhill or enduro sled? Pros and Cons here?

[evdog]

I put 160mm Canfield cranks on my Rail. Honestly I can only feel a difference compared to my Spur with 170m cranks for about the first 10 seconds after I switch bikes. If you make the change I'd go 165 or less.

[gramboh]

Can't comment on short travel, but I went from 175mm cranks on my 160mm YT Jeffsy to 165mm on my 160mm Patrol (mullet). In between switching those bikes I got my first road bike on 170mm cranks. The 165mm took a bit of getting used to, had only had that length on DH bikes before, but now I see no downside. I am also a spinner, especially climbing MTB, and have no problem getting enough torque to get up technical stuff. Bit shorter than you at 5'10, 200lbs so decent power. Biggest benefit is less pedal strikes with low BB.

[Terrapin Ben]

I just switched from 175 to 165 on a Scott Ransom. The goal is to reduce pedal strike. I keep telling myself how much difference can 10mm make (that's what she said)?? But I'll let you know how it goes....

[rideit]

You know you want them…$850?
LOL

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...gs-165-mm-1000

[Duffman]

Uh, I'm a beater. SLX level is far good enough for me and my wallet (shame I can't find any 165mm around in stock though)

[Duffman]

Does a $1k crankset come with a motor?

[rideit]

Sure, I’ll toss in a motor!

[Duffman]

Why is it impossible to find a Shimano SLX w 165 mm arms? Wanted to try this fairly cheaply and not need new chainring and such, but these are nowhere to be found.

[joetron]

Shimano is a slow moving, decisive dinosaur and is/will be far off the back on the short crank trend; likely just waiting until the trend pendulum (trendulum? - gonna trademark that)swings back to 170mm.


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[Boissal]

Why is it impossible to find a Shimano SLX w 165 mm arms? Wanted to try this fairly cheaply and not need new chainring and such, but these are nowhere to be found.

I honestly think they must have made a batch of 100 of these and that's it. I scored one 2 years ago on a German website and feel like I was about as lucky as finding a gold bar on the sidewalk. The XT was also available at the time, never saw that one again either...

[VTskibum]

BC.com has a few in stock
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/s...-1x-crank-arms

Also 1 pair of XT
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/s...-1x-crank-arms

I've been 165 curious but haven't bothered as I don't want to get sucked into needing all 165s on a bunch of bikes

[Duffman]

The ones they have are the 7130 / 8130 which is a super boost chainline unfortunately.

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[VTskibum]

Just re-read that. Good god, further proving the point that super boost is idiotic.

[jmccord]

Thunder Mountain Bikes out of Sedona has the XT 8100 in the 165mm length in stock. I ordered one a couple weeks ago.

https://thundermountainbikes.com/pro...-xt-crank-arms

[rideit]

Shimano is a slow moving, decisive dinosaur and is/will be far off the back on the short crank trend; likely just waiting until the trend pendulum (trendulum? - gonna trademark that)swings back to 170mm.


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I might consider going back if B.B.’s start trending upward again, but until then, probably not.

[joetron]

It’ll be interesting to see what happens. E-bike cranks will probably get/stay on the shorter side, but those are different skus. Who knows what kind of design/production overlap they have at the bigger companies.
You prefer 165 just for fewer pedal strikes?


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[Duffman]

Found a 165mm SLX on Thunder mountain, thanks for the heads up. Going to swap the 175mm stock to this and see what happens.

[frorider]

Yer gonna die

[Duffman]

I died. But so far loving this length. Same SLX crank and chainring as before but went 165 from 175. No real climbing yet so the jury is still out but good so far

[Terrapin Ben]

I just switched from 175 to 165 on a Scott Ransom. The goal is to reduce pedal strike. I keep telling myself how much difference can 10mm make (that's what she said)?? But I'll let you know how it goes....

After a dozen or so rides on the new shorter cranks - it's fair to say that I am very pleased with the results. While I haven't been riding anything overly technical, I haven't experienced pedal strike in the places I normally would have. And while I don't feel much of a difference when I am in sit and spin mode, the bike actually feels like it fits me better!

[alpinevibes]

I'm looking to step my wife's cranks from 170 to 165 on her Medium Ripley v4. Should should these work? : https://www.jensonusa.com/Shimano-SL...120-1-Crankset

The Ripley came with SLX M7120 170mm cranks and an SLX BB52. 148/110 spacing

[Duffman]

I'm looking to step my wife's cranks from 170 to 165 on her Medium Ripley v4. Should should these work? : https://www.jensonusa.com/Shimano-SL...120-1-Crankset

The Ripley came with SLX M7120 170mm cranks and an SLX BB52. 148/110 spacing

I got the SLX 165 m7100 for my Ripley AF, which has the same chainline at 52mm as the v4. That m7120 is a 55mm chainline and isn't the proper fit, although it could probably be made to work somehow. Thunder Mountain Bikes gets the m7100 i165mm n from time to time, I put an alert on it and purchased when in stock. A pain to find otherwise

[alpinevibes]

I got the SLX 165 m7100 for my Ripley AF, which has the same chainline at 52mm as the v4. That m7120 is a 55mm chainline and isn't the proper fit, although it could probably be made to work somehow. Thunder Mountain Bikes gets the m7100 i165mm n from time to time, I put an alert on it and purchased when in stock. A pain to find otherwise

Gotcha, thank you! I found a 7100 from Germany for $115 shipped, but now my wife wants XT for pure ego reasons. Back to the hunt!

[Duffman]

XTs 8100 were somewhat easier to find I thought . Not enough difference for the $$$ for my tastes

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