SRAM has officially launched 150mm and 155mm crank arms to the public, bringing some of the shortest cranks from the WorldTour into bike shops for the first time.
The release follows their use by Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) last season, satisfying UCI rules that require professional riders to race only on commercially available equipment. It was not just an experiment, and the industry now seems happy to stand behind the shorter options.
In one sense, the launch simply underlines what we all know, that shorter cranks are no longer a novelty in the pro peloton. What once felt radical – 165mm cranks on a road bike – now feels comparatively long in this context, giving riders a much broader range to choose from or experiment with.
Many WorldTour riders have already migrated away from 175mm cranks. However, based on our own investigations in the hotel car parks of Lille last summer, 172.5mm cranks were still widely in use and common on many riders’ bikes.
The news that these shorter lengths are now available from SRAM isn’t just about shorter cranks; it’s about how short they are, as they are well outside the observable norms now.
In the never-ending hunt for watts and marginal gains, it’s no surprise to see ‘chasing’ teams like Visma-Lease a Bike willing to explore the lower limits of crank length in search of those elusive gains.
Vingegaard’s use of them, and now SRAM’s decision to sell them, shifts the debate. The question is no longer whether shorter cranks work in elite cycling – that has been answered – but rather where the practical limit lies.
Riders are not interchangeable, a truth few brands like to admit given the restrictions implicit in kit supplied in fixed sizes. Leg length, hip mobility, muscle recruitment, and cadence all influence how a crank length feels.
A compact climber with huge cadence and good control might find a short crank transformative. A taller rider with a naturally lower cadence may find the same setup awkward, even if the power numbers look good.
While pros can experiment with these changes more freely, consumers are navigating these changes with their wallets, and crank length also has an impact on other areas of bike fit.
Therefore, before you rush out and buy a set of tiny cranks, you might want to consider a bike fit first, where a professional fitter can observe your pedal stroke and point you toward a crank length that might work for you, or check out our guides to dig into the subject in a little more detail.
