| < Note 588.0 by RETORT::SCHNARE "CHARLIE SCHNARE" >
-< Unequal Leg Lenghts >-
I would think that the best way to compensate for this would be similar to the
way in which it is compensated for walking...build up the shorter leg to match
the longer one. For biking, I'd set the seat height for the longer leg, then
build up the pedal (in this case, add a 1.75" block) for the short leg.
I'm sure I've heard of this for smaller differences. Don't know if such a
large difference would cause a problem.
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Well, the right answer is probably a combination of smaller
circle via a shorter crank and getting that circle's centre closer
to the saddle via some kind of pedal blocks. As I remember .0,
it was about a 1 3/4 inch difference; unless the person has one
leg that's right on the edge of being either too long or too short
for a 170mm crank it shouldn't be necessary to use unequal crank
arms, however theoretically correct that might seem. There must
be millions of people riding around on 170mm cranks with leg lengths
ranging from very short to very long, I doubt that many of them
ever bother to go to longer or shorter cranks. Blocks seem the
simplest solution for "close enough".
I have bikes with 165mm (quasi track bike) to 175mm (ATB pretender),
and a couple in between, it doesn't make THAT much difference in
practice. (Well, the short ones do help to keep the pedals from
digging into the black top on sweeping curves...)
Reg
{I could do the geometry (honest I could) but it wouldn't come
out on a terminal.}
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