Small bike build

[Bkat]

Building up a bike for my wife and we want to use Campagnolo Veloce. The problem is, she's small and I'm having a hard time finding 165mm cranks. (Campagnolo's power torque cranks smallest size is 170mm.) Suggestions? I saw Sugino has a couple of road options in the right length (Mighty Comp. Road and Mighty Tour) but they say they're only Shimano and SRAM compatible. Seems to be a dearth of bits for smaller bikes & riders.

[AngryScientist]

Use any cranks you want. They will all work with campy.

Trust me.

[VA-Scooter]

Not an expert but it seems like a crank would be one piece you could get away with a little bit of swapping. I think you can run the same chain on different brand components. Somebody who knows much more than I will pipe in .

[bargainguy]

Shimano makes lots of 165mm cranks if you want to go that route.

But I'll throw something completely different into the discussion. I'm a shorty myself (5'4) and have experimented with much shorter cranks. All of them were modified by Mark Stonich:

http://bikesmithdesign.com/Short_Cranks/index.html

[EricEstlund]

Campy 165 crank (http://www.campagnolo.com/jsp/en/groupsetdetail/item_guar165mm_catid_7.jsp)

http://www.campagnolo.com/repository/prodotti/img1/Guarnitura-165mm402x329.jpg

Not sure why it's a non series part, but they do make a 165.

[Grant McLean]

Not sure why it's a non series part, but they do make a 165.

It makes sense that it goes with any group without the model name.
What dealer would want to stock 165's in Athena, Chorus, Record, and Super-Record!

-g

[Vientomas]

I have used Shimano cranks with Campy everything else with no problem.

[Peter P.]

Lennard Zinn (http://zinncycles.com/Zinn/index.php/components/custom-cranks) offers custom crank lengths.

[oldpotatoe]

Building up a bike for my wife and we want to use Campagnolo Veloce. The problem is, she's small and I'm having a hard time finding 165mm cranks. (Campagnolo's power torque cranks smallest size is 170mm.) Suggestions? I saw Sugino has a couple of road options in the right length (Mighty Comp. Road and Mighty Tour) but they say they're only Shimano and SRAM compatible. Seems to be a dearth of bits for smaller bikes & riders.

Use any 10s crank, like a 165 5700 or 6700..fully compatible with Veloce 10s.

BTW-10s is 10s..all 10s spacing and chains and etc are the same widths.

As posted above, Campagnolo does make a 165 but gonna be hard to find..no distributor will be carrying it but some bog ones may be able to special order it direct from Campagnolo, ITL.

[Bkat]

Thanks to all! I wasn't sure if there would be spacing issues which is why I wanted to ask before I boxed myself in with bits that didn't play nice with each other. I did see the Campagnolo 165 which (I think) they consider to be Record level, but it seems to be a tough part to find since it's made in "limited numbers." I will explore the custom option as well. Her inseam is 69.9cm, which is pretty short.

[thwart]

Back a couple yrs ago when I built up my daughters' bikes and was looking for 165 mm cranks to run with a 10 spd Campy drivetrain, I found a nice used Stronglight compact and a NOS higher level Sugino compact (550 gms :eek:, I thought briefly about stealing it for one of my bikes...), both on eBay.

Pickings seem to be a bit slimmer now.

Harris Cyclery has a mid level Sugino compact here: http://harriscyclery.net/product/sugino-xd500-d-compact-double-crankset-110mm-48-34-teeth-3416.htm, and looks like there's a nice Shimano 700 level (Ultegra) compact at a reasonable price on eBay now as well.

[Bkat]

I did see Sugino offered shorter cranks. Did you use compact or standard cranks on your daughter's bike? Since my wife's bike will have 650c wheels, I know there's not a direct translation of the gearing I'm used to with my 700c wheels (34/50 w/12-27 in back) since her smaller wheels would make the gearing "lower."

[christian]

Ivy just got that 165mm Campagnolo crank for her Parlee. It's very nice - identical to the longer Record level cranks. But it's $475. And that's shopping at the 'mine. This is one place where alloy still helps offer more options.

[christian]

BTW, since your wife is running 650c wheels, you should know that Velomine has that crank in stock in 110bcd and 135bcd and offered to put 52/36 rings on the 110bcd one if she preferred.

[thwart]

Both bikes are 650c's (so is my wife's), and we're in an area with lots of short, relatively steep hills, so compacts with either 27 or 29 largest cassette cogs.

Lower gearing = good.

Triples would've worked, too... but too much in the way of shifting hassles...

[Bkat]

Thanks for the head's up the Velomine stock. I'm liking the idea of the Campagnolo crank but with my wife's inseam (69.9cm) I'm starting to wonder if 160mm is more appropriate than 165mm. Not sure. Based on formulas like Zinn's she'd be closer to 150 to 155! Anyways, I did see Sugino has a couple options on their website for 160mm as did Specialities TA Vega, which goes down to 155mm if that turns out to be the way to go.

We're in an area as flat as a pancake so the biggest issue is headwinds...which are sort of like flat mountains without the view.

[bargainguy]

I have short legs. I'm running 146 on one bike and 148 on another. My take on short cranks:

Pro: Easier to spin. No toe overlap issues whatsoever. Easier to deal with on folding bikes, doesn't take up as much room in a case or bag.

Con: Not as much leverage against wind, hills, etc.

[estuche]

Sugino offers 165mm cranks

[Louis]

Sugino offers 165mm cranks

This one may actually be worth something.

[Erik_A]

I put this 135mm on my daughter's bike: $40, with a BB:

http://www.bikewagon.com/aerus-composites-al-crankset-135mm-50-34t-isis-black

Aerus Composites AL Crankset 135mm 50-34T ISIS Black

110BCD with alloy chainrings. No bling factor, but a nice crank in a hard to find size.

It is currently "out of stock" - I bought one 3 weeks ago.

[oldpotatoe]

Building up a bike for my wife and we want to use Campagnolo Veloce. The problem is, she's small and I'm having a hard time finding 165mm cranks. (Campagnolo's power torque cranks smallest size is 170mm.) Suggestions? I saw Sugino has a couple of road options in the right length (Mighty Comp. Road and Mighty Tour) but they say they're only Shimano and SRAM compatible. Seems to be a dearth of bits for smaller bikes & riders.

Use shimano, like 5700 or 6700, work well, and will work with Veloce.

[cmg]

some low priced alternatives from bikewagon, http://www.bikewagon.com/road/cranksets?crankset_length=604