Hello everyone,
Is there anyone out there who can get hold of a pair of nice carbon double cranks in 160mm.
Long cranks with short legs are a disadvantage. This is especially apparent when you are climbing - Cadence slows down and you can't change pace quickly. Long cranks will also damage your knees because of the angle at 'top dead centre'. Women riders don't seem to be aware of how crank length can affect performance. There are some 5ft women out there who ride on 172.5mm's!
I have a leg length of 28 1/2 in and ride 160mm cranks. This is ideal for me. In the past I have used 150mm 155mm and of course 170mm. I am looking to upgrade my TA Carmina cranks with something carbon! Any comments?

I really think you are going to be out of luck unfortunately. You could look at zipp or fsa or time or ritchey - but not many manufactures go down to 160mm - and I ride 155mm cranks (TA vega lite). Not very useful - sorry but good luck in the search and would be interested if you find any.

I've not thought about this....
My legs are 33 inches long - what length my should my crank be?

if thats full leg length and not just trouser length then I' say you should be riding on standard 170mm length cranks. In my opinion anything less than 29 1/2in (75cm)you should consider shorter than 170mm. There are scientific formulae to calculate leg length but i do think it also depends on the type of rider and the sort of riding you do. At the bike shop where I work we have explored most of the ways to calculate length of crank - I was one of the 'guinea pigs'!! hope this helps!

Lisa, sorry for the late reply, no that was trouser leg length. I mountain bike, mainly xc and technical trails, what's the formula?

Queenie, As a basic guide Highpath Engineering quote a figure of 20%-22% of effective leg length, rounded to the nearest 5mm. There is more info for you to gen up if you check their website - highpath.co.uk. Sheldonbrown.com is another useful site. If you use the 20% formula the crank length comes out quite short. I personally have experimented with 150mm right through to 160mm. One woman in my team uses 175mm cranks on one of her bikes and is only a little taller than me. I know that if she shortened her cranks she'd have a better turn of speed when an attach goes in the bunch. I just need to find the right opportunity to discuss it with her.

Thanks Lisa, this will also be good for my OH's dodgy knees.