I do alot of muni on my torker dx and I ride in very hilly areas with pretty technical sections in them. What’s been happening alot of times is I don’t have enough leverage to slow myself down going down the steep hills and I’m going out of control in places where you don’t want that to happen. I haven’t had problems going up hills but I was wondering if changing to 170mm cranks would help this by adding more leverage. And does the added crank length make technical riding harder or easier?
if your 13, you don’t want 170’s. I can barely ride with 165’s, but you might want them.
thanks do you ride a 24?
no one else? this is kinda urgent because I’m going to the bike shop tomorrow.
I ride a trials.
when using friends 24s, I like 150’s WAY more than 165’s. 165’s pedal strike constantly, and they just feel too long. its more preferance though.
Yeah I learnt to ride on the muni on my avatar with 172mm cranks. It made riding a 20" like hell. Stick with 165’s as a max. My dad’s muni has 150’ and they are just perfect.
There aren’t many choices out there that’ll work with the Torker DX hub, but my riding buddy has 175s on his DX. He does get more pedal strikes, but he likes it for the extra torque on climbs. On descents, I’m not so sure of the advantages–but he has a brake, too, that he uses when he’s heading downhill. When he bought the cranks, it was mostly to help on uphills. I have 165s on my muni, and I’d take the extra torque anyday over 150s, but my son likes the 150s on his. But he’s 15, almost as tall as me, but probably a good 60 pounds lighter than I am!
I use 170’s on my KH, and they’re really good for extra leverage uphill and down. In fact, my friends had 165’s for a while, and believe it or not, the 5mm actually was enough of a change to make it slightly more difficult to ride. I’m 6’, though, so YMMV.
Keep your 150s and get a brake. I’ve just gone from 165s to 150s on my 24" Muni and found I am making a lot more lines than before. The 150s are easier to push over the top when you might stall with the 165s. KH went to 150s on the 24s for a reason, I think he knows what he is doing.
I’ve ridden more combinations of crank and wheel size than most. I went through a craze of short cranks a few years back, and then through a craze of long cranks. I’ve tried cranks from about 80 mm to 170 mm and I have wheels from 20" to 36". I am about 170 cm tal (5’7").
Long cranks make more difference going down hill than up. They give you that extra bit of confidence that the uni won’t run out of control.
However, as you develop your style and technique, it will become less important. I used to struggle up and down hills on a 26 with 150s that I now ride on a 28 with 114s, and have ridden on the 28 with 110s and even 102s.
Long cranks will give you more leverage, at the expense of a slower, less smooth action. You gain torque but lose momentum. That’s why the advantage is greater on descents - you are trying to avoid momentum building up. On an uphill, you can find yourself stalling at “top dead centre” on long cranks.
I’ve ridden 24x3 munis with 140, 150, 165 and 170 cranks, the 165 are my favourties for very technical riding, the 150s didnt give me the control i need for taking drops and rough ground. As for hill climbing, the longer cranks can power you up short steep sections but on long sections unless you are very fit you won’t be able to grind your way up in half crank revolutions, keeping spinning on shorter cranks will work better.
What cranks fit on a DX hub? Ive never heard of any cranks other than the stock DX cranks fitting on that hub.
The problem with that is that Kris Holm is probably twice as strong as I am and a brake is completely out of the question price wise. I’m thinking about switching over to 165’s and seeing how that is. If I don’t like it I’ll just switch back. Anybody know how much splined cranks for the dx would cost? they don’t have ones that would fit at the bike shop.
A set of cranks will cost more than a second hand set of brakes off ebay, i just got a good set of Magura HS33s for £10.50
I must be really missing something because whenever I look at brakes, the v-brakes are like 100$ and magura’s are 150$.
you trying ebay?
Brand new, latest model, all parts included, $30. Sure it’s bound to go up a little, but there’s not even any bids on it yet.
oh thanks! do you know how much weight a brake adds? I’m thinking magura but if you know post the weight of a v-brake too
for a bike 460g, but you don’t need the brake booster and you need to replace the heavy evolution clamps so that will be a little less (and you can sell these parts on ebay again and get a few $$ back), i’ve never noticed the extra weight on my muni. V-brake would be lighter. Does the frame you have have magura mounts on it?
yup. I’m still not sure if I want a brake. I’ll keep muniing and see how it goes. I’m also thinking if I stick with 150mm cranks then I’ll get stronger and then my problem will solve itself.