Crank length and hill climbs

[tholub]

@joejumps4fun

Does anyone know the average AND top speed(s) of a 36" for every crank size? Like 150, 127, 114, 102, and 89, as well as the level of control for each?

The top speed is whatever setup Chuck Edwall is riding. It’s much more about the rider than the crank length.

Klaas’ idea of Total Gear Ratio will give you an idea of how much speedup you can expect with a given setup, based on how fast you are with a different setup:

New concept: Total Gear Ratio

Before the days of geared unicycles, our poor man’s gearing was in choosing other crank lengths and wheel sizes. Mikefule did some good research on this a few years ago and came up with the Constant Food Speed Hypothesis (CFSH). Maybe somewhat jokingly but he was onto something: if wheel size (and hub gear) are constant, then making the crank smaller by a factor x results in a speed increase by a factor x. In addition, making the wheel larger by a factor of y (and leaving crank length and hub ge…

The level of control is a personal thing as well. It’s safe to say that there’s not much control on a 36 with cranks shorter than 125mm; descending and turning can be smoother, but any sort of situation where you have to fight your momentum is a losing battle.