no: the stall zone is not limited to the strictly vertical position: it is an arc and this arc is shorter with shorter cranks. I can feel the difference even when going slowly uphill … well there are limits: this is true for me only when I am not short on torque and when the road is not bumpy.
please note that I am not a good rider: when going slowly uphill I often fall because I lose balance. Curiously with shorter cranks it is easier for me to regain quickly balance.
now also part of this impression may be due to the fact that while swiching from 150 to 125 to 110 I made progress in my riding…
So I was just challenging common wisdom:o
I still don’t agree (sorry :o). The pedals rotate once per wheel revolution, so the angular speed is the same whatever the crank length. They are within your “stall arc” for the same time per wheel revolution whatever the crank length. My argument is that with the lower torque of shorter cranks the arc where you would stall is actually bigger than it would be with longer cranks.
But, with the reduced torque of short cranks you are forced to ride faster up hills, and at a higher speed the ACTUAL time (not the proportion of the revolution) that the pedals spend in the stalling zone each revolution is shorter, so making you less likely to lose balance - as long as you have the strength and stamina to keep up the speed.
Rob
interesting: I still maintain that when I come to a near standstill when climbing I can more quickly recover my balance with shorter cranks.
Is this objective? I would need a slow motion camera to understand.
I’ll try to experiment.