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So I bought one of those cheap Vitus Razor VR road bikes from CRC for my turbo and thought it would be perfect. Except I hate the Microshift X9 groupset and square taper cranks etc. I know it doesn’t matter and I should just get on with it, but I can’t!
Found the follow which I’ve purchased:
Sram Rival 22 double tap shifters £75 for the pair (for cable brakes so not popular now) - new
Sram Rival front mech - £25 new
Sram Rival rear mech (secondhand) £19.95
Shimano 105 r7000 11 speed crankset £62 - new
I’ve already got a 105 cassette lurking around.
Just need a chain and a bb.
Looking for a cheap 11 speed chain I’ve found a pc-x1 sram chain - technically an mtb chain - but this should fit and work ok shouldn’t it?
I think 11 speed is all cross compatible cassette / chain / chainrings isn’t it? Just shifters and mechs you can’t mix / match as sram and Shimano have a different pull ratio.
That's all correct, just check the chain is long enough - better to get a 116 link one to be safe.
Incidentally you can use a Shimano front mech with SRAM road shifters if you want, that's what I've got on my winter bike.
Where did you get a 105 chainset for £62?
Am always tempted, although I imagine 165mm are never reduced 🙄
Ribble. £62 for the 105 in 172.5mm length, or they had a non series 11 speed one for £56 I think it was. As I understand it the 105 is hollowtech and the non series is solid and is a tiagra equivalent level - but 11 speed.
Didn't see any short cranks that cheap - I think someone had asked that question and Ribble said they only offered those on full builds and they’re rarer.
Why would you want something that short on a road bike - not like you need to worry about clearance from hitting rocks etc?
@finbar - thanks - that was my understanding but reading online there were various mixed comments on it. Mainly I think people believing the coolade about Shimano hyperglide
Why would you want something that short on a road bike – not like you need to worry about clearance from hitting rocks etc?
There's been a good bit of chat on bike fitting videos and articles, shorter cranks can improve fit by opening up the hip angle and taking strain off low back muscles.
No tangible evidence it reduces power although I think some suggest you might want slightly lower gearing to compensate for loss of leverage.
Shorter cranks goes back years but people seem to be be more aware of it recently. I remember readong an article about Mike Burrows being a big advocate of them and used drill and tap additional holes on his cranks to get shorter than was available.
Apparently he rode 130mm cranks, I thought I was experimental dropping to 172.5mm
https://forum.cyclinguk.org/viewtopic.php?t=74991
Why would you want something that short on a road bike – not like you need to worry about clearance from hitting rocks etc?
Dunno, might be something to do with knees, hips, biomechanics.
I'd not be surprised if half of all roadies would actually benefit from shorter cranks. And a good chunk would magically find that niggly pains would disappear. Probably similar numbers off road too
@joebristol - sorry, didn't mean to derail your thread! 😂
I have 160mm Ultegra cranks on my summer road bike and after about two rides of feeling weird, I like them.
I've gone that short as it reduces hip flexion at the top of the pedal stroke and I have dodgy arthritic hips.
I went 172.5 as they were the cheapest and the same as on my other road bike 🤷♂️
I don’t do mega miles on road - mostly just commute / max hour turbo / occasional summer fitness blast for a couple of hours if I haven’t go time to mtb.
172.5mm cranks will be totally fine, as long as you don't go down any YouTube rabbit holes about bike fitting.
I ride 165mm on MTB and 172.5 on road and gravel. Absolute non-issue.
Yeah I’ve had no issues with that crank length on the turbo or road so far so quite happy with the bargain purchase. <br /><br />
Did my first proper turbo on the new bike last night - I’ve had appendicitis so a month or so off riding - the ramp test last night showed I’m down to 215w ftp sadly 😢
Although I do now have a rocker plate under the bike so it’ll be interesting to see if that effect power - it’s more comfy than a turbo just flat on the ground though.