I’m 180cm but have very short legs, 76cm inseam. I went to three well-regarded bike fitters and none of them suggested crank length to me, I ended up replacing my 56cm frame with a 54cm frame because all three fitters said my current frame was too large for me. Guess what, I should’ve just gotten shorter cranks.
I’ve been using Rotor’s Aldhu oval chain rings with 155mm cranks for the last 2 years and am very happy with the setup. My personal benefits have been:
- More aerodynamic. I can get lower in the drops without my knees hitting my torso.
- I can pedal through turns that most folks can’t.
- I can spin up noticeably faster than when I was using 172.5mm cranks; granted this is largely due to gearing, but it also disproves the argument that longer cranks provide more leverage on geared drivetrains.
- I get to be a shorter crank apologist to the folks that poke fun at me for running “women-sized cranks”.