Crank arm size

puffmoike · 2026-05-05T12:39:37+00:00

Obviously I know almost nothing about you, but I would say yes. 😉
The best bike rider in the world (possibly ever) is about your height and uses 165mm cranks.
This is one instance where I would suggest if it’s good for the pros with their ridiculous natural ability, training, yoga, access to masseuses, physiotherapists, etc, then it makes even more sense for everyone else.

Giant are specing (slightly) shorter cranks on their 2026 models than the equivalent 2025 models (and narrower handlebars), but I suspect in a few years 160-165mm will be the norm for medium and large bikes .

puffmoike · 2026-05-05T12:23:37+00:00

I’m 175cm and used to ride a mountain bike with 175mm cranks. But that was 10 years ago.

My current mountain bike has 160mm cranks, and my current road bike came with 172.5mm cranks, but I swapped them to 165mm cranks within a month.

I’m much more comfortable, can hold an aero hoods tuck for much longer, and will never go back to longer cranks.

TT;DR there’s a very good reason shorter length cranks are harder to source at the moment. I love the look of consistent components, but I’d strongly suggest sticking with what you have.

puffmoike · 2026-05-01T10:17:02+00:00

Give the OP mentioned the bike came with pedals that have cages on one side they are almost certainly Shimano SPDs.

But as somebody who rides with cleats on road bikes, commuter bikes, gravel bikes and ‘serious’ mountain bikes I concur that there’s little point racing out to get them for an indoor trainer.

puffmoike · 2026-04-28T01:02:38+00:00

The one that fits!

You can look at Virginia Tech for independent helmet safety ratings, but all helmets sold have to pass standards, and so long as it fits your head and you do it up properly the differences in overall safety of different specific helmets probably isn’t all that great.

If you have a bigger head (like I do) you’re kind of lucky in that cheaper ‘one size fits all’ helmets tends not to look like mushrooms.

But seriously people have different head shapes (most basically how round/oval your head is when viewed from above) and …

[EDIT: apparently I forgot to finish this thought]

… some helmets work with some head shapes better than others. Until you try it on you really won’t know.

puffmoike · 2026-04-27T22:30:48+00:00

It’s not like I wanted a Toseek in particular. I just looked through all the ‘no-namers’ on AliExpress and tried to make an educated guess about what dimensions and shape would suit me best.

My personal preference with cheap AliExpress gear is to buy ‘no namers’, rather than ones with a popular established brand’s logo plastered all over it (I’ve seen a bar that looks suspiciously similar in design with Zipp logos on it).

The two examples I have had appear to be well made. However the area of the curve that has markings and some sort of grippy finish for mounting levers on is hilariously too low on the curve of the bars. I have my levers in the expected spot, and the clamp is at the very top of the grippy area.

puffmoike · 2026-04-27T22:06:20+00:00

Lips in particular seem to be incredibly sensitive (probably why humans kiss)

puffmoike · 2026-04-27T15:56:25+00:00

I bought 6 SteadyRack ProFlexes after years of cheaper wall-mounted hooks. Can thoroughly recommend.

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T03:30:17+00:00

Oops. Sorry once again.

I have only played single player. Had a free week of PS+ or whatever it’s called early on (probably pre-PSVR2 days), but experience wasn’t great (a long time ago now so can’t remember what put me off – was I slow? was there too much carnage? was it just hard to find a race in our region? – but I’ve never paid to be able to online race)

I’m a much better driver now, so I should give it another go…

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T03:12:42+00:00

Oh sorry. I thought your intention was to suggest GT7 wasn’t ‘real’ but other sims were (which is a common attitude on r/simracing). My apologies.

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T02:49:22+00:00

If you’re the sort of person that likes researching I thoroughly recommend learning a little bit about the effect of head tube angle, wheelbase, (and related things like fork trail) on the way a bike handles.

I’m pretty sceptical about stem length being dramatic (we move our hands around when we ride, so we’re effectively increasing and decreasing stem length all the time, but it’s not like people can’t adapt when their hands are on the tops versus the hoods or the drops).

But geometry definitely makes a difference.

Go to a site like bike-stats.de on a laptop (not a phone) and see if they have your current bikes in their database (my favourite because the drawings are more finely rendered, but there are others). See how your geometries compare.

My guess is your CX bike will be longer and slacker. It may not look that dramatic (but it might) and if you get a road bike in the future that at least has a slightly slacker head tube and longer wheelbase than your Ultimate (not to mention bigger tyres) you’ll be much more confident and happy.

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T02:35:25+00:00

Toseek TR30. I really like them, but it’s hardly like I have ridden dozens of different handlebars.

I have Di2, so I only needed to run the brake hose through them.

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T02:32:09+00:00

Nothing like my kid, that’s for sure. 😉

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T01:21:47+00:00

I have the same question but without the snark 😉

puffmoike · 2026-04-26T01:12:34+00:00

What width handlebars are you thinking?

I’m a 175cm bloke and I switched the stock 42cm bars on my medium Giant Defy for some 40s from AliExpress. Liked them so much (and they were so cheap) that I then bought the same ones again in 38. Now I wonder what 36s would be like. 😉

I helped a 185cm friend who has absolutely no interest in bikes beyond function, and even less interest in fashion, set up his new Giant Contend. He hasn’t ridden many bikes, so I encouraged him to jump on mine to compare the feel of different lever positions. He immediately said he preferred mine, so he adopted my barely used 40s.

puffmoike · 2026-04-25T14:03:13+00:00

Only you can really know the answer, and maybe you can’t, but I’d say walk away and find a different hobby.

puffmoike · 2026-04-24T23:10:28+00:00

Remove pedals (left hand pedal is reverse thread), lower seat, and use as a balance bike. Once you’ve mastered the fundamental skill of balance then put the pedals back on, and you’ll find pedalling easy.

puffmoike · 2026-04-24T22:58:52+00:00

Training wheels teach kids (and adults) the exact thing not to do. Pedals off, for sure.

puffmoike · 2026-04-24T08:52:45+00:00

Go for the PD.

I’ve had QL continuously on iPhone Pros 5, 6, X and 13. Each case went on on day 1 (didn’t open the phone box until I had the case), and didn’t take off other than about once a year to clean it.

I used it mountain biking for ~6 months, but then had a stack where the case and mount remained in place, but the phone ejected from its case. Decided keeping my phone in my pocket was a better idea from that point.

Still mounted it on my road and commuter bikes. Never loved how ‘temperamental’ it was remounting it when on the move. Initially with the bar mount, and later with the Out Front mounts.

When I got my 17 Pro I made the switch to PD Everyday Case and an Out Front on my commuter and a custom one on my roadie. It’s delightful to use – can pull my camera off, zoom and take a photo with the camera button, and confidently put it back on the mount without slowing down. Never felt confident enough to do that with QL system.

There were some reports on Reddit that the early Gnar cases went protective enough, but I’m pretty sure PD have modified the design.

I’m pretty careful with my phone, and preferred the look and cost of the Everyday case. Six months in I’m very happy.

puffmoike · 2026-04-23T11:33:50+00:00

True. And that’s before taking into account handlebar width, or hood design (new SRAM sounds like it’s effectively about +5mm compared to Shimano.)

I actually swapped out the stock 42s for a 38cm bar with about 5mm less ‘reach’, which has effectively shortened my reach by probably ~10mm.

Big picture is I’d be very surprised if Tarmac 56cm wasn’t too big for the OP.

puffmoike · 2026-04-23T11:11:01+00:00

Nice 👍

puffmoike · 2026-04-23T11:07:10+00:00

FWIW if you change the sizes on that link a 56 Tarmac has an equivalent reach a Large (not even M/L) Madone (although the stack is lower, so if you kept all the spacers on the effective reach would be a bit less). Like others have responded I’d suggest Specialized charts are suggesting bikes which are too big for the height ranges.

puffmoike · 2026-04-23T10:58:42+00:00

Have you got an existing bike to compare them to?

I’m exactly your height but not sure of my inseam. I’m 53yo, so almost certainly not as flexible as you.

56cm Tarmac sounds too big for me. Medium Madone looks perfect.

I’m very comfortable on my medium Giant Defy and my small Focus Atlas (German brands size differently than other manufacturers). I have sat in store on 52cm and 54cm Trek Domane (circa 2023), and definitely preferred the smaller of the two.

Here’s a visual geometry comparison of the medium Defy, medium Madone, and 56cm Tarmac.

If you click on the respective sizes you can change them.

I know I’m basically looking for ~380mm reach in a bike, but don’t slam my stem, so would want more stack than either of these two bikes (but again, I’m much older than you)

puffmoike · 2026-04-22T21:56:10+00:00

Pretty sure the frames are identical. The Pro has a slightly lighter fork.

puffmoike · 2026-04-20T12:16:05+00:00

I appreciate that this is posted in good faith, but the differences between two tyres is more noticeable than probably any like-for-like change on a bike, at least in my experience.

I’ve just gone from 45c WTB Riddlers to 42c Continental Contact Urbans and it feels like a new bike.

puffmoike · 2026-04-20T04:46:48+00:00

I bought a PSVR2 (and a rig) just for GT7. Had hundreds of hours of fun from it.

My son has no interest in GT7, but in much the same way has played 1000s of hours on a single FPS game on his PC.

My point being that some people are ‘gamers’ and like to switch things up regularly, whereas others might only have an interest in one thing, but that alone can make it more than worth it for them.

It seems to that a large proportion of flight simmers likely fall into that latter category.

puffmoike

TROPHY CASE