My first bike of choice was a Fuji ACR 3.0 (2010 model). The bike fit me perfectly and I rode over 2000 miles without getting a flat tire. The bad news is I never had the opportunity to learn how to change my tire. The only downside of the bike was that it comes standard with a compact crank set. I have no idea why they even make these. Is it for weight or looks or just giving them a new product to sell, I can’t tell you. All I know is that my quest to utilize my height and get longer crank arms (200mm instead of 175mm), was impossible to do on a compact crank set. AND the compact crank set is limited to 52 as the number of teeth on the chainring. My idea was to use the longest crank available with the highest number of teeth possible to be able to ride as I’m capable.
The only way to obtain that goal was to get another bike that didn’t have a compact crank set so I could put my longer custom crank arms on. I’m no mathematician, engineer or inventor, but Archimedes was. I want to use his principle of the lever.
The second bike of choice to achieve this goal, was 2009 FUJI D-6. One weekend before my race last year, I finally had my longer cranks and large chainring. I had that Saturday and the following Tuesday to ‘get used to’ the longer cranks. I was lucky that it felt comfortable to me right away. I had spent over 2000 miles on shorter cranks during the year and was a bit concerned that the extra length would tire my legs out quicker because I was not used to using the muscles in my legs required to push the longer lever. Even though I was only adding 1 1/4 inches (25mm) to the overall length, you would be amazed at how different it feels. I was suddenly riding on what felt like a ‘big boy’s bike’. That almost insignificant length made such a difference.
Now, I’ll have all year to ride on the longer crank arms and can’t wait to see what a difference it makes.
