Changing Chainset on a bike

gears

I'm thinking of dragging an old mountain bike out of the garage and it could do with replacing some worn parts, chainset, cassette, chain etc. I'll be doing this on a small budget and I have found a site that will do a good deal on all parts but the only have chainsets instock with 170mm arms while the bike currently has 175mm. I haven't ridden this bike in a long time so it's not like i'll be hopping off it changing chainsets and riding away. So do you think I'll be ok or should I just look elsewhere and get 175mm arms?

Tonyandthewhale

It depends, some people are very picky about cranklength whereas others wouldn't be fussed. It's not something I'd worry about too much. I've ridden 170, 172.5 and 175mm cranks at different times and never had any noticeable issues.

gears

I didn't think it would make a huge difference myself and just wanted a second opinion. Thanks

macnab

gears wrote: »

I didn't think it would make a huge difference myself and just wanted a second opinion. Thanks

I changed from 175mm to 165mm on my roadbike without a problem, my commuter is 170mm which is not noticeable when changing from the roadbike.

cdaly_

It's quite possible that the chainset is still ok. It will certainly have worn much slower than chain or cassette. It's probably worth doing the other bits first and then see how it goes.

gears

There is definite signs of wear on the chainset plus I had trouble putting a new pedal on it years ago and I had to recut the threads on the arm so I'd prefer to just change it at this stage. But thanks for the suggestion.