Need special advice on buying cranksets for someone with a shorter leg.

SGR1976

Hi there!

I'm Santiago from Argentina and I got a question for you all. When I was 12 I had bone cancer in the tibia, and due to radiation treatment my right leg grew slower, resulting by the age of 18 in a 4 cm (around 1,57 inches) difference between both legs.
Cycling is my passion since then, and I always use orthopedic shoes for it. But there is more than a problem with them... they are getting quite expensive, they wear out fast (since they are not designed for cycling) and you cannot use pedal clips since cycling shoes are not modifiable. I'm planning on buying two diferent cranksets, one shorter than the other, to allow me to use normal cycling shoes, clips and so on, thus compensating with the difference between legs.
Since I'm about to purchase a bike with deore M610 group on it, is the ideal time to make the change.

So my question is: are there any brands you know that offer custom crank sets, tailor made? You know any off the box models that are longer or shorter than usual? Local bike shops don't have a clue, cause they don't have access to the information and products you have, so please tell me if you know of any brand and model.

Thanks for your time, your answer helps a lot.

Santiago

The Rookie

Cranksets are available in different lengths, form a childrens at circa 150mm to the longest commonly available at 180mm. The shortest normally available in adult lengths are 165mm which may not be enough of a difference for you.

Personally I'd look at getting a local fabricator to make an adaptor you can bolt to the bottom of the cycle shoe using the 4 cleat bolt holes and then a cleat to the bottom of that, could be in steel or Al, nothing too high tech just a simple metal bracket. You may still want different cranks lengths as well of course as the leg will sweep a different size comfortably although all the test evidence says its more personal preference than anything scientific.