A couple of weeks back, I wrote about my bike fit and the recommendation from my fitter to move to shorter cranks.  I finally had all the parts to install shorter cranks, and so that is what I did today.

I am moving from 170mm cranks down to cranks that are 160mm long.  To do this required a concurrent change to my bottom bracket and power meter.  The installation process went OK, but like most things, it took way longer than expected.

The removal of my old crankset, power meter and bottom bracket went very smoothly. Installation of my new BBInfinite bottom bracket proved quite challenging.  It was a really tight fit and so I really took my time, so as to make sure I didn’t do any damage to my bike.  It took longer than expected, mostly because I have very little experience in working with bottom brackets.

Assembly of the power meter, chainrings and cranks was OK, but the guys from BBInfinite, recommended putting the cranks in my freezer for 30 minutes.  This was so the axle would shrink ever so slightly, thereby making installation into the bottom bracket easier.  It really did help, it just added time to the process.

Once everything was installed, I added a freshly waxed chain, and then made some slight adjustments to my derailleurs.  Once the gears were changing smoothly, I took the bike for a quick spin, to check everything was working well. Everything was fine and I like the feel of the shorter cranks, especially riding uphill in aero position.

The final adjustment needed to complete my bike fit, is to tweak the cockpit.  I need to extend it out a little more.  This is going to require some “engineering”, so it will be another week or so before everything is done.  So far however, my new position is feeling good.

P.S.  I will be selling my old Quarq power meter  and the BBInfinite ceramic bearing bottom bracket that goes with it … let me know if you are interested in buying it.