The more I see this subject pop up, the more I think it’s down to what you’re comfortable with. Of course, if you’re taller or shorter, physiologically you’ll be more more suited to longer or shorter cranks because of the length of your limbs. But plenty of people prefer cranks outside of the norms.
I’m bang smack in the middle at 5’10. My daily is a track bike with 165mm cranks and I’ve been using that crankset since about 2010. I’m used to that crankset because I’ve probably done 30-40,000 miles on it. My mtb and cargo bikes both have 175mm mtb cranks. Almost all mtb cranks are 175mm. They always ‘feel’ too big for me, like I’m having to wang my legs up and down too much, probably not helped by the fact that they’re wide. But my track cranks feel small and twiddly for a short while when I switch back to that bike. I always felt my 170mm road cranks were probably the sweet spot for me.
Amazing! I’ve never seen that page before. Enjoyed that!