Pedal Scrape

Harrybelafonte

I'm in the habit if pedalling around corners and twice today my pedals hit the ground. No major wobbles, but it's annoying. Are shorter cranks the only option?

DirkVoodoo

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

I'm in the habit if pedalling around corners and twice today my pedals hit the ground. No major wobbles, but it's annoying. Are shorter cranks the only option?

I'm guessing you are on a fixie?

What lengths are your current cranks?

You could be cheap and just take the corners slightly slower or wider, depending on which is easier.

Of course, if this is on a bike with a freewheel/hub then you just have rubbish technique :P

blorg

Different pedals have different cornering clearances- what do you use now? Standard platforms would probably be among the worst. Other than that it is really mostly about technique, you should be able to pedal around most corners reasonably effectively without getting pedal strike.

Harrybelafonte

DirkVoodoo wrote: »

I'm guessing you are on a fixie?

What lengths are your current cranks?

You could be cheap and just take the corners slightly slower or wider, depending on which is easier.

Of course, if this is on a bike with a freewheel/hub then you just have rubbish technique :P

F**k you smart ass! :rolleyes:

SS Bowery, but trying to get used to the "concept" of fixed. I've always pedaled through though, but I lean a good bit I think. Straps scrape if I'm not quick enough to get foot in too.

BTW I think you replied to a query I had about the Drumcondra hill a while back and how hard or otherwise it was. Tackled it today and was pleasantly surprised and how easy I found it. Took it easy and the last stretch but could have gone a bit harder. Wahey!

blorg

You will be able to lean over more with a clipless system. Clipless generally works better with a fixed wheel in any case. I'd just go fixed and you will get used to it quick enough.

DirkVoodoo

Singlespeed? You should have your inside leg at 12 O Clock on the turn so. Doing this also means you can put pressure on the outside pedal and lower your chance of slipping out. If you corner right, then you shouldn't need to pedal through the corner as your momentum will carry you through. For commuting, I don't think the risk of coming off if you hit a pedal is worth doing it.

Smartass? Well, I can't help that one...

Harrybelafonte

Yeah i figured it was one or the other, the technique is fine i Just prefer to pedal. I guess I'll just have to stop it. Thanks guys

Lumen

Ha. Dirk registers almost nothing on the smart-arse scale, despite his so-called degree in so-called mechanical engineering.

My roadbike has 175mm cranks, with 90mm vertical clearance at BDC and 160mm distance from centreline to outside of the pedal.

A simple calculation (degrees(atan(90/160)) shows that I can lean just over 29 degrees from vertical before getting pedal strike at BDC.

If I had 165mm cranks I would get another 2.7 degrees of lean, and I would get another 1.7 degrees by reducing Q-factor by 10mm on each side. Probably.

No doubt the right combination of crank length, Q-factor and pedal width will give you sufficient lean angle to require knee sliders, but one could argue that the point of a fixie is not to go as fast as possible so such a quest would be utterly pointless.