Knees hurting from cycling

annejohn91

I have a previous knee injury and it took a long time to recovery from it.

I recently started back cycling not thinking it would further hurt my knees. I have a hybrid and it is quite heavy. I cycled 3 times last week to and from work with only a total of 60km but OUCH my knees have been burning hot and so sore.

I got a new bike today which is a lot lighter than my last one. My problem is how do I adjust this bike to help with my knees? How should I be seated on the bike.

When I am sitting on the saddle should I be able to touch the ground with my feet or just my tippy toes?

Very confused??? Any advice would be great

StevieGriff

annejohn91 wrote: »

I have a previous knee injury and it took a long time to recovery from it.

I recently started back cycling not thinking it would further hurt my knees. I have a hybrid and it is quite heavy. I cycled 3 times last week to and from work with only a total of 60km but OUCH my knees have been burning hot and so sore.

I got a new bike today which is a lot lighter than my last one. My problem is how do I adjust this bike to help with my knees? How should I be seated on the bike.

When I am sitting on the saddle should I be able to touch the ground with my feet or just my tippy toes?

Very confused??? Any advice would be great

Get a bike fit. Where you based?

annejohn91

StevieGriff wrote: »

Get a bike fit. Where you based?

I am based in Tallaght. I bought the bike today from Halfords but they had no clue as to what the best position would be for me

mathie

100% recommend the bike fit.
Id the same problem and it fixed it.

annejohn91

mathie wrote: »

100% recommend the bike fit.
Id the same problem and it fixed it.

Thank you! where could I get a bike fit in Dublin region does anyone know?

07Lapierre

Check out GCN videos on YouTube...
Saddle height, along with handlebar and stem adjustment can all cause knee pain if incorrect.

http://youtu.be/TQ34hed0qBw

Daroxtar

annejohn91 wrote: »

I have a previous knee injury and it took a long time to recovery from it.

I recently started back cycling not thinking it would further hurt my knees. I have a hybrid and it is quite heavy. I cycled 3 times last week to and from work with only a total of 60km but OUCH my knees have been burning hot and so sore.

I got a new bike today which is a lot lighter than my last one. My problem is how do I adjust this bike to help with my knees? How should I be seated on the bike.

When I am sitting on the saddle should I be able to touch the ground with my feet or just my tippy toes?

Very confused??? Any advice would be great

You shouldn't be able to touch the ground while sitting on the saddle. This might seem very high up at first but it will save your knees.
Have a look at this, it will give you a good idea of height.
http://myworldfromabicycle.blogspot.ie/2010/05/lemonds-sizing-chart.html?m=1
But if you're going to be doing any kind of regular cycling then get a bike fit done.

Carawaystick

A rough rule of thumb is that your leg should be dead straight and your heel on the pedal at the bottom of the stroke.

But take the good advice for the bike fit.

C3PO

Daroxtar wrote: »

You shouldn't be able to touch the ground while sitting on the saddle.

Says who? Whether you can touch the ground has nothing to do with the correct relationship between saddle, pedals, bars etc. Have a look at one of the on-line videos for advice or better again get a bike fit as suggested!

endacl

annejohn91 wrote: »

I am based in Tallaght. I bought the bike today from Halfords but they had no clue as to what the best position would be for me

Not just about fitting, I'm afraid.

:pac:

Daroxtar

C3PO wrote: »

Says who? Whether you can touch the ground has nothing to do with the correct relationship between saddle, pedals, bars etc. Have a look at one of the on-line videos for advice or better again get a bike fur as suggested!

Says me and logic. If you're sitting on the saddle with your leg extended and your heel on the pedal as suggested here and on plenty of other sources then your leg won't be touching the ground unless the pedal is on the ground.

68 lost souls

If your in tallaght then I would recommend Dom at Base2Race for a fitting. He is fantastic

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

This site has tons of info for you (I may look into a few points myself).

According to this site, if the pain in in the front of the knee then you may need to move the saddle up and Back. If the pain is in the back of the knee, then the saddle should go down and forward.

http://www.bikefit.com/s-13-road-bikes.aspx

AstraMonti

Bikefit while is advisable is not the solution for everything. I had two bike fits from different people and still my knee hurt. The solution is to exercise off the bike. Stretching, pilates, core work out, that's what makes the body strong enough to support an awkward position for hours. At least for me.

tomasrojo

Daroxtar wrote: »

Says me and logic. If you're sitting on the saddle with your leg extended and your heel on the pedal as suggested here and on plenty of other sources then your leg won't be touching the ground unless the pedal is on the ground.

I've always used this rule of thumb (set the saddle so that if you were to put the heel of your foot on the pedal at its lowest point your leg would be straight) to set saddle height, but I can still stay upright when stationary by placing my foot on the ground. It's just the toe of one foot, but I can nevertheless touch the ground with my foot. I suppose it might be different on a bike with more clearance, such as a mountain bike.

I have heard that this way of setting saddle height is simplistic, but it's worked fine for me. On the other hand, I've never cycled for more than about two hours at a time.

smacl

tomasrojo wrote: »

I've always used this rule of thumb (set the saddle so that if you were to put the heel of your foot on the pedal at its lowest point your leg would be straight) to set saddle height, but I can still stay upright when stationary by placing my foot on the ground.

Same here, by I guess the size of your foot and BB height come into play. Heel to toe, my shoes are ~30cm. If I place the heel of my shoe on the pedal (e.g. knee extended position) and rotate the pedal with the heel in that position, the toe touches the ground when the bike is still vertical.

As for knees, aside from fit, I find spinning a low gear at a high cadence puts much less pressure on the joints and is the way to go when cycling any distance.

Bigus

60 km from zero start is quiet an ask,for your knees

so maybe take it easier this week,

spinning the pedals at high revs is better than grinding as said above, but fit is very important, one good reason not to buy in halfords, hopefully the basic bike size is within range,

buy a good track pump and keep your tyres rock hard(probably 80 psi)and check pressure once a week with the pump gauge to ease rolling resistance.

68 lost souls

Bigus wrote: »

buy a good track pump and keep your tyres rock hard(probably 80 psi)and check pressure once a week with the pump gauge to ease rolling resistance.

Check the correct PSI for you. Mine is normally around 115-120 on 23mm tyres.

smacl

Daroxtar wrote: »

Says me and logic. If you're sitting on the saddle with your leg extended and your heel on the pedal as suggested here and on plenty of other sources then your leg won't be touching the ground unless the pedal is on the ground.

Slightly off topic, but trying to figure this out. The above would be true if you cycled with your heel on the pedal, whereas you typically cycle with the ball of your foot in the pedal and hence don't reach full knee extension. The minimum height of the pedal (hp) off the ground is the wheel radius (r) plus the tyre thickness (t) minus the crank length (l) plus the bb drop (b), thus hp = (r + t) - (l + bb). If this distance is less than the distance from the top of your shoe to the centre of your heel, you should be able to get the tips of both toes touching the ground with the bike vertical. In reality, you're more likely to lean the bike very slightly and get the ball of one foot on the ground in this case.

Apart for shoe size and crank length, BB drop seems to vary a fair bit with bike types, interesting article here.

Macy0161

Can't vouch for it personally (yet), but Sticky Bottle or one of the cycling websites recommended SizeMyBike App.

cdaly_

smacl wrote: »

As for knees, aside from fit, I find spinning a low gear at a high cadence puts much less pressure on the joints and is the way to go when cycling any distance.

I'll second this...

Carawaystick

Another thing that hurts my knees is the cold weather, so I use knee warmers a fair bit. and find it solves or eliminates any knee pain.