Morning all,

Been commuting on a single speed for the past few months and in the past month of so have had a bit of discomfort in my right knee. Said knee has had a history of sprains and a small ligament tear. Until this week I pretty much just ignored it until Monday this week when the pain persisted for 8-9 hours after riding into work in the morning. Took the train home to give it a rest and it was fine the next day so I rode home again resulting in 8-9 hours of pain.

Given that I've been riding for several years and only just started single speeding am I right to attribute the pain to this change? No other real changes have occured in my other riding and no big crashes for a while.

The only thing I can think of is the ratio (42:16) is pretty spinny for large portions of my commute, would upping it make any difference, given that my knee would be rotating less??

Was really looking forward to a summer of sweet riding and don't want to see it ruined & getting the train in is costing me a small fortune which I really don't have at the moment.

I would have suggested a lower ratio as i found it tough on my knees spinning a large gear (3:1 700c wheels) on my fixie.

Are you riding SPDs? Could try flats if you are.
Or possibly look at some other area of your bike setup, saddle angle and the like.

Also try icing it every night

I had the same problem and after a week or icing 'every' night it went away

again, as above i also changed my cleats and spd's as they were pretty worn and i was concerned that this may not have been helping

rgds James

What do you wear to keep your knees warm? Singlespeeding puts more strain on the structures within the knee – if they are cold they will tend to break instead of stretch.

Are you clipped in and if so have you changed your cleats recently? Changed your seat height at all (i.e. randomly set the height without accurately measuring)?

I had lots of knee pain a few years ago when I was riding and racing lots. It turns out it was all to do with a tight and inflexible glute on the opposite side scewing my pelvis. I am now very saddle height sensitive. If I ride over 50 road miles with a saddle even 5mm too low and my knee flares up again. A friend who was an elite roadie had issues with a muscle imbalance that was giving him grief in his knee. I forget the detail but the way his muscles in one leg were "firing" was slightly odd resulting in the muscle growth being greater on the outside than the inside of his thigh putting strain on his knee. Months in the gym building the weak muscles and insoles in his shoes sorted him out after a fashion but he was never the same again.

There often a lot more to knee issues than you might expect.

Was really looking forward to a summer of sweet riding and don't want to see it ruined & getting the train in is costing me a small fortune which I really don't have at the moment.

Gears?

Or does your single speed have a different crank (length) setup to your other bikes?

I ride flats all the time so its not that.

I did change my saddle height a few weeks back so I'll look into that. Not really sure on how to measure it though?! Always just set it on what felt right.

I'll have to look into saddle angle aswell.

Just wearing shorts at the moment as it's pretty warm. I'll give icing it a go though tonight.

b r – its a single speed specific bike, no mech hanger so I'd have to get a whole new bike. Which could be fun, I do like to spec and build them. Damnit, don't get me started on this!

Crank length is same as my other bike – 175mm.

Cheers for the responses.

go get a proper bike fitting. A mate was suffering with a sore knee, he rides a single speed off road but does plenty road miles on a geared bike. A fitting with a sport injury/cycle specialist slightly changed the position on the bikes and fitted an insert into one shoe….knee problem gone….hurray!

you had 8/9 hours of pain one day and thought it ok to ride again the next day?

most likely you have a slight strain and you are now compounding the problem – RICE, anti-inflammatorys or NSAIDs if you have some handy. Go back and start gently next week.

I have been on a SS for a long time and at my age if it was a problem for knees, I'm sure I would have discovered it by now 🙂

First things that come to mind are seat height or crank length.

Rather than going into a bike fit explanation, just think about how much weight you can squat.

If you go right down so that your knees are at a sharp angle it's hard to get up, but if you only half squat you can lift a much heavier weight with less effort. Same applies to your pedalling. If you are straining or flexing your knee at a sharp angle then you are working it too hard.

Shorter cranks are good if you like to spin.

BTW if you are wobbling uphill at slower than walking speed it's kinder to your body to walk – it's faster and easier on your joints 🙂

I know nothing about single speeding first hand, (except that the crap bike i had 40 years ago is now cutting edge) but even i'm aware it has a reputation for knee problems. I just dont get it, why make cycling harder, and more painfull just for fashion. You'll be getting rid of your brakes next.

add gears

ha ha ha. 'ice it' as a response.

seriously. you only get one set of knees. is fitting in/being cool/keeping your bike pure etc. etc. really worth recking yourself over?

as above, get some gears.

riding a bike at all is just plain silly, dont you have a car?

but even i'm aware it has a reputation for knee problems

Has it?? I don'tthink it has more problems than geared riding IF it is done sensibly. I.e. built up gradually – building leg/joint strength. I've heard other reports of people switching to ss and finding they no longer have knee probs. Obviously all of this is anecdotal.

is fitting in/being cool/keeping your bike pure etc. etc. really worth recking yourself over?

I bought it as it was cheap and I rarely used more than two gears on the bike that it replaced, not for any of the reasons stated above.

If you go right down so that your knees are at a sharp angle it's hard to get up

My legs are at pretty much full extension when the pedals are at the bottom of the rotation so I don't think its this.

Shorter cranks are good if you like to spin.

I didn't explain this very well, when riding alot of the time I'm on the verge of spinning out, would increasing the ratio alleviate this? I'd prefer to spin a lower RPM if that makes any sense?

you had 8/9 hours of pain one day and thought it ok to ride again the next day?

Not ideal I know, but I've already had one bike stoken from work this year and didn't want to risk it.

Has it?? I don'tthink it has more problems than geared riding IF it is done sensibly. I.e. built up gradually – building leg/joint strength. I've heard other reports of people switching to ss and finding they no longer have knee probs. Obviously all of this is anecdotal.

That fair enough, mines all anecdotal too.

ok, so you are not a fashion victim, your saddle is at the right height.

gearing is very personal but if you listen to all the anecdotal evidence that is bandied about – more damage is likely to result from too high a gear (increased pressure/stress) rather than the way you are viewing it…… but its personal if you think spinning out is damaging your knee then increase your GI a bit

ignoring an injury and riding through it – thats not just 'not ideal' its potentially very damaging. Fair enough you felt you had little choice the very next day, but you now need to make other arrangements so you can rest the damaged bits and let them heal fully before you ride again.

as someone on their third/fourth week of no exercise i know how hard that can be, but continuing running/riding on a broken toe (3 days off) and fractured metatarsal (didnt know, 0 days off) is not big and not clever – i believe its called overtraining 🙁

sweepy – Member
I know nothing about single speeding first hand, (except that the crap bike i had 40 years ago is now cutting edge) but even i'm aware it has a reputation for knee problems…

That's a myth propagated by the friend of a friend 🙂

I reckon there's 2 ways to bork your knees. Overload them – that will be kind of obvious to you at the time. Overuse them – possibly by spinning too fast for too long when you're not adapted to it.

+1 for saddle height. Did a 100 mile road ride a couple of months ago with friends. One of them had a pretty old racer that was much harder going, so we swapped it round a bit. The saddle on it was too low for me and after 15-20 miles on it, knee started hurting. Never had knee pain cycling before.

I have bad knees from rugby and motorcyling injuries (3 orthroscopies on the left and a cracked patella right down the middle). In four years of SS I've had no problems with my knees except an ache after a Solo Puffer ride. I did 60k thru the Lowther Hills (over geared and hard work) a few weeks ago with no soreness at all.

Bike set up will be your issue. I have far fewer back problems since switching to SS too as I have to use a flat back/ solid core to climb rather than sitting in a slouch and spinning up the hills.

Check your bike is correctly set up, not just seat height but bar height and stretch as well. Get a professional to help you may need shoe inserts. It's amazing how many runners need them and yet hardly any bikers even know that they might have a problem.