Measuring my bikes Q factors as "a" (as in not the one i normally use) physio has suggested since the thing ive changed most since gaining knee pain is my bike.
Road bike 5 inches (truvativ Touros)
Fixie 5 inches (sakae ?? square taper)
SS 5.5 inches (square taper XT)
Merida FLX 6 inches (XT HT2) ...
All running Pd520s
Suggested course of action? , was going to move cleats but there isnt half an inch of movement in them
im thinking wash polish and sell the merida ;)....or not 😀
Something with a smaller Q factor maybe but then again dont have much room to play at the Stays before the cranks hit em !
HT2 is wide, have a look at a new chainset, FSA are meant to be quite narrow. I used to have a set of Middleburns running on a 107mm bb and that helped.
got middleburns in a drawer .... they might be going back on
I have been thinking it over , last time i got knee pain like this was when i rode my mr big ST 10 (with a 100mm bb) round a trail center ....
that was a week before the SSWC ...SSWC seemed to cure it though 😀
Are the cranks all the same length, I get sore knees swapping from 170's to 175's
with the exception of my road bike they are all 175 , and its 175s i used all last season on my MTB
roadie is 170. I think we can rule that one out as i have done a very small number of miles on my roadie , most of my miles have been done on the fixie and merida bar a 10 mile TT 3 weeks ago.
Which bike do you get the pain on?
Do you ride clipped in on all of them?
merida i get pain on ....
i ride the same pedals and more often than not the same shoes.
Ive not got any new shoes or cleats in the last year.pain has only started in the last month or so
The only bike i havnt been able to measure was my kona jake i did 3000 or so kms on over winter in new zealand then sold before i flew home , i used existing shimano shoes with the cleats in the same position as the rest.
3 major differences between the merida and my old heckler are
TT length (this ones actually the right length not miles too short)
subsequently the seat is no longer right back on the rails (putting me in a different pedaling position to the heckler)
Q factor.
The saddle height is the same.
The first 2 issues mentioned im sure would have reared there head before now as neither my GF rig or my fixie or my roadie have the seat right back on the rails , if anything my Roadie is quite close to a Tri/TT position with the seat quite forward
Bent pedal axle?
The Q factor on my Hone cranks seems to be causing me problems too. Not painful as such just not comfortable.
pedals all straight im afraid ... XTR pedals any narrower than 520s i wonder , but at the same time doubt ...was considering getting a set.
Other option is try and fit up my old middleburns to th bike and flog the XTs
Or does the wider Q factor just need a differet cleat angle?
Or does the wider Q factor just need a differet cleat angle?
Surely the float on the pedal would compensate. I'd be looking at something else. Saddle position, bent rail on the saddle
as stated the saddle position is different but about an inch and a half. The old bike had the saddle right back on the rails as it was too short in the top tube. New bike has the saddle in the middle of the rails to get the TT length right. Relevant to the pedals the saddle is the same position as my rig and my jake and my fixie. My road bike is about half an inch forward of this position (and always has been)
The pain is similar to what i used to get when riding to my local on my MR big ST10 which had a 100mm shell BB and 150 rear end , that was a wide Q factor , solution to that was to stop riding to my local and took the car!
Did you just shunt it forward or use the 'bit of string and a spanner' method?
Had similar knee pain - all bikes set up similar with only small differences in geometry.
Specialist suggested some non bike exercise to ensure muscles on both sides of knee were similar strength - appeared i was slightly twisting knee when pushing hard.
Bit of gym work over winter - so far so good 😀
You've not had Merida long enough or done enough miles for it to be the problem 😀
i bought a new bike and set it up using the old measurements id taken from the old bike before i sold it last october...
Old Age, take up playing the piano. I'll take the Merida off your hands and tell you if my knees hurt.
so mike ...what your saying is i need to go singlespeed again for a while ....
more standing , work the muscles inside my thighs more ....
it cured me last time i had knee issues ,but that was pain over the top of my knee cap not down the outer side like it is now.
Havnt had my normal winter of SS and fixed which may not be helping matters as sitting spinning like you say causes a muscle imbalance.
Think ill sit back and let the pain go away like colin suggested yesterday and re evaluate after that ...will be swimming like a fish if i end up replacing my riding milage with swimming