Road Cycling Essentials

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Its at the back of my leg.

Pedals are Shimano SPDs (m520s iirc, cheap ones) and the standard Bontrager saddle that came with the bike. The saddle is fairly old now and looking a bit tatty.
 
Here's some extracts from a bike fitting article.

Cycling knee position

The position of the knee relative to the bike pedal also needs to be taken into consideration. To check this, hold the pedals in a horizontal or level position. A plumb line from the centre of the knee joint should be vertically above or just behind the axel centre of the crankarm. If the knee is slightly in front of the axle centre of the pedal, this tends to force the rider out of position when riding hard.

Bicycle pedal foot position

The foot position is mainly determined by the adjustment of the shoe cleats. Generally speaking, the ball of the foot should be over the pedal spindle to produce maximum efficiency and reduce the risk of injury. Incorrect positioning can force the leg into an unnatural twist, reducing performance but also increasing the risk of knee injury. Cleats positioned too far forward on the shoe can produce excessive ankle movement, leading to the possibility of Achilles strain.

The cleat should be adjusted so that the foot is directly in line with the cycle’s direction of travel and not splayed out, although some minor adjustment can be allowed for those with a natural splay of the foot in one direction or another.


http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/the-correct-riding-position-on-a-road-bike/


Having your position slightly off my not have caused problems initially but repetitive pedaling of an incorrect setup will eventually cause pain, assuming you haven't tweaked your knee from doing something else?
 
I get knee pain once in a while.. knee support for a week or so helps stop it :) since nov 2012 I've had it 3 times for a week or so this is normally after a heavy ride.
 
On the subject of cleats and foot position - Since moving to SPDs I've noticed with my right foot the inside back part rubs against the crank a bit whilst peddling. I tried adjusting my cleats to help with this but it hasn't made much difference and I'm now finding that I end up holding my foot at what feels like an unnatural angle to avoid the rubbing.

Is it likely that my foot position has just been really bad for the past few years of cycling with flats and the cleats are forcing me to re-adjust or do you think it's possible that something is up with the crank/cleats/something?
 
topgun06 said:
Been taping my knee on every ride for a year now. Seemed to help a lot in removing the knee pain I was having.
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What do you mean by this topgun? "taping your knee" ?

in other news, my summer bike is now in the workshop over at speclizied store for a full service ready for the summer and that all important century ride and bike fit :)
 
Anyone used the Sufferfest videos? I've got to get on the turbo to get some more miles in for big ride in May and so far I'm really enjoying them(!). The one really surprising thing is that I am now understanding how much I can "suffer" and realising I've always been afraid to go too hard for too long in the past for fear of blowing up miles from home. Proper intervals is showing me that even if I am blowing out my a**, I can recover ad go again after a breather.
 
ShiWarrior said:
What do you mean by this topgun? "taping your knee" ?

in other news, my summer bike is now in the workshop over at speclizied store for a full service ready for the summer and that all important century ride and bike fit :)
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I assume he means putting compression tape round it rather than gently hitting it.
 
daveski said:
Hoping you can all offer some advice, recently I've started get a bit of pain under my right knee.

I've raised the saddle a little bit which seemed to help but it hasn't gone away, what should I look at adjusting next?
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you can move your saddle forward and backwards too? even a few mm makes a huge difference though.

I had a bit of knee pain on one leg and managed to fine tune my saddle through trial and error

probably worth just getting a bikfit and saving yourself the hassle

BTW don't forget you can change the tile angle of the seat as well.
I'm best with mine tilted upwords a couple of degrees rather than completely level.

I've not been on my bike in months and can't say I'm looking forward to riding again lol...

I think my brake pad on the rear needs changing,it started feeling juddery under braking , I guess because the surface of the pad is to worn?
 
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daveski said:
Hoping you can all offer some advice, recently I've started get a bit of pain under my right knee.

I've raised the saddle a little bit which seemed to help but it hasn't gone away, what should I look at adjusting next?
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Check out the link below, gives some good advice, at the bottom is a simple table for slight adjustments you can make to resolve pain you're experiencing.

http://www.bikefit.com/s-13-road-bikes.aspx
 
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Cheers guys, appreciate the help.

I've spoken to a mate and he's offered to come round and help with the adjustments too. Just seems strange for it starting to happen now, I've been riding pretty heavily since the summer.
 
Rusty_Noob said:
Is your wheel true? A slightly buckled wheel will make braking feel juddery if it's not the pad.
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disc brakes mate, sorry I should have said!

do the brakes start to feel juddery almost like they are skipping along the disc once the pads are pretty much worn out?

they still slow me down it just feels weird.
 
arknor said:
disc brakes mate, sorry I should have said!

do the brakes start to feel juddery almost like they are skipping along the disc once the pads are pretty much worn out?

they still slow me down it just feels weird.
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What disc brakes are they? I've heard of this happening with some of the Tektro discs due to a manufacturing fault - but that was ages ago. More likely as Asprilla said that the discs have been knocked and bent slightly.
 
going to get this bike fit organised, but before I go up there, want to ask your thoughts on my shoes

I currently use size 45/UK 10) Specialized road shoes
as that's what they recommend I get instead of my normal shoe size (UK size 9)

is it worth me getting a size 44 ? when I tried them on in the shop they did feel ok..

if so recommend me some shoes (spd-sl) watching some specialized ones on ebay in a 44 or should I get different shoes?
 
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