On May 7, 2011, at 7:56 AM, Justin August wrote: > I know this has been gone over and over but I'm looking for some first > hand experiences. I've noticed in the past few weeks that my leg hurts > substantially more after riding my Bleriot with Ritchey/Sugino triple > and RMX sneaker pedals than on my fixed Motobecane with a Sugino RD > crank and MKS sylvans. Given that folks seem to correlate higher q > factor (to a point) with lowered IT band pain I'm looking for > solutions. > > Can I overcome this replacement spindles for the MKS pedals or would I > be advised to get a crankset with a higher q factor for the Bleriot to > alleviate my pain?
There are multiple possibilities. Generally (not not necessarily), if the pain is on the outside of your knee, the Q factor is too low. If the pain is on the inside of your knee, the Q factor is too wide. If the pain is on the front of your knee, the saddle is too low. If the pain is behind your knee the saddle is too high. You may be able to address the problem by adjusting your saddle height or fore-aft placement. If the pain is on the outside of your knee below the joint line, as happened to me on PBP in 2003, you may be able to obtain relief by lowering your saddle just a few mm (about 3 mm, it's a tiny adjustment). That's counterintuitive but is what is recommended by Andy Pruitt. Basically this just changes the range of motion slightly and avoids the irritated area. Back in 2003-2005 I had recurrent problems with left knee pain, which turned out to be a torn medial meniscus (old martial arts injury, I think) which ended up needing arthroscopic surgery. So there is some possibility it's not the bike. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
