First i gotta say, everytime i come on here at night its me and Paul cause you guys are all asleep, and were a day ahead and 3 hrs back.

I'll start the Q factor explanation, mainly because im bored and cant sleep.

The Q factor is the distance between the pedal and the bottom bracket or i guess it could be called the distance from the pedal to the chain rings. Its the width from pedal center to pedal center. Hell i dont know which one of the above it is, but i know its the width. Basically, you want a Q factor narrow enough to give you a good aero profile and one that keeps your knees as close as possible together, without being too close that your rubbing your shoe on the chainstay or crank arm. Having the adjustibility of a Q factor could prevent injuries? Cause based on biomechanical descrepancies between different riders, you may need your pedals further out or in so that power application is applied downward without twisting your knee into odd positions throughout the stroke.

---

Want: 58cm Cervelo Soloist. PM me if you have one to sell

Vintage Cervelo: A Resource

must be nuthin happening in NuZealand if your up at midnight writing replies. Don't you guys get TV there???

Thanks for the reply.

I also hate the fact that the US is so far behind us that the news/forums they write seems like old news if you know what i mean. I'm still trying to work out where the time on the side is based......i think it's california.

I asked the Q factor question because of the M2RACER ORB pedal http://www.m2racer.com/...b9ae7b1f598aa99e3598 . I importing them to OZ and don't wanna sound like a duckheed (NZ TALK) when i'm spruking them.

Wow, New Zealand. I haven't even seen "Lord of The Rings" yet, but I do have a picture of Sir Edmund Hillary in my office. Q factor is the most frequently ignored aspect of fit. Almost EVERYONE who comes in the door here has their Q jacked out of shape, usually too wide. Thankfully it is almost always easy to fix and make someone happy. a few thoughts though:
1. Most "stances" on the pedals are too wide, i.e., as viewed from the front a person's feet are wider apart than there knees. This causes (among other things) lateral loading of the medial collateral ligament and a less than vertical alignment of the tibia/femur over the pedal resulting in less leverage against the pedal. Easy fix: Look in a mirror (as viewed head-on) while you're on a trainer. If your legs are splayed out consider adjusting your cleats to move both feet toward the center line of the bike, thus establishing a more vertical orientation of both legs (now, perpendicular to the ground).
2. Be warned: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. If you did this, effectively, you just "lowered" your saddle. That could be a problem. Re check your saddle height and leg extension after ALL cleat adjustments.
This topic is worthy of an entire article, which gives me an idea................

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

with the advent of pipe/spline bb's with only two width choices, wider spaced rear hubs, and ever more splayed out cranks q-factor has gotten lost in the shuffle for the most part. crank makers and product managers do not generally even want to talk about it. it is genearlly accepted that narrower is better - within reason. you can tell this for yourself by riding a narrow spaced track bike (ususally very low q) and then a gym stationary bike ( the main reason gym bikes fell so horrible is the outrageously wide q-factor they have). it is nice to have a pedal that allows you to address this partially - doing it they way you should, with a narrower crank/bb is essentially impossible anymore unless you want to be a freak about it.

I have the problem of my right shoe rubbing my right crank. My right foot moves kind of weird. The back of my right foot moves inward and this causes the arch part of my shoe to rub the crank. Basically my foot pronates outward. I use Look cleats and have them adjusted so that my foot is as far away from the crank as possible but it still rubs when my foot pronates. I actually rubbing away the crank with my foot. Any advice?

In the "Q Factor Hall of Oddities" is Graeme Obree's unusual pursuit bike with many one-off parts, some alledged to be taken from a washing machine. Obree was so concerned about "Q" that he made a bottom bracket that was only about 60mm wide compared to the more common 109-113mm found on your bike and mine. That was probably overkill. I think his primary goal was more aerodynamic than power output or good biomechanics.

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com