How important is width in the cycling stroke and by that I mean the distance between the pedals and the angle at which your legs push down on the pedals.
I sometimes wonder if because I’m a bigger rider I’m not really pushing straight down - but angled in slightly - however I don’t hear this topic come up much in bike fit discussions - does that mean most fitters might consider a person’s hip width as generally negligible variable?
I’ve seen a couple products out there for extending stance widths such as spacers, extenders, or custom pedal arm lengths. Has anyone here tried something like this and noticed improvements in their cycling stroke? Do most people take this into account when purchasing pedals?
That’s what she said!! 😂
- however I don’t hear this topic come up much in bike fit discussions -
It comes up ALL the time in bike fit discussions… with your bike fitter… at your bike fit…
Haha fair enough - I’ve ordered a pair of extenders just to try out how it feels - just curious if a lot of people use these or if cleat position is generally enough adjustment for most riders.
Yup, the ‘quack’ factor apparently Thanks for the link I thought this article was a great summary too: https://blog.bikefit.com/bicycle-stance-width/
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How important is width in the cycling stroke and by that I mean the distance between the pedals and the angle at which your legs push down on the pedals.
It matters, somewhat.
The data seems to suggest that a current typical road q-factors are in the vicinity of being optimal in the typical case, which unfortunately suggests that a considerable fraction of cyclists might benefit from it being narrower (which is difficult to accomplish).
why no talk of widths
I would guess that it’s because it’s not profitable for crank manufacturers to make a big deal out of it.
Most modern cranks are 2-piece, with the q-factor being determined by the integrated spindle, and having little to no q-factor adjustment. Unlike traditional 3-piece cranks, where the manufacturers can easily offer spindles separately in a variety of dimensions, offering a variety of widths with 2-piece cranks creates a big problem with the number of permutations that need to be offered.
So crank manufacturers usually just design a crank wide enough to have adequate clearance for the vast majority of the bikes that they think people might want to use it on. If you want the q-factor to be wider, you can use pedal spacers and cleat adjustment to choose q-factor across a pretty wide range. If you want the q-factor to be narrower, you’re screwed, but whatever.
Good info, thanks - and the link to that amazing thesis, going to try and read through that. Very interesting to hear about Lance Armstrong trying to emulate the taller Ulrich’s Q-factor:
“Unfortunately, Armstrong merely chose to reduce his Q Factor to match that of Ullrich’s, a taller, heavier rider who used a lower cadence compared with the fast pedalling, smaller Armstrong. Armstrong did not prefer this lower Q Factor, and felt that his power output over a long distance was affected,”
I had assumed taller riders would also have wider hips and would prefer wider q-factor to push down straighter - but apparently not so…