What is the best way to solve the problem of your foot hitting the front tire when you turn the wheel? Here is what I thought of so far.
1-Bigger BB (I really hope to keep my 103)
2-Spacer in the Pedals (I use speedplay X2’s)
3-Smaller Tire (I use Tufo 145g - pretty mininal tubulars)
4-Longer Rake on the fork? (This I could handle) What new fork has the longest rake?
Don’t worry about it, this is more common than you might think. This will only happen when you are going very slowly anyway, so just sort of anticipate it and you will be fine. It happens to me on almost all of my bikes.
It scares me to think that I might fall at a turn-around. 
Rotor, this is very common on small/tight frames. Just live with it. You will never hit your front wheel at any normal travel speed, as your steering comes from leaning and effectively turning your back wheel with your core and counter steering the front wheel with your opposing hand (ie when you turn right, you push down hard with your right hand, which effectively turns your wheel “away” from the direction of the turn). There is hardly any turning of the front wheel
ride faster!
At a turn-around, even though it feels like you might be going very slowly, you are still travelling too fast for your foot to hit your front tire.
Your inside foot should be all the way up when rounding a sharp turn. When your inside is at 6 and outside is at 12, you’ll never hit the front wheel. Practice your turn-arounds, like transition practice, there are seconds to be saved. While you practice be aware of the toe-overlap.
Don’t mess with your pedal spacers, that “Q-factor” is critical in power output, in fact, moreso than crank length. Keep it narrow. You are likely relatively short, making your pelvic angle large as it is.
And if you think steering with toe overlap is tough, wait until you foul up the geometery by adding 1 cm to your fork rake. The trail will get all jacked up rendering the bike unrideable in some conditions.
-SD
Great information! Thank you all!
Superdave (or anyone else with thoughts):
I always thought you would produce more power with a wider stance (BB). Didn’t Lance change back to a wider BB even though it was less aero, because his watts were reduced with the 103mm? This is interesting.
That is a big problem, it is very hard to do circus acrobatics or play bike polo with it.
Get a bike with 650c wheels. I think this was one of the original reasons for them.
Great idea but I’m too tall for 650c or else I would.
Get a bike with 650c wheels. I think this was one of the original reasons for them.
Uh… no.
only you could come up with something like that:))
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Any thoughts on putting my cleats in a position that would solve the problem? Way forward would do it. Better acceleration!
Cleat position should not be used to address tire/shoe clearance. It should only be used to optimize the biomachanics of your pedal stroke. As I was told, a more forward cleat position was something used in more rearward positioning, although I can’t explain why.
Your femur exits your pelvis with a slight angle inward. when you walk your feet will typically leave a footprint about 4 inches apart. Most cranksets place your feet 5-6 inches apart.
There is as study somewhere and I’ve backed its findings with personal experience. Many top pros have special axles machined narrower to reduce their Q factor, Fast Freddy, Greg Kabusch, and others.
Go narrow.
-SD
Listen to SuperDave. Don’t muck around with fork rake, you’ll get an unstable bike…I know it’s somewhat counter-intuitive, but more rake than called for makes the handling VERY squirrelly. I have had toe overlap on every bike I’ve ever owned. It’s never been a problem.
Quote: “Your inside foot should be all the way up when rounding a sharp turn. When your inside is at 6 and outside is at 12, you’ll never hit the front wheel.”
rotor & SuperDave,
SuperDave is right, when your feet/pedals are at 6 o’clock and 12 o’clock your toe will never hit your front wheel.
However, on a hard or tight turn, your OUTSIDE foot should be at the 6 o’clock position and your inside foot should be at the 12 o’clock position. This is the opposite of what SuperDave wrote, but it is what he meant to communicate to you.
Two issues make this the preferred and safest method to corner.
The first issue is pedal clearance. With your inside foot at the 6 o’clock position and your bike leaning into a turn, as the bike lays over you run the risk of having your inside pedal strike the ground. When and if this happens it will generally lift one or both of your tires off the road and you will crash, the bike will slide out from underneath you.
The second issue is positioning your center of gravitiy over your bike to keep your tires on the road. With your weight on your inside pedal at 6 o’clock in a hard or fast turn, the force your body puts on your bike is trying to push or slide the bike out from underneath you.
With your weight on the outside pedal at 6 o’clock in a hard or fast turn, the force your body puts on the bike is trying to push the tires into the road (get the maximum bite on the road) and were the force excessive, flip the bike over on its opposite side rather than slide it out from underneath you.
I was never good with a dial clock.
Inside all the way up for pedal clearance is of course the way to navigate corners.
Now, what time is it when the big hand is on the 5 and the little on the…
-SD
I know exactly what you mean. I’ve had that problem forever. I’m 5’-8" and wear a 46 (size 12) shoe. My foot touches the front wheel when turned. The ONLY time this has given me a problem was when I was going so slow (up an incline) AND had very sharp turn at the same time. BUT you know what, I’ve never had an accident or fallen off my bike because of it. Under normal riding conditions, this is NEVER a problem. Don’t do anything about it, you won’t have a problem, you CAN live with it.