Post by bendo on Sept 3, 2015 3:11:11 GMT
This is a thread I've been thinking of starting for a while, about another reason for clipless or not. Q factor. Tread. Basically, how far apart are your feet? Recently I went on a long ride with a mate who rides clipless and we have the same size feet, so we swapped for a few kms. Clipping in and out wasn't too much of a problem, it reminded me of ski bindings (which is where Look originally got the idea IINM). I can't say I experienced any revelations about being able to pull up on the pedals, any more than I can with toe-clips. At least not over the few kms that I rode.
The thing that I noticed however was how much further apart my feet were. I felt like I was on a horse. When I looked down I saw that not only was it due to the curve of my friend's more modern cranks, but also the greater distance between the inside of my foot and the crank. There was a lot of spindle between the crank and my foot. On my normal set-up below, my shoe often rubs on the crank arm itself. I prefer this narrow stance because it means my feet are more directly underneath my hips. My friend has been having a lot of hip trouble after riding lately and I wondered aloud whether this might be one of the reasons. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of me on his bike.
A good pic of Q factor when riding is tricky for lots of reasons, not least of which the spherical distortion of the wide-angle lens on a phone makes it hard to tell what's going on. Still, if you're game, it'd be great to get some comparisons from the same angle, see what other people's stance looks like. And just so you know, I couldn't care less that you ride with socks and sandals...
Still, I'm interested: what's your experience with Q factor? Does it make any difference to you? b
PS - this is Victor with his very straight Sugino Mighty track cranks and his single ring.
The thing that I noticed however was how much further apart my feet were. I felt like I was on a horse. When I looked down I saw that not only was it due to the curve of my friend's more modern cranks, but also the greater distance between the inside of my foot and the crank. There was a lot of spindle between the crank and my foot. On my normal set-up below, my shoe often rubs on the crank arm itself. I prefer this narrow stance because it means my feet are more directly underneath my hips. My friend has been having a lot of hip trouble after riding lately and I wondered aloud whether this might be one of the reasons. Unfortunately I don't have a pic of me on his bike.
A good pic of Q factor when riding is tricky for lots of reasons, not least of which the spherical distortion of the wide-angle lens on a phone makes it hard to tell what's going on. Still, if you're game, it'd be great to get some comparisons from the same angle, see what other people's stance looks like. And just so you know, I couldn't care less that you ride with socks and sandals...
Still, I'm interested: what's your experience with Q factor? Does it make any difference to you? b
PS - this is Victor with his very straight Sugino Mighty track cranks and his single ring.
