Low pedal - side view
As I was first leaving work Monday, I almost had a wipeout! I was acting as a car (as is your right – a bicycle is defined as a road vehicle), waiting to turn left from the RIM parking lot onto Phillip St. An antsy car was close behind me, so I was waiting for the last car on the far side of the road to pass our driveway, and I started pedaling early, before it passed. That car had not signalled until the last minute, but suddenly turned INTO my driveway instead of continuing to drive past. Probably a student illegally parking at RIM. Anyway, I turned a bit right to easily avoid the car, but then I needed to swerve a tight turn left to get back into the far lane and go the right direction.
Low pedal - rear view (bike angled gently as if turning)
The problem was, on my XL Cannondale Quick4, the pedals do not have much clearance from the ground, and if you make a moderately strong turn, the natural angling of the bike will cause the inside pedal to scrape or catch on the ground, if it happens to be the low pedal at that time. I was pedaling to gain speed and get out of that situation at the time, so I was quite shocked when the pedal hit and my whole bike rotated around it as I spun out and barely caught myself with my outer leg. I’m hoping my brain will catch on that it always needs to keep the inside pedal high on any medium-tight turns… This part is harder than “learning to ride a bike”, as I’ve never had to worry about it before, when I used to have a bike along time ago.
Does anyone know if it’s just me, or have you noticed the low pedal to ground clearance? I’m certainly no expert, and maybe the bike is not really designed for a quick turn, but it still surprises me, because I love everything else about it.
D
Hey David,
Glad to see that you’ve joined the ranks of the cyclist. (Not psycho-ist which I’d be less proud of). I remember biking to work along 14th and having a guy come up behind me in a 14 foot delivery truck. Obviously he felt he was more entitled to the road then me so he blew his air horn which almost gave me a heart attack……that was the end of my bike commuting. Plus biking from Cornell along highway 7 was always a little scary when cars would pass you going 80-90 pretty much in the same lane. More bike lanes needed.
GOOD LUCK!
-Adam
What a jerk. I have had a few bad experiences with delivery trucks coming up behind me towards a corner. All too many have attempted to race me to the corner in order to turn first. I should probably start taking the lane in those cases
-David
Regarding the bike pedals hitting the ground in corners, I have the same issue with my road bike and I’ve had to train myself to remember to rotate the pedal to the up position going into them. I’ve had the same kinds of abrupt and frightening experiences when I have forgotten to do this, no crashes yet though. Hopefully you won’t have to go through that again!
Hi David,
I just read your post this morning about your pedal hitting the ground…..and tonight on my way home I took a sharp turn and mine hit the group, causing quite the little disturbance to my smooth ride! I’ll have to stay tuned in to that and take those corners a little less sharp and quick!
Hi David,
Just subscribed to your blog. Your incident with the pedal contacting the pavement is not uncommon. It’s not an issue of low pedals but rather an issue of pedal position in relation to the manuever being performed. Experienced cyclists will always keep the crankarms of their bikes parallel to the ground when negotiating a turn to prevent such an occurence. But even experienced cyclists get surprised (just as you did) when someone does something unanticipated and do the ol’ “spinarama”. You could replace the crankarms on your bike with shorter ones to increase the ground clearance but you’d be sacrificing some measure of mechanical advantage. Stay safe.
Mark
Thanks Mark!
Consider replacing the crank arms. ( you may not even notice the shorter arms ) or machine the teeth / platform down on the outside -bottom of the peddles at a corresponding angle . even consider installing a skid pad of nylon or other in place… careful not to exceed the clearance you have now even better to come up short. I think this could ( ? ) allow your peddle to complete the cycle rather than bury itself into the ground and causing your rear wheel to shoot out from under you at high speed, which could result in you becoming seriously injured or worse.
Take care…..www.tridynamic.com