brewerkz 

My wife has a 50 CM, Litespeed aluminum frame bike with 165 mm crank. She has issues with her shoe contacting the front wheel. Would a change in front fork improve the situation?

HillRider

It's called toe overlap and it's a very common problem, particularly with smaller frames. I have the same thing with my 55 Cm Litespeed Ti frame with 170 mm crankarms and I wear size 43 (US 9) shoes. However, it's really a problem only when the fork is turned a lot, say for a U-turn in a tight space. It's not a problem for regular riding.

A replacement fork raked enough to avoid it would alter the geometry so much it would make the bike handle very oddly so that's really not a solution. There are two work-arounds.

1. When making a tight turn have the outside pedal up or back so her foot is clear of the front tire and don't pedal through the turn.
2. If she uses clipless pedals, move the cleat as far forward on the shoe as is comfortable to move her toes back.

Marcus_Ti

Almost all bicycle framesets have toe-overlap. To get rid of toe-overlap there are basically two paths:

A) Smaller bikes have proportionally smaller wheels like 650 instead of 700C

Or

2) You can design a bike without overlap by jacking with the frame angle geometry...which while getting rid of toe-overlap will almost inevitably compromise all the other handling characteristics.

Is getting rid of toe-overlap really that important a goal? How often is she doing U-turns? Both paths basically mean the frameset she has now goes bye-bye for a problem that is only a problem 0.0002% of the time. Replacing the fork only is not an option, as that would really jack up the handling.

JohnDThompson 

Or 3) use shorter crank arms. The OP states the bike currently has 165mm arms. TA offers road cranks as short as 155mm, and BMX cranks are available with even shorter arms.

D1andonlyDman

Also, some pedal/cleat combos put your foot further forward than others. You might measure how much forward her foot extends from the pedal axle, and look to see if you can move the cleat forward on her shoe, or find other pedals that extend less far forward of the axle.

CliffordK

Actually isn't it the other way around. If one is coasting around a corner, have the inside pedal up to avoid rubbing, and the outside pedal down. However, racers often try to train themselves to pedal through most curves.

I bump the toes every once in a while, but it usually isn't a problem.

fietsbob

TCO is not a Problem if you ride fast enough.

Would certainly change the steering , Trail , dimension .. Improve . According to what criteria ? More rake = Less Trail.

yea . Inside of the corner , pedal Up..

should have spec'd it for smaller wheels , too late Now. or sell it ang get something else Like : Terry, a woman's Bike company.

https://www.terrybicycles.com/Bikes_2

milkbaby

As mentioned, small frames often have toe overlap. It's only a problem in slow tight turns, but you can avoid it thru technique like "ratcheting" the cranks when needed.

rhenning

My wife at 5 feet 1 inch and the same toe over lap problem. She then rode a Terry designed for women and it had a smaller front wheel solving the toe over lap problem. She didn't like having to carry 2 different sized tube on the bike though. Since she rides a lot we had a custom Seven bike built for her. This one used 24 inch wheels front and rear. You don't want to know what it cost but used Terrys are generally reasonable. Roger

FastJake

I disagree with the advice of shorter cranks or messing with cleat position. That's like moving your saddle forward to get closer to the bars. It's wrong. Move the bars closer and leave the saddle where it's supposed to be for proper pedaling.

There are two good options and one bad option:

1. Realize that toe clip overlap is only an annoyance at walking speeds and be more careful at those speeds.
2. Get a bike with smaller wheels.

The bad option is to get a different bike with 700c wheels and terrible geometry/design that eliminates toe-clip overlap.

fietsbob

Ms Terry has more recently adopted 2 by 26" Wheels , now that cassettes go to 11t, the big rear wheel is less important.

ksisler

One can go to lots of fuss and expense to get around the problem, but best recommendation might be to learn to deal with it until can afford to buy another bike and then pick one designed with smaller wheels that are sort of "scaled to match the frame size". In her case, that is probably a 24" wheel front and rear. Look at RodBikes site for discussion and examples of smaller bikes (they specialize in bikes for ladies also). At the lower price points, Amazon has a good selection. You will hear lots of whining about how hard it might be to get tires other than 700C but that is mostly lazy talk from folks with poor search skills and/or an agenda to grind on about...

caloso

I had a Cervelo Soloist with pretty substantial toe-overlap. This problem only presents itself at very low speed turns, like a tight 180. And even then, it shouldn't be a problem unless you have a fixed gear and are forced to pedal through the turn. Once you're aware of the issue, it's pretty much a non-problem.

HillRider

In high speed turns, yes indeed you want the inside pedal up to avoid hitting it on the ground at high lean angles. A 3 mph U-turn doesn't present that problem so the outside pedal can be anywhere that keeps it away from the front tire, up, down or back will be fine.

hueyhoolihan

if the amount of overlap is small, a lower profile tire may lessen or eliminate the problem. like going from a 28c to a 25c or 25c to a 23c. you get the idea. and yes, a different fork geometry may help too, but would take time, trouble and money (aka. PITA ).

the fix has economy and simplicity in it's favor, but it may not solve the problem entirely.

BTW, IMO, differences WRT fork geometry are often overblown. as a test the other day, i reversed the fork on my MTB (i can because it's a single speed with coaster brake). it has no cables or levers on the bars. to my surprise, with the fork reversed, there was little difference and the darn thing could still be ridden hands free. the ride was a little harsh though.

bikepro

+1, except I wouldn't play with the cleat adjustment since it won't fix the problem and may cause other problems. The best thing is to be aware of it. The only time I've found it to be a problem is when making a U-turn. Then, don't pedal, or if necessary, learn to "ratchet" the pedal while turning.

RR3

I have toeclip overlap on my 60cm bike. I just deal with it and am careful on U-turns or sharp corners. My wife had a Terry to avoid the overlap.