atallen223

I am experiencing some knee pain from road riding. In late September I was commuting about 34 miles a day and after a couple rides I could barely even walk because my knee was in such pain.

I have a 2011 Scott Speedster S30, and for the first year I rode it with mountain bike pedals. When I moved those to my mountain bike I purchased used Ultegra road pedals and Specialized Road Elite shoes. I also purchased a new Specialized seat. I started experiencing knee pain after a couple rides. Now that it is too cold and icy to commute I am riding on the indoor trainer (BOOOORINNNNGGGG) and my knee isn't hurting, but I am also not riding for more than half an hour at a time.

I'm thinking the problem might be a bike fit problem which came from changing around components, but I'm not sure. Would it be beneficial to get a professional bike fitting?

Doohickie

Yes, but I've always managed to get rid of knee pain by messing around with the fit myself. Often with new riders, the seat is too low and they're not getting full stroke. As a more experienced rider, and the new pedals on your road bike, my guess is that your seat is just a bit too high. Try lowering it just a bit, maybe a quarter inch or less, and see how that feels. If you're clipped in and the seat is too high, you could be pulling against the knee joint/hyper-extending the knee just a little which could be causing the pain with enough reps.

TheOtherBob

It very well might be. I don't know very much about this sort of thing, so take this with whatever salt you might have on hand, but I believe pain in the front of the knee suggests a seat that's too low, and pain in the back of the knee suggests a seat that's too high. You might try tweaking your seat height accordingly.

Doohickie

Heh. When I had knee pain, it was on the side.

99Klein 

I would suspect cleat position. If mine are off much at all I can feel it.

darb85

yes.

Thats the simple answer. just make sure you go to a place that really knows their stuff

jon c. 

I've heard that many times, but always wonder how I am supposed to know in advance whether or not the fitter is really good at it?

atallen223

That is a definite possibility too. I read somewhere that for men it is a good idea to move the cleats as far away from the bike that you can resulting in legs that are close together. If I get the bike fitting would they look at that you think?

Yeah my pain is actually on the inside too.

marqueemoon

Probably yes.

THSdrummer

I have a similar problem, just as a new rider. My bike was fitted to me just a few days after I bought it (free service), but after about 10 miles I can start to feel a pain just above my left knee creeping up. I'm trying to find a trainer to borrow so I can play with the seat height. It's so bad right now, I can hardly run and walking isn't to great either.

Is the correct knee angle 45 degrees? Or should this vary between riders?

Don't mean to hijack this thread. I was just hoping for some knee pain answers as well. I'm visiting the sports trainer here in a little bit in hopes of some solutions as well.

Campag4life

if you can't come up with the answers yourself, then a fit expert would give you further perspective. You could post a video here of your pedal stroke.
I have seen some real wacky pedal strokes on the road. For the average cyclist, more pedal float helps knees. This is because average cyclists don't have perfect pedal strokes and their knees don't track perfectly which results in the foot rotating during the pedal stroke. I believe I have a pretty good pedal stroke...probably 8-9/10...but I don't take any chances with knees and ride with Speedplay pedals and alot of float.. Having forgiveness in the pedals helps this dynamic. You must consider saddle setback and saddle height. And lastly...technique. If you mash you are riding wrong and will damage your knees. Strive to choose a gear that will give you a cadence of approx. 90 RPM independent of the speed you ride. Keep cadence up in other words. If you feel pain, change what you are doing...or you will risk long term injury.

Campag4life

It can vary by rider...but a good target for knee bend at the bottom of the pedal stroke is 25 degrees or so. Some like a bit less and some ride with more. 25-30 degrees is a good nominal target.

THSdrummer

Hmm, it makes me wonder if I read the fitting wrong or not, but I thought he said 45*. I'll definitely be playing around with my fitting here. I'm not sure if he'll do any more work for free and I certainly cannot afford it right now.

Thank you!

atallen223

I think you have a good point about the play in the pedals. My old SPD mountain pedals had all sorts of play, and I never really had a problem with my knees then. I think my saddle setback might be a bit screwy and I can't seem to get to the point where my knee is over the pedal when I'm at "3 o' clock" but I've always heard that is just a baseline. I have a sneaking suspicion the cause is cleat placement more than saddle height.

atallen223

I'm obviously no expert but to clarify what do you mean "knee angle 45 degrees"?

THSdrummer

If there was a line drawn straight up my leg from angle through my knee up to my hips and I then stopped my pedal stroke at the bottom, the angle should be 45* (or technically 135*). However, from everything I've read, it seems like it's supposed to be more like 25 to 30 degrees.

I feel my issue is either with this angle (which means I'm sitting to low), or with the jump from no clipless pedals to clipless pedals with little float.

Below are two images that emphasize my point, in case I didn't quite explain it that clear. Please note, neither image is my property. These are just from Google Images. The second photo is how my fitter measured my angle (but that is neither me nor my fitter).

Dunbar

Go back to mountain bike pedals until you can get to a fitter. May seem obvious but trust me that you don't want to mess with your knees if you enjoy cycling. Riding through it is a good way to spend months off the bike recovering.

Zapped

I've never experienced knee pain from a higher or lower seat (in other words from more or less bend at the knee), just more or less fatigue from riding. As others have already suggested, though, I have had knee pain when the cleat on my shoe is forcing my foot into a bad angle.

Everyone's different, but for me personally when I look down at my shoes, I want to see my heel slightly further away from the bike than where my toe is clipped in. Another way to put it is that I like to be slightly pigeon-toed or toed-in on my bike pedals. If it's a perfectly straight line between toe and heel my knees will start to ache.

Brian Ratliff

My rule of thumb: If the pain is right below the kneecap, the saddle is too low. If the pain is behind the knee, the saddle is too high.

I used to think I could get my position all on my own, and when I was a casual rider, I could. Then I started racing, started riding more miles, and started having problems. Got fit and the fitter raised my saddle almost a full inch and I was immediately more powerful and some of my other problems (not knee pain, more of the foot pain variety) were fixed immediately. Generally, when you change either the saddle or the pedals, you need to readjust the saddle position.

JTGraphics

Getting a good bike and cleat fit can't hurt if its a fit issue, if it's a medical issue it will not help.
If you can also get it checked by your doctor that would be good also to make sure you do not have any real issue with your knee.
I define such things by if it actually hurts and lingers for some time you may want to see your doctor, if it just gets sore and goes away in a day it most likely just issue with fit or the way you are peddling.

dalava

Seriously, skip the internet fitting experts here. Do yourself a favor, get a pro bike fitter and tell him/her that you are experiencing knee pains. The money will be better spent. Knee pain is not something to screw around with for long.

atallen223

Is there anything I should be looking for? For example there are some places that have a computer that scans your movements and everything. Is that important or useful?

johnybutts

I know the colors are off but consider reading this:

General rule: look for experience. A certification is not experience. Ask around your bike club for some recommendations.

https://masterbikefit.blogspot.com/20...ar-of-fit.html

darb85

any fitter worth their salt will have a list of references they can give you. I know I do.

dalava

Yes. Yes. Any good fitter will do all of that and some.