Foot Hitting Back of Tire
 

I just tried out my Fargo today and had problems with my foot hitting the tire if I caught the angle right.

Is my bike too small or is there a way to fix it? LBS guy said to put different pedals on to keep my foot in place. I'm just running cheapie pedals as I'm still not stable on clipless. I just hate to go through a trail, make a sharp turn and wreck.

It's a size 18 Fargo. The 20 seemed too big, but I really need the foot clearance.

When I compared it to my Mamba 29er, there's tons of room between the tire and the pedals on the 29er.

Bike rides great though.

Failing that, shorter crank arms.

Where are you putting the pedal? In the arch of your foot, or under the pad behind the toes?
While there's certainly room for personal preference, general recommendation is under the forefoot.

Did some checking out of my bikes for tire clearance. My Madone has the same clearance so it's got to be my foot placement. Just never had a problem with the Madone, but it has skinny tires, not big wide 29 inch tires. Once I put my foot back farther I seem to be good. Maybe I should man up and use clipless pedals so my feet don't move. Thanks for the help!

ride faster , then, the turns are not needing you to turn the front wheel
to the side so much.

This almost always happens to varying degrees. You will get better at avoiding it as you ride the bike more.

welcome to the world of bad frame geometry.
it happens on all bikes with wheels too big for their frame size.

Smaller feet? My size 47's have me confronting this from time to time...

Mine was doing that but only when doing really tight stuff, loops around the driveway and stuff like that. I've put about a hundred miles on it commuting so far and it doesn't happen when I'm riding it, just when I'm messing around. I got back on my old Rocky Mountain (26" wheels) and it happens on that too, I just learned to "don't do that" when turning tight. My Fargo is also the size 18; the next size up had me stretched out too far for comfort. I was surprised. It's very comfortable to ride. Today was my first ride with the new Schwalbe Marathon Supremes, the 2" (50 mm?) size. I like them, but I still have the same fenders on so it's not like I have any more clearance up front.

I use bmx platform pedals so I put my feet anywhere I want on them.

Smaller wheels ..not a problem on the Brompton .. :beer:

(yea, I know its a 29er, part of the joke)
:rolleyes:

Feet hitting wheel doesn't mean there is a problem, so don't spend all your time trying to solve something that might be completely normal.

This bike is supposedly designed to be a useful road/utility bike, not a tight-geometry road-racing bike. I would have thought toe overlap would NOT have been an issue with this bike... which leads me to agree with AEO that it is sloppy design. It is a more common issue for racing-type bikes.

There is virtually nothing you can do about it if it exists now with your feet in the most comfortable position on the pedals. Clipless likely won't help. Moving your foot back won't be a good idea if you are susceptible to Mortons neuroma (hotfoot), and won't help with your pedalling power.

If you ever want to add fenders to the bike, the problem will become worse.

I've had several bikes with toe overlap, and I haven't fallen off yet, but come very, very close to it. Fortunately, these incidents have been at low speed, but of course that is when one is most likely to experience this issue.

One thing that you might try to remember in close-quarters, low-speed manoeuvring is to "ratchet" pedal as you turn. This is easier with clipless pedals, but you can cope without by co-ordinating your feet to move the pedals backwards and forwards. Basically, if you are turning right, keep the pedals close to horizontal, with the left one rearward, then use the right one to keep moving forward with 1/8th strokes.

A little difficult to describe, but remember it's like using a ratchet, and the foot that you want to avoid getting toe overlap should be towards the rear of the bike.

If you want to turn left, reverse the position of the pedals. It takes practice, but it's worthwhile, and will likely become something you don't need to think about too much.