I bought a new bike (Specialized Sequoia) for commuting to work. I added a rack and I already had an Arkel Bug pannier. I'm having a little bit of a problem with my heel hitting the pannier. I have it moved back as far as possible on the rack. It's not bad, but it happens periodically. If I get shorter cranks would this solve the problem? How do I know how much shorter (I have 175 mm cranks) for now. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance for your help.

a buddy of mine had this problem on his bike and said he put his panniers on the opposite side they were supposed to. apparently it solved his problem, but that was on his bike with his panniers. its worth a try. otherwise, a shorter bag might work, but then you have to buy another bag. the shortest crank you would want is about 165 mm which would only make it 10mm shorter, which may or may not work depending on how much of your heel hits the bag. you loose leverage but save your knees, and a new bag would be about the same price or cheaper than new cranks. are you using clipless pedals? if so, you can adjust how far forward your foot is on the pedals. if not, you can work on keeping your foot further forward on the pedal.

If you are willing to improvise a bit, a solution is out there. I made my own panniers from a design I saw on tour. Basically, to prevent heel strike, I took an L bracket (a small one, like for shelving) which I had bent a little bit in a vice so that one side of the L had more of a "C" shape to it--and attached it to my panniers on the inside where it contacts the rack, just above the chainstay (I drilled a hole, used oversized washers on the inside and outside of the pannier).

Then I put the panniers on and canted them a bit so that the bottom of the pannier pointed to the rear of the bike a few degrees. It was held in this position by the modified L bracket, which contacted and looped around one of the downtubes of the rack.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

Thanks Sizzle-Chest and slojoe66. I think there is something in both of your suggestions that will help. Thanks again.