Is there a way to adjust the pedals or the tires?
 

I put my bike together and when I go to turn my feet are hitting the front tire.

Welcome aboard, Cyndi!

What you describe is called toe overlap. No problems pedaling as long as you're following a fairly straight line. Once you turn the handlebar past a few degrees off center, your outside pedal foot hits the wheel & tire.

Toe overlap can range from just annoying to downright dangerous, especially if your foot hits a tire at speed, during a sharp turn or both - it could cause a crash if you're not prepared.

This is commonly an issue with frame design and component choice on smaller bike frames, especially those that use larger wheels. Short of replacing components - say a crank with shorter arms to put your foot farther back from the front wheel - I can't think of any other practical solutions.

A pic of your current setup would help, just to make sure we're describing the same problem. New members need a minimum 10 posts to post pix, so if you go to the intro section and say hello to nine of your new friends, then you can post pix.

Thanks bargainguy you described the problem exactly. This is so close though that if you even have the top of your shoe on the top of the pedal it hits. The bike has 26" wheels, would replacing that with 24" wheels stop this?

Left turn; position your left foot at 12 o'clock/highest spot. Right turn; position your right foot at 12 o'clock/highest spot.

I wish it were that simple. I'm assuming your bike has rim brakes and not disc brakes. With rim brakes, smaller wheels would solve the overlap problem, but cause a different one - your brake calipers no longer work because the smaller rim is farther inward on the frame compared to a 26" wheel, closer to the hub...nowhere near your original brake caliper mounting points on the frame. So no more overlap but also no more brakes.

With disc brakes, it is theoretically possible to switch to smaller wheels, but now we have to consider whether the smaller wheel disc rotor would still work on your frame that was designed for a different wheel and rotor. It might work, it might not, and even switching rotor size may not make it workable.

You could try shorter shoes, if they would fit you.

What size shoes?

Which bike?

You could find a better matching bike.

Traffic is often very dangerous, even with the perfect vehicle. Don't risk the life of yourself and others.

Thanks everyone. I will try it on a back road and see if I can sync my pedaling to not hit the tire before I return the bike. I am only 5 foot tall and my shoe size is a 6 so I can't really go much smaller hahaha. But I thank everyone for your help and suggestions

That syncing is only a temporary solution. In busy traffic that will fail one time.

This seems a serious design flaw to me. You should complain at the factory and ask for another bike IMO. And you can complain to the safety authorities in your country. All users of these bikes should be warned worldwide. Which bike is it?

By maintaining your foot at the highest position in the turn(left foot for left turns/right foot for right turns);
you're also avoiding hitting the road with your foot/pedal.

I have a number of full sized (700 c ) that have the dreaded toelap. This only occurs when I am making a pretty tight turn, so I quit pedaling for a second while I negotiate the turn, keeping my feet so neither is in a 3 O'clock or 9:00 0'clock position. I've probably ridden tens of thousands of miles on these bikes and being careful on sharp turns is automatic. Besides buying new brakes for 24 inch wheels you may have other problems because your pedal will be an inch closer to the ground. 16 and 20 inch wheel folders don't have this problem. BTW most turns can be accomplished by shifting body weight and only a slight change of handlebar position. What bikes have this issue? for me it is a Fuji track bike, a Surly Steamroller and a Holdsworth Special, all of which are bikes I found to be well designed and which work well. Since you are not a tall person, you may find it hard to get a bike specifically designed for your height, although most 20 and 16 inch folders should be great.

That "design flaw" is common to huge numbers of bicycles that are ridden without incident on a daily basis. My favorite bike has considerable toe overlap and has been ridden for over 150,000 miles without that design causing any problems. And, BTW, the issue is not limited to small frames - mine is a 60cm Cannondale (crit geometry frame). The front wheel is only turned enough to potentially hit my shoe in extremely tight turns such as making a U-turn in a driveway and I coast with the inside pedal up when making such turns. Normal left or right turns on the road do not involve enough turning of the handlebars to create a toe-overlap issue.

My wife is about the same size as you. 5'1" and size 5 shoes. She had the same problem and we evolved into a Terry large rear wheel small front wheel bike. As time progressed she out grew that cycling ability wise and she now owns this custom Seven 24 inch wheeled bike. If you have a spare $5000+ sitting around this would solve your problem. 17 pounds and uses 24 inch wheels. Roger

Can you provide a measurement of the closest distance the pedal gets to the tire?

(good that you are now thinking 'folding bike')

You replace the Bike.. the wheels are part of the bike design, and you change too much just throwing on smaller wheels.


a Well designed small wheel bike Is Made in Eugene Oregon.. Bike Friday... 20" wheel NWT, 16" Wheel PakIt.

Both sized to you, made as its ordered, ( there is a queue ), and they both are a mix of fold and quick dismantle, to fit in a suitcase.

for travel.. (Or packing in your car trunk/boot.) Lifetime quality & Much less than $5k..





....

My wife Debby also has a Bike Friday Pocket Crusoe. Front of pedal to the wheel is a bit more than 8.5 inches on the Bike Friday. That was a custom build with case and trailer. About $2400 including shipping and tax. It has been to the Caribean and France plus numerous trips here in the USA. The Seven has about 3 inches in front of the pedal. She uses Look Keo clip in pedals so her feet do not overhang the front of the pedal on ether bike by much. Roger

Please, especially since you've assembled the bike yourself, post a picture of it. The reason is I suspect you MAY HAVE put the front fork backwards. I've seen it occur, and it causes MAJOR toe overlap. If we see the bike, we should be able to tell if this is the problem. :)

At a decent rate of Speed there is very little wheel swing, involved, TCO becomes an issue just at slow speeds.

I'm not able to post any pictures yet as I just joined

But the front fork was already attached. It is a stowabike folding bike

I could see where the fork could be backwards.. especially with a quill stem. Does the angle of the fork look like the picture? Or does your wheel appear closer to the rear wheel than the picture.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...sigqj08an.jpeg

Most race bike do that any touring bike and it should never have toe overlap

The 20" wheeled stowabike shouldn't have the issue of your toes touching the front wheel. The only way it would be a problem is if the fork is facing backwards, or the fork is bent.

Still easy to turn the forks 180 degrees from their intended orientation in the process of putting together the other bike components. A picture of the bike from the side would clear this up. While very many bicycles do have toe-overlap without it causing any problems, I'd be surprised if that particular bike did.

It's a 26" bike.

The fork may still be backwards though.

Yes, I've seen it happen to quite a few people with 26" wheels as well. Lol!