George3

My shoes get stuck under the front small wheels of my Brompton. I will explain this. Sometimes the sides of my shoes hook under the front mini-wheels (Eazy-wheels) of my 2005 steel Brompton, when I ride it.

These small front wheels are attached to rear part of the frame (triangle), that can pivot onder the main frame. When my shoes hook to these mini-wheels at a crossing in heavy traffic, I could get a traffick-accident.

What could I try to solve this problem? Are there any discussions on the internet on this issue? Thanks for your replies.

residuenyc

I've experienced the same problem without the easy wheels. Wear lower cut shoes so there's less to catch and angle your toes slightly in towards the frame.

bargainguy

I looked online to see if there were any smaller replacement easy wheels for the Brommie that might help mitigate your issue, but it appears that replacement wheels are designed in the same size. No help there.

Of course, you have the option of removing the front set, but that would compromise rollability. Only you can decide which is the lesser of two evils - feet hitting the easy wheels or not being able to roll it easily.

Now I'm sure that you could probably cobble together a smaller set of wheels in place of the front easy wheels that would be somewhere between the two extremes - let you roll fairly easily and not have the foot strike issue. Anyone here tried something like that?

George3

Thanks. I wore low cut shoes. I will try to tie them more tighly with the laces around my feet, leaving less space to hook my shoes under the mini wheels. I found another discussion on heel strike:

https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bi...asy-wheel.html

George3

Thanks for your reply. I hope that Brompton will develop a solution for this problem. Another thread on this issue:
https://www.bikeforums.net/folding-bi...jury-mode.html

George3

Would this be the solution?

fietsbob

the wheel width between them, helps the bike not fall over when in kickstand mode..

there are thinner wheels made by 3rd parties if you want something like that..

O ring Tires being thin might roll off the side.. thick ones on the EZ wheel, factory option, wont.

given they sell them faster than they can make them, Now.
don't hold your breath waiting for the "you guys should" engineers committee to do that.




.....

jur

The Brompton Easy Wheels and 3rd party equivalents are narrower and therefore less of a problem.

bmac.to

I would also recommend clipless pedals - they force your feet to be in the same place on the pedals everytime.

1nterceptor

If I understand the problem completely; your shoe(the inside part) gets caught on the bottom side of the roller.
On the upstroke. Wearing low(er) cut shoes won't solve this. You actually want to wear HIGHER cut shoes/boots.
Toe clips keeping your feet straight might also help. Wider pedals and placing your feet more to the outside might
also help.

This used to happen to me as well. It stopped after I switched to clipless pedals:

invisiblehand

I'm trying to remember the clearance between the crank and wheel while folded without any luck. But it seems to me that if you're only hitting one EZ-wheel, you might try using a BB spacer to move the crank in one direction a few mm. If you hit both, then it's your pedaling style in combination with big feet that causes the problem. But if you have a bit of clearance between the tire and crank while folded, then you can swap a wider BB to move the arms out a bit.

The rear racks you shared earlier would move the offending EZ wheels back-center at the price of stable rolling. I'm not sure how important that is to you but if you're dead set on having a rear rack and rolling while no longer wishing any pedaling interference, then it's a plausible solution. Obviously, if you hardly roll the Brompton, you can always remove the wheels or find smaller diameter wheels.

invisiblehand

A few other mentioned something similar. I agree with it as well. Along these lines, perhaps you have shoes that are particularly wide at the heel.

1nterceptor

I wear 9.5/43.5 shoes; but the "catch" happened to me once in a while. Usually only on the right pedal.
The folding mechanism of left pedal forces your foot out a bit. So if it only happens to the right/drive side to
the OP; that's another option. Get the folding right side pedal from Brompton.

LittlePixel

As others have said -clipless pedals and skinnier wheels could help. Skinnier wheels = better for riding but less stable when wheeling around folded. The only other possible help if you're just catching them is to source some shorter cranks - ie if yours are 160mm then a set of 150mm ones might just make the difference in whether you catch your heel on the wheels or not.

Ultimately, a Brompton is a [very clever] compromise, and those wheels have always been skirting the overlap between decent folding utility and bad riding ergonomics. In my experience, I think over time I learnt to ride with heels out by just a couple of degrees, so I was more more pigeon-toed to avoid any clashes, and that seemed to fix it.

12boy

I found I never roll my bike on those rear wheels but removing them entirely does not provide any stability when parked with the rear wheel under. I put a couple of gear pulleys on in lieu of the wheels and they raise it up enough to support the bike solidly. They don't really turn but as they wear they can be rotated a little. No heel strike with those little buggers.

Schwinnsta

Would smaller diameter wheels work?

bhkyte

You might have a tad of arthritis or stiffness in your hip and therefore your heels turn in.

George3

Thanks for the suggestion. But I don't think that is the case.

Thanks for all the replies of other members.

fietsbob

Note the rounded shape of those inline skate wheels, think you could adjust your foot placement to miss those?

George3

Someday I may forget to do that.

1nterceptor

As I have mentioned earlier; this used to happen to me as well with the stock pedals.
No problems when I switched to clipless pedals. Partner in crime started borrowing the
B; had to switch to removable flat pedals. MKS Esprit are pretty wide; no hooking problems
so far:
MKS ESPRIT SUPERIOR PEDALS by 1nterceptor, on Flickr

residuenyc

I've been thinking about this more.

I looked at my shoes and the pair that causes problems is thicker which supports the idea that a larger right pedal would help. Sounds like I should get something larger than the standard Brompton (I have a Bromfoot on the left side). Maybe detachable and use it on the right only or swap both to matching folding pedals?

Playing with the wheels doesn't seem like the way to go since it would affect stability.

I'm assuming "shoe catch" is different from the oft described "heel strike"?

badmother

We use detatchable pedals.

Edit: https://www.bromfoot.com/

I remember somebody producing a plastic/nylon platform extender for the Brompton pedal. Try to search to see if it is still produced. Could be an easy fix.

BassNotBass

Mine did that too so I just flipped the wheels so that they weren't sticking out as much. Sure the bike isn't as stable in the parked position or when rolling around folded but that has yet to be a real problem for me.

mrklaw

Hi - I've just bought a new brompton and noticed this almost immediately. Oddly I didn't notice it for the week I had my hire Brompton to trial it out. Seems to me you could have a nasty off if you aren't careful?

As this seems to be about your shoe catching on the sticking out wheel - I wonder if it woudl be possible to add a 'cowl' to the bottom of the wheel which would deflect your shoe out of the way and prevent it catching? When folded the cowl would be on top so the wheel should stlll be able to roll on the ground.