why do I ride at an angle?
 

Hi,

I get bad knee pain in my left knee, near the front and outside. I have tried loads of things, but it keeps happening. Today on my ride I noticed that when i cycle I'm slightly leaning to the right. I'm guessing that this isn't helping my knee, but what causes cycling at an angle?

Thanks

Daven

I dont have a clue, are you sure you don't have 1 leg shorter than the other?

Or an apparent leg length difference due to muscle imbalance or titled pelvis

Yeah, I agree with fietsbob. I don't think any of us are perfectly symmetrical but some of us need orthotics to even out the difference.

Get someone to help measure your legs from hipbone to heel and see what you get.

Good Luck.

daven, Try tilting your saddle slightly off center. If you're using toe straps or clipless pedals, try some platform pedals. An unlikely issue maybe that the two crankarms aren't the same length (usually indicated on the inside of the crankarms in mm).

Brad

Perhaps you're leaning slightly to the right as a subconscious effort to favor the leg that doesn't hurt?

Another idea although far off because you'd ride out leaned one way and come back leaning the other is .....high cross winds.

I'm going to guess that you ride at a very slow cadence and are using your upper body to help push the pedals. I'm going to guess that your right side is dominant (ie, that you are right handed). You are also favoring the left knee. These may all combine to create your right-leaning tendancies.

What things?


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You aren't really providing enough details.

You'd probably be better off asking somebody who can actually see what you are doing.

Ever had a bike fitting?

Have you checked that your saddle is pointed completely straight forwards? Mine was off angle by just a few degrees, so little that I didn't notice for a long while, but it caused me a lot of pain.

Might do! Will check.

My seatpost allows me to adjust the saddle tilt side to side so I might try raising the left side slightly. The crank arms are the same length - bought as a pair!

Don't think this is it - both knees hurt slightly before and I then raised the saddle slightly and my right knee stopped hurting.

No, I ride at a decent cadence 90+ usually, my upper body doesn't really move. I AM right handed, but not sure what you mean by "favour left knee".

The things I have tried are: raising saddle - helped with right knee pain; moving cleats forward; moving cleats so the toes don't point inward so much; making sure saddle is perfectly level and centered.

Yeah checked this, and spent some time making sure it was nice and central.

On the way home I tried to make a conscious effort to keep myself straight and the left knee started hurting later than usual. Think I'll try to adjust my saddle tilt slightly.

Thanks all,

Daven

You talked about pain in your left knee. You may be trying to ride in a manner that keeps the pain from getting worse (or starting again). Doing that is favoring it and might produce your right-side lean. "Favoring" is a common word for this (in the US).

May be leaning to compensate for a fork or frame that's out of alignment? When the bike is vertical, not leaning, it's pulling to the left? Maybe have an experienced cyclist or even a frame mechanic check it out to confirm. If it's steel, can twist the frame or tweak the fork to fix. Tweaking the fork alone can compensate for a twisted frame to some degree. Lots of "how-to's" online, and depending on where you are there are probably a few qualified people around.

Shouldn't be out of alignment - the frame is new - only a few months old.

Do you think it is worth raising my saddle again slightly?

Daven

Maybe you could hop on another bike and see if you have the same problem. It would be an easy way to determine whether your frame is indeed our of alignment.

I have this problem with my road bike too.

I had a 70's Raleigh Grand Prix that was bent a little to the right on the top tube. Caused the same stuff that you describe.

I got a new frame, got SPD cleats with float, got a cartrige bottom bracket, and changed the tilt of my seat/handlebars.

Also hear Biospace chainrings help with knees. Perhaps we both should be looking into those.