Runner 1

That pain that I mentioned about a month ago -- well I took 4 weeks off cycling until the pain went away and now I have been coming back into cycling slowly. I've only been doing 4.5 miles a day as a precaution.

Well, the precaution isn't working, as I am still getting pain in this area:



Originally I thought it was the tendon where my quad connects to the knee, then I thought it was my IT band, and now I think it's the tendon again.

I have varied almost everything on the set-up of my road bike except crank arm length and pedal arm length. I can't buy new crank arms to test out because at the moment they are out of my college budget (SRAM force) having only recently bought the bike. So that makes me wonder if pedal arm length could be a factor in the pain.

Curiously enough, I do not get the pain on my cheapie mountain bike. I've done 30-45 miles a day on this bike without getting pain -- the pain only comes about on my road bike. The mountain bike differs from the road bike in that the seat height is a lot lower (the max I can raise the seat leaves my knee well bent at the bottom of the stroke), and the crank arm lengths are 164 mm as opposed to 172.5 mm on the road bike. I haven't measured pedal arm length yet but plan on doing so later.

Has anyone had a similar issue and found it to be resolved by swapping out pedal arms? I'm using Speedplay Zero chromoly's.

Thanks

Elvo

Knee pain is almost always a saddle height or setback issue. Unless you have super short legs and are using 180 mm cranks or something.

pallen

After a lot of experimenting with saddle height, crank length, stretching and even cleat shims, this is what finally allowed me to ride over 60miles without knee pain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHBDim_fzk

I think a lot of it was just continuing to ride and my body adjusting something new as well.

cyclezen

ride with 'clipless' pedals on the roadie? and not with the MTB (or just cage with straps).
same shoes for both?
cleat rotation can cause or alleviate knee problems, for sure...

Runner 1

Thanks for the video. I've been rolling, but not how she was doing it in that video. I've been rolling right over the location of pain, but I'll give higher up a shot. It seems the cure for injuries isn't always found at the location of the injury.

Runner 1

I thought that might be a factor, so I ordered some Speedplay Platformers. No relief, and the platformers are small enough that the effective distance from my foot to the crank remains the same.

cyclezen

put your mtb pedals on the roadie, ride again

pallen

yeah, it seems the causes of knee pain are not easy to pin down even though the symptoms may sound similar. The roller worked for me in addition to rubbing the muscle during breaks on long rides. You may have something completely different going on though. Good luck!

Runner 1

Thanks! It's like trying to pin down a noise on a bike -- you never really know what's causing it.

tborner

Maybe your saddle is too high. I developed knee pain about 2 months ago after raising my saddle, and after lowering it a bit, the pain was gone.

kevin_stevens

Try pulling that big red arrow out of your knee!

KeS

sakonnetclip

If that's the outside of your knee in the pic is almost certainly your quad tendon. I sprained the heck out of mine this winter doing some stupid high intensity intervals on rollers.

I've noticed some pain when I push things too hard, mostly by too much running with my cycling. If you're getting it with just biking and can't self correct I'd find some help to ensure your fit is correct or speak to a sports oath about your routine.

mudman22

This is what worked for me:

I had the exact same problem. Wicked pain in the outside of one knee (ITBand). I started by reading everything I could find on the internet. A little knowledge turned out to be a dangerous thing . . . So I tried taking a few days off the bike, different cleat positions, seat heights, fore/aft seat adjustments, different pedals that I had laying around, but nothing seemed to work. I started stretching and used a foam roller. That didn't work. I never had this problem on my mountain bike.

What DID work was getting a professional bike fit. I spent about 90 minutes getting fitted at REI. My wife is a member, so this was done at a discounted rate.

I totally understand a person's reluctance to spend anything to have somebody make adjustments to seat height, cleats, etc. Hey, I'm cheap, and gear is expensive even when bought used.

After having it done, I can honestly say that A PROFESSIONAL FIT WAS THE BEST MONEY I EVER SPENT ON THIS SPORT.

We ended up swapping out my setback seatpost, and putting in a zero-setback post so that the saddle could be moved forward. We also adjusted the cleats to a better position. (It is really hard for a newbie to get cleat position correct, even with a pendulum off the kneecap. When you are sitting in the saddle, pedal position doesn't look the same as when viewed from the side). My seat was tilted up because I read that this would get pressure off the hands. We fixed that too. The REI staff hooked me up with some new takeoff parts that were maybe a year or two old, for cheaper than used-ebay prices.

There are so many variables in a bike fit that it is easy to go around in circles without fixing the problem. Part of the problem was my doing too many mountain climbs, after having only ridden for a few days. Every 2nd or 3rd day was a different canyon, probably not a good idea when just starting out. For somebody fairly new to road biking, I can't overstate the positive impact a professional fit had.

Now I am riding pain free. Even though I took it easy the week after getting fitted, I could tell that the pain was gone. I also shaved minutes off of all of my favorite climbs. Back to grinding my way up the local mountains.

Hope this helps somebody. Buying new stuff might work, but it is easier to have an expert tell you exactly what the problem may be.

Nick Bain

saddle should be easy enough to get right. My vote is still for the cleat alignment and footbed angle. Just get floating cleats already. Or just strait up platforms and see where your feet "like to go" on there own.

Runner 1

Thanks for the advice everyone. mudman22, I particularly appreciate the long write-up you've provided. Just out of curiosity, was the professional fit a Specialized fit?

Nick Bain, I'm already using Speedplay Zeros, and I tried platformers with them, but cleat alignment may need adjustment.

mudman22

It was the more expensive of the two options (can't remember the name). $90 for non-members, $75 for members. About the same price as a couple of the local bike shops. I figured that the worst case would be that the money spent would boost my wife's REI dividend.

I will say that one of the people who does fits at my REI said that she had only done a couple. The person who ended up working with me seemed pretty experienced, but did spend some time double checking charts. A bike shop that does a ton of fittings might be a safer bet in general--the reason I chose REI was that I didn't get a very good vibe in a few of the shops near in my area. They did not seem to want my business.

Biggest factor for me turned out to be getting the seat moved far enough forward. I was all the way forward with the setback post, and it still wasn't quite enough.

shopgirl

It probably was not a Specialized BG fit since REI isn't a Specialized dealer.