Proved myself wrong (pedal strike)
 

A while ago I took my bike, put one pedal straight down, and then leaned the bike over to where the pedal was hitting the ground. Looking at the degree to which the bike was leaned over, I sort of chuckled and said to myself, "Dave, there's no way you'll ever suffer from pedal strike. If you're over that far, you're falling already."

Wrong.

I recently decided that I needed to have more confidence in my ability on the bike and be more aggressive in certain things, like in cornering. As such, I've been working on taking corners faster and banking more where appropriate. This is what I was doing this morning on my way to work, when I made a quick, sharp right turn from an access road into a parking lot. In the middle of the turn, I heard/felt this little tic, as some part of my Eggbeater gave the concrete a peck on the cheek. Didn't break my momentum or cause me any danger - it was about as light as I can imagine pedal strike to be.

Still, it struck. Never thought it would happen, but it did. Interesting.

Are you on a track frame? I never had a problem on my Pista, but I recently started riding this mountain bike (longer cranks, lower bottom bracket, wider pedals) and I am hitting all the time. It's just funny because I have had to train myself to stop pedalling and keep the inner pedal up during turns, kind of unlearning fixie riding I guess.. At any rate glad you didn't crash.

".....it was about as light as I can imagine pedal strike to be. "

Ah but Dave, that means you're not doing it right! You gotta bury that sucker half an inch deep into the asphalt, and then see what happens!

Owiee. My wrist still hurts.

Yeah, if it doesn't feel like you're pole vaulting it doesn't count ;)
I installed a glass,mercury filled level on my frame. When a lean approaches the danger zone, an alarm sounds via an inner ear implant.

It's surprising just how far over you can tilt a bike and still feel absolutely stable in a turn.

http://www.bikecamp.com/images/davis.jpg

Davis Phinney can knock traffic cones over with his handlebars. Impressive.

i have had so many close calls on my khs. i have hit the curb numerous times when being squeezed by cars but have only been bucked off once. that was a big bloody mess. handlebars sideways. seat torn. and both my elbows and hands bleeding profusely. i never thought i would lean that far over either.

Road frame, 170mm cranks.

Dude - now you know.

Anyway, you need those black Sugino 75's.

yeah I learned the hard way... road frame, 175's, coming around a corner and blazzam! Basically the road forced a skid that tore the tire clear off the rim. somehow I stepped off the bike as it rolled off the road... I think I told this story here before but anyway, I ride 165's now, higher track BB, and I've still scraped a couple times.

yah, i used to have pedal strikes all the time too wehn i was riding my nishiki conversion with 175's. one time in an allez cat it happened twice at HIGH speeds. damn that was skary. now i'm on a track frame with 165's and it's gold man. i don't think i've even come close and i take some hard corners some times.

b

I'm not on a fixie (thank god :) ) and I know around corners, with my pedal at 4 o'clock, I've scraped the ground before, so yeah, you can bank real low if the conditions are right.
I don't know how you people do it if you have to keep pedaling. That and hopping over stuff.

Yeah, but he rides on rev-x's...
loss of cool points there.
show > go
;)

it was great. i took my road bike off the rack for the first time this season (one couldn't so much as RIP me off my dear fix) and left for work. ahh the magic of coasting, i was as free as bird legs...
then as traffic increased and a particular prick cut me off, i got angry. i mean ANGRY. spittin and cursin and whatnot, i whipped up the manhattan bridge (bklyn side) on-ramp, and lone behold, i took that turn with such a mean lean that, well, i clipped.
the FUNNY part is that i just wasn't used to braking with my fingers yet (still seems strange), and in order to compensate the clip i backpedaled like crazy(!) finding only too late that my instincts were slightly outdated.
i instead toppled over onto my other side. got a bit scratched up, but learned my lesson.

i have this problem all the time, i have a cannondale as a single speed, but ive been training to go fix, and the thing is my pedal always scraps, but i do have all mtn componets, but the BB is too low, and the cranks are long, and the pedals are wide, which scrape all the time

http://tamu.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1231479&l=f0de8

I nicked for the first time since I went fixed this morning.

downhill, and hooked a left, and just felt a little nick. It didn't unseat the rear at all it didn't even feel unsettling, but it shows me where my limits are.

I'm using welgo mountain style pedals with clips and 170 cranks, so I can probably get away with swapping pedals. Hell I can even probably get by grinding the corners of my pedals farther down.