hi

i've been riding a fixed gear jamis sputnik for a coupla months now and the gearing on it is very high. i havent had the money to have it lowered. but i've been riding it alot and have been going downhills even though it is very hard on account of i cant skid. i have begun to get pain in my knees fir the past 3 weeks. i know i should have the gear lowerred and that the backward pushing is damaging my knees. i just want to know if this slight pain will be permanent because i'm only 16 and dont want it to become a permanent problem for me.

maybe you should stretch more, ...on another note am i the only person who rides to keep the knee pain away i have a bad knee from playing soccer, and it hurts when i don't ride for a few days and feels fine if i do

Make sure your leg extension [seat height] is correct.

yeah but if my gear ratio is too high and i use alot of backwards force going downhills wouldnt that be the number one problem ???

Probably, if there is pain, why not use a brake? (lulululul rdy fr argumentz in 3-2-1!1!one1!)

Edit: But seriously, at 16 you should be worrying about other things, like who can buy beer, etc.

what gear do you have cuz that prob will be the culprit? yea but def see if your saddle height is on point and get a brake on there if you have a hole for it.

Use a brake, lower the gearing, and learn to skid and skip properly if you're going to do that sort of thing. And yes, you are messing up your knees, probably not permanently but the world is full of people like me who did a lot of dumb stuff to their knees at 16 and now 10 years later have to be completely psychotic about fit and form to ride without knee pain.

Go to the shop you bought it from, if they're not jackasses they'll fix the gearing or put on a brake and let you pay it off. Of course, anyone who sells a bike geared 48x15 in a hilly area and doesn't offer to fix the gearing or put on a brake is a jackass anyway, so who knows.

check saddle height.

i got mine pretty much where i want it by putting my heel on the pedal at its lowest point, straightening my leg and then raising the saddle to fit.

i don't know if anyone else has better methods...

[although i seem to have raised it about 50mm in the last year.

i'm not sure if i'm still growing, or just getting more flexible]

fsnl
sparky

People who are talking about saddle height, read the OP. He's stopping by resisting the pedals, his saddle may be in the wrong place but I'm guessing that's not the biggest cause of the knee pain.

take a few days off from riding.


how are those over the handle bar skids coming along

Ice your knees and take a break/brake. Recently my knee began bothering me so I've switched to SS for the time being. It hasn't been bothering me lately so I think I'm about ready to switch back. I never actually got to the point of knee pain though. Take it easy.

just to clarify, your seat post is at the right height when you have your leg extended but with a slight bend. not completely straight. i've been having a lot of pain in my knee and i was riding with my leg fully extended. as soon as i lowered my seat a little, the pain improved significantly. having it too high prevents you from keeping your hips stationary and also stretches out your knee (in a bad way) with every pedalstroke.

but as people have been saying, look into a brake or reconsider your gearing.

Dc area and its a sputnik. If you bought it from a shop it was Citybikes, right? tell them to lower the gearing or put a brake on. If they act like jerks which is known to happen from time to time post on DCFixed and see if someone can help you. I got extra brakes that if you need one I'll give ya. I'm in alexandria.

make sure bike fits:

saddle height--mount bike, put cranks at 6/12 o'clock, heel of foot should just barely be able to scrape lower pedal-- start there, make small changes after that

toe clips or clipless----make sure the toe clips are deep enough or cleats are far back enough on your shoe, pedaling with too much toe is a sure recipe for knee pain, just add miles and a decent gear and its enough stress to cause major knee problems---pedal spindle should be at or behind the ball of your foot

fit issues under heavy loads(big gears) will very quickly appear as pain, you shouldnt have any pain other than some muscle soreness, even on a track bike without a brake

another thing you can do besides gearing down is stand up more, it decreases the angle on your knee, this helps take some of the stress off under heavy loads......I do it stopping and starting all the time, much easier on the knees than sitting and mashing

can you do permanent damage to your knees? yup, you can, its painful as hell, but people do it

I put myself off the bike for a week once with knee pain, source was toe clips that werent deep enough, took 300 miles in 4 days and boom, my knee started swelling bigtime then came the pain. 1/2" difference in one simple adjustment was all it was.

thanks for everyones help

and yeah i bought it at city bikes (where i work) and i'm probably just gonna ride my fiji cruiser for a couple weeks til i can get my gear lowered.

i'd like to be cycling for a long time and it would suck to mess up my knees this early in the game

I went through the same thing on the same bike in another thread "great knees of fire". Definitely be careful, knee pain is the worst. It took me 4 months to get back to almost normal, and mine still bother me on occasion. Its probably more fit that gearing, though bad fit, and a high gear will mess you up faster.

My problem was the clips and straps. I walk duck footed and having my feet strapped straight to the peddles was causing my knees to twist as I put pressure on them. A few months of that and it was hard to walk up stairs. I went with clipless egg-beaters, and immediately noticed a difference, though it took months for things to clear up completely.

I'm sure if you're having trouble affording a new cog, that new peddles aren't in your immediate future either, but check out your feet when you stand. If your toes point out or in it could be your problem. Get some peddles with some float and see.

My knees start hurting if the seatpost is too high and I stretch my legs completely while pedaling.The next day I can barely walk from the pain.

So, there's the reverse thing, too, apparently.

Bull****! How much is being healthy worth to you? $20? To me, it's worth nearly everything I have. For $20 you could fix your problem - I bet you anything that you still have money for some other crap you don't need, which costs more than $20.

You work at a shop and can't afford it? Umm, no. Pro deal, staff discount, beg it off someone else at the shop, buy a cog second-hand off a customer, etc. Christ, just get off your ass and change the cog. Otherwise trade your bike in for one that you can afford to maintain. I'm not even goiing to bother with the brake notion because you're invincible for a few more years still.

You do know how to stop the bike on one of those downhills after you drop your chain, right?

i'm in dc as well, and have had my share of knee problems. pm me if you want to meet up and try to make your bike more comfortable.

take some asprin and stop complaining. everyone gets knee pain. I find that mine goes away after about 80 miles, but comes back at rest stops. I get pain on shorter rides. The two times I did velodrome racing my knees were killing me after. Something about those longer rides that seems to help.

interesting.
i used to have active knee pain after a soccer injury in high school. mostly during season changes, first cold weather, or when it was cold and wet out.

riding fixed changed that, surprisingly - maybe the frequent, constant movement of the knee kinda smoothes everything out. ?

I've heard/read MANY stories like this. I would really like it if a sports medicine specialist (or research team) looked into this carefully.

I've been cycling for years and riding fixed for about 3 or so. Honestly, my knees only recently started bothering me. Tiger Balm helps and Ibruproferen in the AM. I skated most my life and quite because of constant injuries. Take care of your body, you only get one.

9 years from now, you'll wish you ran a brake!

Ride how you want to, know thyself. I did 250 miles on a road bike last weekend and my knees were killing me. I ride around the city on a track bike with no breaks for 3 hours, my knees are fine. I do 60 miles this morning on a road bike with substantial climbing, my knees are hurting again.

I recommend red wine, a smoke and some aspirin. Keep it like the old times.