Trekster
Member
The other day when I was loading my Quest into the back of my SUV, I noticed a scuff mark and some paint missing on the outside of the chain stay. I have not dropped (or fallen) so I tried to figure out how that happened. Upon closer examination, I discovered a similar scuff mark on the opposite chain stay. Then it dawned on me that perhaps the inside of my heels were striking the chain stay - especially since I've been practicing tight turns lately. Sure enough, I checked the heels of my shoes and found bits of the paint from the Quest.
I have Bontrager shoes and Bebop clipless pedals, and there are some rather sharp edges on the inside surfaces of these shoes (in the heel area) and apparently they have been striking the chain stay - although I was not really aware of it. Occasionally, I felt my foot contact the crank arm, but I wasn't aware it was also striking the chain stay.
I haven't lost enough paint to get down to the bare aluminum, but I'd like to remedy this situation before that happens. I tend to be a bit bow legged, and my normal stride is with my toes splayed out some. With my feet in the pedals and relaxed, my heels tend to migrate to a similar position. The Bebop pedals allow lots of free travel. I have positioned my cleats as close as I can to inside edge of my shoe so as to move my feet to the maximum width and away from the crank arms (even before I noticed this problem).
My solution was to increase the Q-factor by adding some 3/4" pedal extenders to my crank arms. This seems to fix the heel strike problem, but it also increased the side-to-side leverage as a result of my pedaling and has kind of thrown off my balance once again. I suppose I will get used to it, like I did in the beginning, but I thought I would ask here if anyone else has experienced this heel strike problem, and what if anything you did to rectify it. Thanks.
I have Bontrager shoes and Bebop clipless pedals, and there are some rather sharp edges on the inside surfaces of these shoes (in the heel area) and apparently they have been striking the chain stay - although I was not really aware of it. Occasionally, I felt my foot contact the crank arm, but I wasn't aware it was also striking the chain stay.
I haven't lost enough paint to get down to the bare aluminum, but I'd like to remedy this situation before that happens. I tend to be a bit bow legged, and my normal stride is with my toes splayed out some. With my feet in the pedals and relaxed, my heels tend to migrate to a similar position. The Bebop pedals allow lots of free travel. I have positioned my cleats as close as I can to inside edge of my shoe so as to move my feet to the maximum width and away from the crank arms (even before I noticed this problem).
My solution was to increase the Q-factor by adding some 3/4" pedal extenders to my crank arms. This seems to fix the heel strike problem, but it also increased the side-to-side leverage as a result of my pedaling and has kind of thrown off my balance once again. I suppose I will get used to it, like I did in the beginning, but I thought I would ask here if anyone else has experienced this heel strike problem, and what if anything you did to rectify it. Thanks.
