Another Drop Bar question (sorry!) with Wheels in

tardington

When I was test riding a Tricross Sport* and also my sister's Cannondale Touring, both of them seem to be set up so that if your turning, the back of the front wheel can be hit with you toes while you're pedalling.

The man in the LBS informs me that ALL road bikes have this 'feature' - Is this for real? I like to keep pedalling round corners, especially if I'm commuting, which is what I'd be getting the bike for. It's kinda putting me off! The Specialised Globe seems to have similar spec but the flat bars... :?

*Aside from this issue it's a really, really nice bike. I've even been deciding whether to get matching black panniers and bottle cages, or go for silver. :oops:

DavidTQ

My bike has significant toe wheel overlap, but its never cause me a problem on the road, I think its because I dont turn the handlebars to turn so much I tend to lean the bike to turn far more, could be because of the speeds I tend to be moving at, but even with a bit of weaving in traffic Ive never had an issue with it.

Heres a video in which I make a point to a few drivers blocking cycle lanes and as you can see I can move around the road in traffic with no problems caused by toe wheel overlap at all. I dont see why people feel road bikes are a problem for nimbleness in traffic Ive never had a problem with it. I wouldnt necesarily recommend riding like that Id had a bad day with traffic that day, I dont actually use the cycle lane a great deal but I do get into it early if theres a big chance of conflicting with right turning drivers ahead or if the central lines turn solid soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMhKCvPgvAA

Planning ahead helps with all these situations I had seen in advance where there was conflict and already had my manouvres planned. But cycling standards aside as you can see manouvreing in traffic doesnt have to be a hassle at all with toe \ wheel overlap.

Eat My Dust

Some road bikes are worse than others. I had an Ambrosio and the toe overlap was HUGE. Other road bikes I've had haven't been as bad but as DavidTQ said, you don't notice when moving as you don't have to move the bars very far to move direction.

niblue

I get some toe-overlap on my Tricross however that seems to be because it has mudguards fitted and it doesn't look like it'd be an issue without. On the road it's not been a problem however it was a bit of an annoyance off-road.

BTW I've gone with black mudguards & bottle cages, but a silver rack on mine.

tardington

Eat My Dust wrote:

Some road bikes are worse than others. I had an Ambrosio and the toe overlap was HUGE. Other road bikes I've had haven't been as bad but as DavidTQ said, you don't notice when moving as you don't have to move the bars very far to move direction.

So it IS on pretty much all then? :shock: I was kind of hoping there would be a way to fix it. :x But, from from what you and other people are saying it's not a real problem... I hope so!

(thanks btw)

tardington

niblue wrote:

I get some toe-overlap on my Tricross however that seems to be because it has mudguards fitted and it doesn't look like it'd be an issue without. On the road it's not been a problem however it was a bit of an annoyance off-road.

BTW I've gone with black mudguards & bottle cages, but a silver rack on mine.

I saw your pic! It looks well nice! Think I'll go for all silver bits myself (um, as I have a silver rack already, and mud guards!)

I tried one without mud guards, but it was still dead nice!

SamWise72

It's a geometry thing; the tighter the geometry, the faster the handling, the more uncomfortable the ride, and the greater the toe overlap. So track bikes suffer from it more (coupled with not being able to coast to overcome it) then criterium bikes, and roadies. I'm surprised to hear that a tourer has this problem.

It's also worse on smaller bikes, and worse for people with big feet (for obvious reasons). What kind of pedals are you using? If you're not using clips and straps or click-ins, do you ride with the ball of your foot on the pedal, or the arch? Riding with your arch will make this much worse.

I have a few bikes with this issue, and honestly, the only time I've really had a problem was trying to weave my track bike through a tight gate at low speed, on one of my first fixed rides. In order to turn the bars hard enough to get toe strike, you'd need to be going very slow; did you experience this problem whilst actually riding, or is it something you're assuming WILL be a problem - if so, you'll probably find it isn't. Rounding corners at normal commuting speeds almost never involves turning the bars enough to cause you to hit.

tardington

Well, pedals with (strappy) toe clips or the mini ones.

On the test ride, doing a U turn on a normal street - I'm assuming normal (non-sharp) turning is okay, but I'm used to fast cornering when I'm late for work! See David TQ's post above - maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

Would a Giant SCR of some kind be better?

redddraggon

Toe overlap shouldn't be a problem. I can't think of an instance when I'd turn the bars enough when I'm on the move to have toe-wheel contact.

SamWise72

Ok - you don't pedal through a u-turn, presumably, so I guess that's no problem, and generally, the faster you corner, the LESS you turn the bars. My vote is that this is a problem that's not going to happen to you. I don't know enough about the Giant SCR to know, but I can tell you that I have never, ever, actually experience my toe hitting the wheel on any of the bikes I have with toe-overlap, except as described, on a track bike weaving through a gate on a bike/pedestrian path. I would stop worrying about it.

niblue

It doesn't happen on all road bikes. I've had an OCR3T for years and never had any instances of toe overlap.

DavidTQ

tardie wrote:

Well, pedals with (strappy) toe clips or the mini ones.

On the test ride, doing a U turn on a normal street - I'm assuming normal (non-sharp) turning is okay, but I'm used to fast cornering when I'm late for work! See David TQ's post above - maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

Would a Giant SCR of some kind be better?

My bikes a Giant SCR 1.0 theres toe overlap on that, although I do highly recommend the bike

Its worth noting the only reason I know there is is because I tested it after a topic on here and was surprised to find I did have toe overlap

BentMikey

I get a fair bit of toe overlap on my 2006 wrongster, as it has the track geometry frame. This is more exciting potentially than a geared bike as you can't reset the pedals (fixed wheel), but has never been a problem filtering.

Nothing like as much as my recumbent though, that has whole foot and shin overlap, enough that I have to pump pedal around a tight turn.

SamWise72

niblue wrote:

It doesn't happen on all road bikes. I've had an OCR3T for years and never had any instances of toe overlap.

Mostly, you'll never find out in action. Only by testing to SEE whether you have it.

chronyx

I'm confused - yeah I've hit my toes with the wheel a couple of times but only when I'm using normal shoes.

With the SPD's on it doesn't happen.