Knee pain

[John the Canuck]

ok a background
asthmatic - but under control and not a limiting factor
slightly overweight at 73
always led an outdoor life
healthy lifestyle, no cigs, 1 bottle wine at weekends

started riding a Trek Hybrid in January - gave up the car
8 miles return to village shops 2/3 times a week
had to walk 2 hills going and 3 hills returning with 30L panniers full.........

by April started to use a road bike - 12mile circuits - no groceries
getting better on hills - not walked, just stopping for breathe halfway
and for the knee pain to subside - within a minute or two

QUESTION - is this knee pain to be expected till i get fit
should i see a Dr....?
any adjustments....? - lately i feel the saddle could maybe go back a wee bit

thanks...john

 

[Scoosh]

Some very good background here (part 1) and part 2 here.

HTH

 

[Sharky]

Hi john, completely unqualified to give real advice, only a few suggestions.

Go back to the hybrid and see if the pain goes away, then it will pin point a difference in positions.
Are saddle heights the same?
Are you pushing bigger gears on the road bike or putting more effort into it?

I'm 64 and occasionally get knee pains, but I just ride easy and after a while tends to ease.
I'm also riding with much shorter cranks nowadays and my knees don't bend as much at the top of the stroke and feels much more comfortable.

But if pain persists, need to ask your gp.

Hope it gets better

Keith

 

[oldfatfool]

Saddle height, too low will lead to front of knee pain, becomes more noticable as distance and hills increase.

Are you riding clipless? cleat position is all important. Even if you are riding flat pedals if you have shonky knees (eg slightly bow legged) having your feet in a fixed position on the pedals can cause knee pain. One of my knees is completely shot and it wasn't until I started riding Frogs
that I eliminated knee pain as they allow your foot to freely rotate so your knee is operating in the plane it naturally wants to be in all the time.

 

[John the Canuck]

Some very good background here (part 1) and part 2 here.
HTH

thank you - look very detailed so will read tomorrow

john

 

[John the Canuck]

,
Go back to the hybrid and see if the pain goes away, then it will pin point a difference in positions..............good idea
Are saddle heights the same?.. yes
Are you pushing bigger gears on the road bike ............yes - and just ordered a new smaller teeth crankset..

I'm also riding with much shorter cranks nowadays .......dash...the one just bought is the same, 170mm

But if pain persists, need to ask your gp...........ok.......Keith

thanks...................john

 

[John the Canuck]

Saddle height, too low will lead to front of knee pain, becomes more noticable as distance and hills increase.............Are you riding clipless? ..............

i've recently felt the saddle needs adjustment - will do and try tomorrow - forecast sun..!

old-fashioned toe-clips on the Peugeot but not strapped-in......

thanks...john

 

[Weeloubylou]

This is an obvious one which helped me, simply stretch your legs well before and after.
Happy riding :-)

 

[Weeloubylou]

I should add, I had a sore knee but the root of the problem was my calf muscle was too tight.

 

[BSRU]

Are saddle heights the same?.. yes

How are you measuring this, hopefully from the equivalent point on each bike and not the floor.

 

[spiderman2]

could be q-factor,I had same problem .difference between hybrid and road bike was 20mm

Tread ("Q Factor")
The tread, or "Q factor" of a crankset is the horizontal width of the cranks, measured from where the pedals screw in. The wider the tread, the farther apart your feet will be. It is generally considered a good idea to keep the tread fairly narrow. There are three main reasons for this:

• The hip joint is optimized for walking, and in normal walking the footsteps are pretty much in line, with little or no "tread."
• For standing pedaling, the farther out the pedals are from the centerline, the harder you have to pull on the handlebar to counterbalance the tendency of the pedaling force to tip the bike sideways.
• The wider the tread, the higher the bottom bracket needs to be to prevent clipping a pedal while pedaling through a turn.

Older bikes were generally designed to keep tread to a minimum, but starting in the late 1970s there has been a trend to wider tread, for a variety of reasons:

• The popularity of triple-chainwheel cranksets has moved the right side outward.
• Front derailers designed for wide-step triple-chainwheels have a more 3-dimensional shape to the derailer cage, which requires more clearance between the large chainring and the right crank.
• Mountain bikes have wider-spaced chainstays for tire clearance, which requires moving the chainwheels outward so they won't hit the chainstays.
• Newer bikes with more sprockets in back move the chainline outboard.

 

[John the Canuck]

spiderman2

thanks..interesting
the axle on the Peugeot is 122mm running a double chainset - so not much i could do to reduce the 'tread'

have raised the saddle 2cm - thereby moved it slightly backwards ..seems to help

cheers ..john

 

[Julia9054]

Warm up properly by taking it easy for the first couple of miles of your ride in a lower gear than you would normally.
I have a dodgy knee from a skiing injury (well, falling injury) from about 5 years ago. Every so often I forget to warm up, leap on my bike and peddle off like a loony. My knee knows about it for the next couple of days!

 

[spiderman2]

spiderman2

thanks..interesting
the axle on the Peugeot is 122mm running a double chainset - so not much i could do to reduce the 'tread'

have raised the saddle 2cm - thereby moved it slightly backwards ..seems to help

cheers ..john

If you need to increase to "tread" specialized sell pedal axle extenders to increase it by 20mm.Ive done this to my road bike and my knee pain has gone.

 

[John the Canuck]

Warm up properly by taking it easy for the first couple of miles of your ride in a lower gear than you would normally................!

could be a plan
the route to the village starts with some hills
so could go the other way - flat - for a mile of so first
new 50/36T crankset may help
thanks