Built-up pedals with different leg lengths?

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OP
OP
TV8 but now flat 6
Thanks everyone, I don't have clips on the pedals so can do anything with cleats, but was wondering about thicker pedals!
 

Gillstay

Über Member
You could fit half toe clips and then just raise one side of one pedal and the clip of course. Cheap way to experiment. Zefal ones I have found to be best.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
The trouble with having a thicker pedal platform is that it raises the foot at the bottom AND the top of the pedal stroke so you might feel that your knee was too bent at the top of the stroke? Having said that, it should be simple to bolt a piece of wood to the top of the pedal to try it and see how you got on?

Using a shorter crank with a normal pedal height would reduce the amount of bend needed at the knee.
 

Gunk

Guru
Location
Oxford
Why not build a platform pedal up using an additional pedal minus the spindle, surely they could be clamped together. Better than a piece of wood.
 
20mm is a big deal. The length of your cranks is part of the mechanical system of levers and gears which converts your effort into forward motion. Increasing the length of the crank allows you to exert more torque around the bottom bracket, but at the cost of having to travel a greater distance. Use of two widely different cranks will result in the sense that one (or both) legs is in the wrong gear. I'm not sure if I explained that very well! Anyway. The alternative, building up the pedal and/or the cleat in an attempt to match the dimensions of the bike to an asymmetrical rider, has its own problems. Manufacturers of shoes and pedals go to enormous lengths to minimise the distance from the sole of the foot to the centre of the pedal axle. It's all about the stability of the foot on the pedal. A very tall pedal will feel 'tippy'. So, in my opinion, finding a way to compensate for your 20mm should be achieved through as many different methods as possible - in order to minimise the aforementioned negatives. Firstly, ask your other leg to sacrifice 3 or 4mm of its optimum saddle height. Then find maybe 10mm with a different crank and the rest made up through increasing the pedal axle to foot dimension (however you do it: build up the pedal, space out the cleat or thicker insoles, it all amounts up to the same thing).
 
OP
OP
TV8 but now flat 6
The trouble with having a thicker pedal platform is that it raises the foot at the bottom AND the top of the pedal stroke so you might feel that your knee was too bent at the top of the stroke? Having said that, it should be simple to bolt a piece of wood to the top of the pedal to try it and see how you got on?

Using a shorter crank with a normal pedal height would reduce the amount of bend needed at the knee.

I wasn't sure what you meant at 1st but have just been on a not to engaging call and found a compass in the draw and this would actually be the same as having an off-set on the pedal centres! I will give it a try but most likely, leave as is. Its a nuisance being a bit crooked but the injury was 40 years ago, so I have learned to mostly live with it :smile:
 

Chris S

Legendary Member
Location
Birmingham
I've got a 165mm crank on one side of my bike and a 170mm on the other. I didn't even notice it until I went to service the bottom bracket and put them beside each other. The drive side crank is usually further from the centre of the frame than the other side so it's effectively shorter any way.
 
OP
OP
TV8 but now flat 6
I've got a 165mm crank on one side of my bike and a 170mm on the other. I didn't even notice it until I went to service the bottom bracket and put them beside each other. The drive side crank is usually further from the centre of the frame than the other side so it's effectively shorter any way.
Time for a little measure!
 
OP
OP
TV8 but now flat 6
I didn’t buy any built up peddles or similar but did buy myself a new Orange Crush at the weekend! GT is on eBay but people don’t seem to do auctions any more and everyone wants a buy it now price and the bike put in the post!
 
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