Knee and Cross Bar Clash - Flat Feet ?

[Dzzi]

Hi All,

Possibly a post for the technical section, but thought i would try here first.
My 14 year old son who is around 5ft 7 has started to do a few rides with me firstly on my crappy old hybrid and last week on a lovely cube road bike in mallorca

He enjoyed the day in mallorca and there was some talk of getting a bike for Xmas (i've explained the n+1 rule to him so he knows what he's starting !)

He has a problem with the inner part of his knee(s) brushing the cross bar on both these bikes. He is VERY flat footed and at the moment is not clipped in just riding in trainers on flat pedals.

Has anyone got experience of this kind of issue ?
He does cycle very heels out but i think this is as a result of the flat feet?
Would proper custome made insoles ( he has these for his normal shoes) make things better ?

Any advice or comments greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Dave

 

[jowwy]

Surely if his knees are touching the cross bar the sadle must be too low.

 

[Dzzi]

i see what you mean, but the issue is more that the inside of the knee area brushes the crossbar on each rotation of the cranks

 

[ushills]

He may have over pronation, both my knees knees brush the cross bar on each rotation.

May be worth seeing a podiatrist and getting some insoles fitted.

 

[ushills]

P.s.this may avoid knees problems later in life.

 

[Dzzi]

thanks ushills i think this is going to be the way forward

 

[Matthew_T]

I had something called Club foot when I was younger. It caused my feet to curl inwards and doctors and family thought that i would never walk. Fortunately my dad performed exercises on my feet everyday pushing them into place, which has now sorted the problem. However, I too dont have arches in my feet, meaning I need insoles in my shoes to correct the problem of my feet going inwards instead of outwards (like most people).
I dont wear the insoles when riding though, they just never felt comfortable. Never had the problem of my knees going in though.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I have the same issue, and innersoles do help reduce the knee / top tube collisions. What also helps is adjusting the cleat angles (if he's using cleats), so that the front of the cleats are very slightly further from the bike than the rear of the cleats.