79pmooney

Road crown. The insides of corners typically have the most favorable banking, the outsides the least. On drive-on-the-right roads, the inside turns are to the right; favoring the wider pedal set. On left-hand roads, the right turns are outside turns; so the least favorable banking matches the lessened road clearance. Crunch!

ThermionicScott 

You're kidding, right? Keeping feet on the pedals, often in a specific position, is literally why foot retention was invented. That's what it's for.

No one is fooled if you play the clueless newbie in one thread, and some kind of expert in another. You should pick one role and stick with it.

ClydeClydeson

I think your problem is a loose nut in the saddle

This is common on almost all bikes - you need to stop pedalling briefly when cornering. There might be some oddball bikes or bikes for specific purposes (observed trials, maybe) where the bottom bracket (spindle through the frame to which the cranks attach) is higher up, but 99.9% of cyclists can comfortably ride without smacking their pedals on the ground, so you can too.

Different size bikes of the same make and model will have similar or identical bottom bracket heights, so simply changing sizes will have no effect.

If it is a suspension bike, make sure the suspension is sufficiently firm or preloaded to minimize sag when riding on flat ground. This could also be helpful to make the bike more efficient to ride so you can more easily stop pedalling for a bit without worrying about coming to a dead stop.

One last idea is to put larger tires on the bike - if you have 1.5" tires try 1.9" tires. If you have 1.9" tires, try 2.2" tires. Every little bit helps.

Finally, the fact that you are tall and were pointing your foot downward is a possible red flag that the bike is too small, or at least is not set up properly for you. On a bike properly set up for riding on the road, you should barely be able to touch the ground with your toes when in the saddle with the bike upright. Your leg should be almost (damn near) straight when the pedal is at the bottom. If your saddle is too low you might find yourself trying to push through the pedal as your body tries to stretch to the most efficient position of full leg extension.

ClydeClydeson

Oh, and make sure your tires are pumped up good and hard for riding on the road - this will give you a bit more clearance and make the bike roll a bit faster, which also helps not lose speed when coasting through corners.

Andy Somnifac 

Do we also want to turn this into a "best PSI for optimal rolling resistance" thread as well?

ClydeClydeson

You can if you want. My observation has been that many casual cyclists are riding around on seriously underinflated tires - I'm not saying you need to be testing the max pressure rating on your tires, but probably 1/3 to half of the bikes I see are at risk of a pinch flat, and if OP's tires are soft then a bit more air will raise him up a few mms and likely allow him to cruise a bit faster with less effort.

ThermionicScott 

Cool story. Did you read all of post #12? I think you are trying to argue with something I didn't say.

79pmooney

Some of us ride toes down. I do. Always have. Toeclips were a blessing in that they allowed what comes naturally to me. Sometimes it means road contact happens with my toeclip or shoe but that hasn't been a bigger deal than hitting with the pedal. My toes down are not because my seat is too high. I can place my barefoot heel on the pedal spindle without rocking my hips.

(For reference on one cyclist famous for riding toes down, see Jacques Anquetil, multi Tour de France winner.)

As I suggested in a previous page post, bicycles are compromises. Most of us settle for compromises determined by bike company engineers and marketers and available equipment. Most of us simply settle for what's out there. But for some of us, a bike that reaches beyond the norm is a bike that will suit us better. Pedal clearance is just one of those factors. Most bikes hit pedals on turns fairly easily. Many riders never corner pedaling that fast. But if cornering while pedaling is important, that can be done. The compromises to do it might be considered excessive and might also be quite expensive but it is all doable. I had my Mooney built with a high BB because I was fresh off racing a very high BB bike and loved pedaling turns(1). Now 40 years later, I'm riding that compromise bike (it also has clearances for pannniers, winter tires and fenders) as a fix gear and loving those choices I made.

1) I was a racer with zero sprint. That super high BB bike allowed me to pedal deeper into turns and sooner coming out; a real leg saver I used a lot.

Andy Somnifac 

We're not talking about a crit racer trying to get that extra mm of lean in a crucial corner. We're talking about a newbie and lack of technique.

ClydeClydeson

Correct. Which is why we cannot assume they have adequate tire pressure.

Andy Somnifac 

Nor do I think that the extra mm or 2 will make any measurable difference. It's far more likely that if he's running into pedal strike issues now, he'll still run into pedal strike issues with the extra degree of lean he'd get with slightly more inflated tires.

ClydeClydeson

A agree that technique is most likely the primary culprit.
Mountain bikes generally have tires over 2" wide. If they are riding on tires so soft the rim is close to the ground, extra pressure could give significant extra elevation.

MHunter91

i went for a 27.5 and its way better, and i think i leaned way too much, and still do something, im into cars too so i love conering, so i jus subconsiously was doing that and leaning way too much

eduskator

2 pages for this... The internets keep impressing my arse.

Calsun

Not going to work in all cases but I try to straighten the curves as much as possible with the apex or approach line I choose. At the outer edge I would need to lean the bike over more than at the inner edge of the turn.

Being tall your best option may be a larger frame and one that has the bottom bracket higher off the ground. Shorter cranks may help and the old thinking that taller riders needed to use longer cranks is flawed. There are 6' plus riders using 155mm cranks on their mountain bikes with no problems at all.

popeye

All he needs to do is keep all his weight on the outside pedal in turns like he should and this will never happen. Weighting in the inside pedal will set you up for a high side and you never want to do that.

drewguy

I don't understand why it's different, other than a mirror image - a left turn when cycling on the right side of the road is the same as a right turn when on the left side of the road.