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Are there any pedals that sit low (below their axle)

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Are there any pedals that sit low (below their axle)

Old 05-30-22, 02:57 PM
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Mr Sir
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Are there any pedals that sit low (below their axle)

As a consequence of swapping to shorter cranks I have to raise my seat up. That means I can no longer reach the ground while on the saddle even with the tip of my feet. Now I wonder if I could swap to using pedals that have a deep ''sit'' so that at the bottom of my pedal stroke my leg extends more and at the up stroke have less bend in the leg. This would allow me to drop the saddle significantly.
If that doesnt exist I am thinking of going to really thin platform pedals and thin soled shoes. That will allow me to reduce saddle height a little bit, probably 2-3 cm compared to what I have now. But going to pedals that sit ''below'' their axle would result in much more reduction. Does something like this exist? If not, somebody should make em !

Last edited by Mr Sir; 05-30-22 at 03:05 PM.
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Old 05-30-22, 04:14 PM
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PeteHski
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2-3 cm lower saddle???

Pedals sitting below their axle would be quite tricky to engineer! But you can certainly get pedals that have a low stack height compared to others. The variation between the highest and lowest is about 5 or 6 mm
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Old 05-30-22, 04:20 PM
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This may help?

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Stepp...s%2C202&sr=8-9
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Old 05-30-22, 04:44 PM
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OTOH, why would you touch the ground while you're on our seat (saddle)?

When I come to a stop (for example, at a red light) I some times keep my left foot on the pedal and lean my bike over a bit so I can hold myself up with my right foot on a curb. At other times, especially where there's no curb, I just stop my bike and move my body forward so I straddle the top tube.
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Old 05-30-22, 04:58 PM
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The old Dura Ace Dyna Drive (DD) or “AX” pedals were a special axle-less design where the top of the rear cage crossed the centerline of what would be the axle.
This requires the matching crank arms that have an oversized 1” threaded bore. They were very clever engineering & some people that tried them thought they were cool (like me) but most thought they were awful. Sometimes they pop up on eBay @ decent prices. The double row bearings are housed inside that oversized pedal bore & they hold together when adjusted properly.
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Old 05-31-22, 01:12 AM
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Thanks for the replies everyone. I did some more research. It seems these special pedals are called ''eccentric pedals''. I've decided on simply getting platform pedals since I've been wanting to return to them out of practical reasons.
Stack height is the word I was looking for yes. I currently use SPD SL and it feels my stack height is very high with the decathlon shoes and cleats. I can cut a significant chunk off my saddle height by going to thin platform pedals with thin soled shoes.
Does anyone have a good recommendation for a thin, wide and long platform pedal?
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Old 05-31-22, 05:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Mr Sir
Thanks for the replies everyone. I did some more research. It seems these special pedals are called ''eccentric pedals''. I've decided on simply getting platform pedals since I've been wanting to return to them out of practical reasons.
Stack height is the word I was looking for yes. I currently use SPD SL and it feels my stack height is very high with the decathlon shoes and cleats. I can cut a significant chunk off my saddle height by going to thin platform pedals with thin soled shoes.
Does anyone have a good recommendation for a thin, wide and long platform pedal?
Xpaedo spry , Stamp 1 , stamp 5 , and these https://www.bikeradar.com/reviews/co...pedals-review/
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Old 05-31-22, 05:10 AM
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Originally Posted by Mr Sir
Thanks for the replies everyone. I did some more research. It seems these special pedals are called ''eccentric pedals''. I've decided on simply getting platform pedals since I've been wanting to return to them out of practical reasons.
Stack height is the word I was looking for yes. I currently use SPD SL and it feels my stack height is very high with the decathlon shoes and cleats. I can cut a significant chunk off my saddle height by going to thin platform pedals with thin soled shoes.
Does anyone have a good recommendation for a thin, wide and long platform pedal?
I also recommedn going with a very thin soled shoe
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Old 06-03-22, 04:49 PM
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Originally Posted by jambon
Quite neat idea, but not at £320!
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Old 08-30-22, 03:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr Sir
As a consequence of swapping to shorter cranks I have to raise my seat up. That means I can no longer reach the ground while on the saddle even with the tip of my feet. Now I wonder if I could swap to using pedals that have a deep ''sit'' so that at the bottom of my pedal stroke my leg extends more and at the up stroke have less bend in the leg. This would allow me to drop the saddle significantly.
If that doesnt exist I am thinking of going to really thin platform pedals and thin soled shoes. That will allow me to reduce saddle height a little bit, probably 2-3 cm compared to what I have now. But going to pedals that sit ''below'' their axle would result in much more reduction. Does something like this exist? If not, somebody should make em !
Switching to a drastically shorter crank, say going from 170 to 150 only requires putting the saddle up 2 to 5mm.

The other factor is bottom bracket height. It varies a lot. With shorter cranks you can run a much lower BB. Sorry, that won't help on your current bike.
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Old 08-30-22, 04:15 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr Sir
As a consequence of swapping to shorter cranks I have to raise my seat up. That means I can no longer reach the ground while on the saddle even with the tip of my feet. Now I wonder if I could swap to using pedals that have a deep ''sit'' so that at the bottom of my pedal stroke my leg extends more and at the up stroke have less bend in the leg. This would allow me to drop the saddle significantly.
If that doesnt exist I am thinking of going to really thin platform pedals and thin soled shoes. That will allow me to reduce saddle height a little bit, probably 2-3 cm compared to what I have now. But going to pedals that sit ''below'' their axle would result in much more reduction. Does something like this exist? If not, somebody should make em !
Switching to a drastically shorter crank, say going from 170 to 150 only requires putting the saddle up 2 to 5mm.

The other factor is bottom bracket height. It varies a lot. With shorter cranks you can run a much lower BB. Sorry, that won't help on your current bike.
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