lopek77

I read a topic about some rider complaining that he was hitting front wheel with his shoes while turning.

Some of the responses:

"Every bike I've owned has had toe overlap. Not a big deal. Just be aware of it when making very slow speed, sharp turns."

"You just get used to it and learn to stop pedaling on sharp turns."

"Ignore this. It is common and a non-issue. "

"Most of my road bikes have had toe overlap."

"If it was a huge issue manufacturers would have stopped building bikes with geometry that produces it decades ago. The vast majority of people believe this is a non-issue. "

"Learn not to pedal in slow turns"

"Most of my riding is in the Mission in San Francisco, which requires an emergency maneuver at low speeds about every other block, so I view toe overlap as a (literally) fatal flaw.

"Unfortunately, toe overlap becomes a huge problem cycling alpine passes. I could not handle one in traffic."

"Toe overlap is a problem, especially when you are racing a cyclocross bike on uphill steep switchbacks."

"Toe overlap is a result of other critical design factors and cannot always be avoided especially on smaller frames."


What is your opinion. Is it "OK" or the problem is with wrong frame size or geometry that can't fit the rider?

zymphad

I pedal into my turns and don't hit the wheel. You're not supposed to be turning the wheel much but leaning into the turn more. I turn slowly sometimes in traffic, and I ride a small frame. It's a semi-compact geometry so I probably should be having this issue, but haven't run into it yet. I can turn slowly fine. Or maybe I unconsciously don't pedal on slow turn? I'll try to notice later today.

RPK79

Seriously? You started your own toe overlap thread? You could have at least made it a poll. Not an issue now and it wasn't an issue in the last couple dozen toe overlap threads.

carpediemracing 

The compromises necessary to eliminate overlap are substantial.

For smaller bikes it's virtually unavoidable, and with a little bit of thought it becomes a non-issue. For example if you want to make a u-turn on a narrow sidewalk by turning left then you just turn the bars left while doing a stutter downstroke with the left pedal (and if you have clipless you can pull up on the right pedal as well). This keeps the right pedal out of the way of the wheel, you still have power, and you can make the turn. When coasting through turns you should have your cranks vertical (a roadie thing) rather than horizontal (a mountain bike thing). Stuff like that.

Homebrew01

All the answers are in the OP already.

(I didn't realize it was a "Hot Topic")

buffalowings

Lol. For any shorties on this forum, toe lap is unavoidable.

RPK79

pdedes

Generally I'm not riding slow enough for it to matter. If you really need to ride that slowly, get a trike

merlinextraligh

OP, realize when people say don't pedal in a slow turn, they're talking about really slow, really sharp turns, such as a U-Turn in a parking lot at 2mph.

At anything approaching normal riding speed, you don't turn sharp enough to hit your foot.

And if you do rub your foot turning at 2mph in the parking lot, it's not trick to keep going, either, pedaling through it, turning less sharply for a second, or back pedaling.

popeye

Both my bikes have overlap. On the road bike it is minimal and has never been an issue. The track bike however has overlap back to the ball of the foot and you can't just position the crank to clear. I have trapped my foot on the wrong side of the wheel in slow speed turns. That will wake you up.

dmcdam

What exactly are you looking for beyond the 10 quotes in your OP? They seem to pretty much cover the topic.

Gramercy

Is it possible to just change cleat placement?

merlinextraligh

Bad idea. You want your cleat placed correctly on the pedal to get your foot in the right position in relation to the pedal, and avoid foot comfort issues and knee problems.

Moving it to effect toe clearance is asking for trouble.

lopek77

So your opinion is no opinion? This issue sounds like formula 1 problem...yes, its very fast, but not comfy, hot, loud and you can drive it only on a race track. Not everyone is a racer on a straight road.

buffalowings

Toe overlap will always exist in smaller frames..except in the trek women's specific road or cyclocross bike that was designed by trek for a pro women's racer, which they claimed didn't have overlap even in her xs frame size. Found it. https://www.bikeradar.com/us/road/new...st-look-38133/
Regardless, just be vigilant when riding at low speeds or trying to make tight u turns. Practice makes perfect.

dmcdam

What the hell are you talking about? My opinion is that all of the quotes in your OP are valid and cover off the good, the bad, and the ugly of toe overlap. Some see it as a big problem, while others don't. The reasons people view it one way or another are many - type of riding, experience, geometry, etc. You will not get a consensus or any 'right answer' on this. You clearly did some reading on this topic before posting this thread - were you not able to infer the same or do you just want to beat a dead horse? Any further discussion will garner a bunch of the same answers in your OP, so it's up to you to interpret and draw your own conclusions from there.

RPK79

gsa103

Rider shoe size.
This is something that manufacturers can't control at all. I have size 47 shoes on a 54-58cm frame, chances are I'm going to have overlap issues.

Its an annoyance. My first road bike was a Specialized Allez (56cm), and it had what I would describe as serious toe overlap issues. Never crashed as a result, but definitely had to be VERY careful in low speed handling. My new bike is a Bianchi Infinito (57cm) and I have zero toe overlap. The main reviewer complaint about the Infinito is that handling is "slow" compared with a racier bike (Madone/Tarmac). Personally, I love the handling, the extra stability really improves the descents, while my Allez had all kinds of wobble issues. At the same time, I could see the handling being unacceptable for crit racing.

megalowmatt

My opinion is it's OK.

Homebrew01

The solution is quite obvious: Electronically adjustable crank lengths that are triggered when the fork turns past 'x' degrees. They cause your feet to retract to 150 mm cranks until you finish turning, then revert back to normal length.

RollCNY

I would just have a clutch coupling so that you decouple both crank arms and can totally stop pedalling with the outside foot. It would finally make a use for one legged drills.

EDIT: Oops, would have to be two clutches.

RPK79

Gatorfreak

I'm short with big feet so I'm going to have toe overlap. You learn to work around it during tight maneuvers at slow speed. Never a problem during normal riding. Here's a pic of me riding that demonstrates the obvious toe overlap when you have a small bike with big feet:

Looigi

It's just another burden we well endowed have to endure.

(It's twoo it's twoo!)

noglider 

My wife just got a new bike and noticed, while riding, that it has toe overlap. She never had a bike with that feature. I told her she'll only notice it when going very slowly, and that satisfied her. My wife is not very sure-footed on a bike, and if she can handle it, so can nearly everyone else.