Colin531's Frame Alignment Check ( Amended Title )

For discussions about bikes and equipment.
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531colin
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by 531colin »

[XAP]Bob wrote:Is it just me or is that an asymmetric frame - just enough to allow the drive side to not be negatively dished....


Well, you know the camera never lies.....there are 2 shots of my back wheel, in the upper one it looks almost un-dished, in the lower one it looks over-dished.
In fact its a very standard 135mm OLN wheel in a symmetrical frame. I'm a real fan of asymmetric back ends and reduced-dish wheels, but in the end we decided they spook too many people to be commercially viable.
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531colin
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by 531colin »

531colin wrote:
fausto copy wrote:I actuallt think you're riding pretty vertically.
The effect is probably down to your being right-eye dominant.
If you close your right eye and look down, you'll probably see the centre of the front tyre.

If you know any good archers, ask them to explain it to you in more detail. :wink:
Note that's a left eye wink...


I'm very strongly left eye dominant, and fairly strongly right handed*
.....I shall give due consideration to what you say, but maybe not to-day, as its not forecast to get above freezing I may not get out on the bike.

* This makes one or two things awkward....I look behind over my right shoulder, but in order to see I must close the dominant eye....I'm not winking at you....
Rifle shooting is almost impossible


OK so I got out on the bike to-day. In my natural posture, I see more of the right side of the front wheel than I do of its left side, despite being strongly left eye dominant.
Also my right bum bone makes a bigger dent in the saddle than my left one.
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Mick F
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by Mick F »

The human form isn't symmetrical, so why worry?

Providing you can ride "no hands" or push the bike by the saddle and it goes straight, there's nowt wrong.
Mick F. Cornwall
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531colin
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by 531colin »

porky wrote:Having spent a lot of time at the back of group rides, I have noticed that quite a few people lean to one side or the other. The bikes may be symmetrical but I'm not sure that people are.


What a brilliant post...funny, concise, and beautifully observed.
thirdcrank
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by thirdcrank »

porky wrote:Having spent a lot of time at the back of group rides, I have noticed that quite a few people lean to one side or the other. The bikes may be symmetrical but I'm not sure that people are.


Not only leaning, but some individualistic pedalling styles (including the legs of same pair having different styles. :shock: )

I know I pedal harder with my right leg and it's appreciably thicker, especially in the thigh to prove it. Since I did my achilles a couple of years ago my right shoe shows more wear than the left.

I'm right handed with a dominant left eye (but I've never fancied my chances at building wheels.) I can shoot very accurately holding a gun right-handed but using my left eye. When forced to do it by a fussy instructor I could shut the left eye and use my right for aiming but it always seemed uncomfortable. I hasten to add it's nearly forty years since I fired anything but an air rifle.

Back to funny pedalling, I thought of Luc Leblanc although he was the one laughing once he'd got the jersey on. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luc_Leblanc

=================================================
PS - Colin - you beat me to it (by being concise :wink:
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ferrit worrier
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by ferrit worrier »

Ayesha wrote:What does it look like when you close your right eye?

Is your brain using your right eye's image in priority to your left?

Strange this is stereoscopic vision when presented with objects at different distances ( top tube, stem, front tyre, cranks and the floor ).


Excellent point Ayesha!

When Sarah and myself took up archery we were tested to see which eye was dominant. Hold your hands up in front of you arms outstretched and with your index fingers and thumbs form a triangle with your thumbs as the base, Tips of fingers and tips of thumbs touching. look through with both eyes open. Pick a point or object on a wall then close one eye at a time the object will disapear with one eye open but not the other, that is you dominant eye. now use your dominant eye to reassess your position. have you had someone ride behind you to check your "lean" Interesting point really must check in the morning on the way into work

Malc
Percussive maintainance, if it don't fit, hit it with the hammer.
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fausto copy
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by fausto copy »

That's one helluva steerer tube Colin.
If you mount your stem at the top of that and look down to your front wheel,
I'm sure that parallax will cancel out any right-leaning tendencies... :mrgreen:
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531colin
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by 531colin »

fausto copy wrote:That's one helluva steerer tube Colin..............


And I managed to miss the top of it in all the photos.
We have to be careful and ask "how long do you want the steerer left?" ....If a customer insists on having the thing "uncut" it costs a fortune in spacers, and they are liable to poke their eye out with it.....
thirdcrank
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by thirdcrank »

531colin wrote:
fausto copy wrote:That's one helluva steerer tube Colin..............


And I managed to miss the top of it in all the photos.
We have to be careful and ask "how long do you want the steerer left?" ....If a customer insists on having the thing "uncut" it costs a fortune in spacers, and they are liable to poke their eye out with it.....


horizon

I don't know if you are reading this thread, but you have some answers there.
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timmyhiggy
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by timmyhiggy »

Reading this thread made me realise that I don't in fact lean, and instead have a dominant right eye!
I remember looking down and seeing more tyre sticking out on the right of the frame than on the left, and just put it down to either the frame being ever so slightly out of line, or I don't hold the bike upright and have to counter-steer to travel in a straight line, but yesterday when cycling I closed an eye at a time and both saw identical amounts of tyre either side of the frame with my head dead centre over the top tube.
Ayesha
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by Ayesha »

Ride along fast.

Close both eyes. What does it look like?

A hospital ceiling ! :lol:
kw
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by kw »

I occasionally find I'm leaning to the right and looking at the right hand side of the bike. This is an indication that I need another session with the physiotherapist who quickly sorts out my back and I then ride upright for another few years.
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mill4six
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by mill4six »

Well I got out today and it's not eye dominance, I wasn't really expecting it to be as I'm a bit ambi' I tried archery once but could select either eye at will so I had to concentrate!
The human form isn't symmetrical, so why worry?

Because If it's a biomechanical issue it might explain some of my recent sufferings to do with triathlon training, in chronological order...Patellofemoral pain syndrome, Ileotibial band syndrome, shin splints and sciatica! I'm working with a sports therapist to sort it all out but it's annoying, exercise is s'posed to be good for you :( I've kind of contradicted myself there, I said no niggles in the OP. At the time of writing things were settling down apart from the shin splints I got from long runs and I don't associate my problems with cycling but perhaps I should look at everything.
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531colin
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by 531colin »

Patello femoral pain is associated with taking exercise where the knee never fully straightens....cycling, running, kayaking...
This sort of exercise does not develop the Vastus Medialis muscle (the one that hangs over the top inner corner of the knee cap, in muscular folk)
This means the other muscles in the quadriceps group pull the knee cap up the side of the groove in the end of the thigh bone, not in the middle of the groove.
Treatment is to do straight leg isometric exercise to develop the Vastus Medialis so the knee cap returns to position, this can be combined with hamstring stretches.
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mill4six
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Re: left leaning tendencies

Post by mill4six »

Yep, I'm chasing the problem around my anatomy. The patellofemoral stuff resolved with the straight leg exercises, the ileotibial band took over and I sorted that with lots of foam roller and stretching, the shin splints came on next and now the corrective exercises for that have triggered my sciatica. :cry:
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