Cycling UK Forum

A few years ago I bought a road bike and SPD-SL pedals an ultegra group set after riding touring triples with DH flats for decades. I immediately felt uncomfortable and widened my stance with +4 pedals. I also moved the cleats so the shoes were as far apart as possible. This was OK for a while, then I found myself putting the cleats in the middle. This is how they are at the moment. When climbing steep hills with a relatively fast cadence (for me) I find my knees going inwards. As I understand, this indicates too high a Q factor. So my question is this : Is the stance width a bio-mechanical thing or do you have to retrain your muscles to work with a lower Q factor. I now do most of my millage on the road bike with the lower Q, but still use flats and a triple on my tourer.
Cheers,
Bruce.

The clue lies in your first line,"a few years ago".You don,t mention any knee problems with your bike setup on either of your bikes so I guess you have to assume your knees are fine with your current setup.I reckon riding road and off road bikes together helps the knees by not forcing them into a narrow corridor of movement.I do a bit of uphill walking on non bike days for similar reasons as well as weight bearing for bone density.

Most people don't find Q factor all that important, within the usual range found on production bikes. If you are getting sore knees the day after cycling, especially on stairs, lower leg raises (you can do these when watching TV) will usually revitalise your VMO muscles and improve patellar tracking. You only have to do the exercises for a couple of weeks, and the knees look after themselves from then on.

Racers were, and maybe still are, taught to pedal with their knees inwards, almost touching the top tube. That doesn't indicate a problem.