Thought about it as I had knee pain. As I already knew I had wider than average sit bones it was obvious I needed wider than average Q Factor! Well obvious after the pain.....
Thanks, any advice on the nightmare of how to narrow the q factor on some wider bikes ? There's often clearance to do so between cranks and stay. Just don't have countless parts to have endless attempts. Get another bike I suppose.
@@mikes_3d If you have a BSA square taper bottom bracket then these come in a few different widths. Only mm differences but it might be all you need. If your hollow tech....I think you are stuck.
@@SuperNeilB Thanks for the help. Hope your knee is OK, same issue with me. You are absolutely correct with taper. Of course, need to not foul the crank on to the BB with narrower spindle. On other BBs a different set of issues as you say. Need crank arms which simply which don't angle out too much. On my old mountain bike I use old cheap taper fit chainsets which are narrower than newer ones and others. Need to do it on another bike which is not taper fit.
I have found that a more narrow stance on my bicycle is more beneficial to me, I began to experience inner medial tendon pain on my knee. I moved my cleats outward bringing in my foot closer to the frame and my symptoms disappeared. Another way is changing pedal spindle if you can, extensions if wider suits you, different cranks, or bottom bracket axle. Just watch the distance between crankarms and the chainstays.
Ulrich and Lance may have had issues but the pioneer of narrow Q at the bottom bracket source was Obree - it worked for him but (of course and as ever...) it’s horses for (TT) courses - Obree was (and remains) an outlier! Never knew the origins of the name - Q factor is a term used my other world - the music industry - in regard to how wide a range frequency is being affected either side of a central point when using EQ. Makes perfect sense now - nice one!!
@@taufikabidin412 ah that’s interesting - I didn’t know that - Q factor in the same place - so essentially decreasing the distance between pedals? I didn’t know that!
I used those pedal spacers on my road and TT bikes and found after time they created a creek in the bottom bracket. It was a long and head-ached experience of investigation and experimentation with a solution occurring after greasing and tightening everything, then removing the 20mm spacers. My guess is the longer lever causes the effort to put greater stress on the BB. I'm not a engineer however, this was just my experience.
I am 5’3” tall male with narrow hips. Q factor is very important to me. I have had constant knee issues due to wide qfactors on bikes. I have installed road bike cranks on all my bikes including mountain bikes. I machine the cranks to shift the chain rings for proper chain line. I make the crank arms barely clear the chain stays. It is frustrating that bikes are pretty much built with the same q factors for all size riders.
Adjusting your cleat width is not the same as adjusting your Q factor. The cleat position can dictate where the force is positioned on your foot which can have a knock on affect on your knees. Adjust with caution!
@gcntech #gcntech It would b great if you could be more specific in how to determine the correct Q factor aside of trial and error. Is there a biomechanical measurement which would give me a specific measure to set my pedals ?? To date, one of the best ways I discovered by chance was to ride on a straight set of road when the sun is low and directly behind you, minimise the width of the shadow of your bike in front of you and observe the shadow of your legs (and knees) in relation to the shadow of the frame. This way I found that I had too narrow a stance and change to a MTB crank set on my road bike increasing the width by 10mm. The first few rides felt different, not better or worse, just different but OK. However I would also like to hear of a possibly more biomechanical measurement. Further down a commenter (scott baker) suggested a "waling methode to determine a q factor. But what he describes would 'only' give an approximation because when standing / walking the legs are straight or only marginally bent. When cycling the knees, hip joints move through a much larger range of angles and only at the extreme of the pedal down stroke do the angles approach those you have when walking. If the hip joints are 'toe in' or 'toe out' , for the lack of a better description, the legs will move very different at the acute angles during cycling, compared to walking.
Cavendish and Wiggins use/used custom longer pedal axles. In Cavendish's case, it is about 1 cm per side for a total crank q-factor of around 170 - mountain bike territory.
Since it's a fit specific measurement, the right dimension will be specific to the person. I have narrow hip joints, so a narrow q-factor works for me, I get a lot more power and comfort with track cranks, which generally measure 137mm. My Campagnolo Record Pista c4abks are 131mm and are great 👍
There are a lot of riders for whom narrow q-factor does not work well at all. So, how do you know? Just take some video from the front while riding your bike on a trainer. If your knees make a v-shape (wide at the top of the pedal stroke then narrow at the bottom), it's likely because you knees are being forced inward by the pedals when they want to be outward. My knees hurt for years (despite several professional fits), until I discovered this. I've used pedal extenders to remedy this and they dramatically improved comfort, but they have multiple problems too: 1) +40mm wider is too wide, 2) can't be safely used on carbon cranks, 3) can't tighten them to 35-40 Nm standard. Speedplay long axle pedals also work but they have other problems -- any small amount of grit will prevent you clicking in. So my latest project is try a Praxis Cadet MTB crank and M30 bottom bracket with 2x Praxis road chainrings and a Cane Creek 7.5mm offset direct mount spider on my road bike. This gives a nice wide q-factor but not too wide. But the chainline is too wide for the front derailleur limit screws. I'm going to try using a SRAM wide braze on derailleur mount and longer limit screws...we will see if that works. If anyone else has a solution for running MTB crank on a road bike and getting the front derailleur to shift across 2x road chainrings, let me know!
If estimating your preferred Q-factor is something you're looking at, then this might be of interest www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15438627.2013.852093#abstract Have a search for 'self selected Q-factor', there's a small but interesting bit of discussions regarding the subject.
Oh and regarding MTB crank on road bike; assuming you still can't get enough movement of the FD to the outer chainring then there's a couple of options you could try, depending on speeds and manufacturer - e.g. you could try an MTB FD (pull differences can sometimes we sorted with the limit screws) or if you have a Shimano 11-speed road setup then the GRX front mech is designed for a wider tyre clearance.
@@fukawitribe thanks! I am using a Shimano GRX 810 front derailleur, which as you say is designed for a wider chainline. But it still isn't wide enough for the High limit screw to work properly with the big ring. Can a Shimano MTB front derailleur work with an R8000 11 speed road shift/brake lever and a 50T big ring? I didn't think that was possible but I hope I am wrong. And, does a Shimano MTB front derailleur have a wider chainline, or what would make it work better than a GRX? Please tell me more!
@@northkyt If the GRX mech doesn't reach out to the outer chainring, then not sure if the 11 speed MTB derailleur will work with the road shifters and limit screw tweak; a bunch of up to 10 speed did (apparently), but not aware if it's OK with 11 speed STI and FDs one way or another. That would have to be a *really* wide chainring offset though, probably more than is needed to clear a 2.2" tyre outback depending on chainstay length/rear wheel spacing (i'm assuming a road-esque bike). Is there a reason why you're shifting the _chainring_ line rather than tweaking the pedal offset to get the Q-factor you want ? There was a number of different pedal spacers available when I last looked (I use them), but not sure if any were less than 20mm each, i'll have a look later. Also just a quick one - if you haven't already I would strongly advise getting a bike fit to sort out exactly what you need before spending more time and money, they may find another way to getting you comfortable. Good luck.
Back in the days of the penny-farthing they used to call this 'tread' although it was measured between the centres of the pedals at the time. Even then it was thought best to minimise it, with 'touring' models having a tread of 14" (355mm) or so and racing models coming in at around 12" (305mm). (Subtract around 100-120mm to allow for pedal width) Of course the price you paid for this was reduced hub flange width, and given that wheels were 50"-60" in diameter you didn't want to reduce this too much or you would weaken the wheel. Thankfully this was less of a problem once the Safety Bicycle arrived in 1885 ... I'd imagine the optimum measurement was whatever the spacing was between left and right feet in a normal walking or running gait, since we've been doing this for around 500,000 years :-)
I use Shimano pedals with the 4mm longer axle. The only reason is to stop my fat feet rubbing against my cranks and wearing off the finish! Especially so in overshoes.
I believe Tom Ritchey in the early 1990s was big on q factor and had a crank design that actually lowered the q factor on mountain bike so your pedal stance was the same as a Road bike so , then things didn't " feel" out of wack when switching back and forth from road to MTB
Hopefully you guys will take some of that GCN+ money and spend it on cameras. This was obviously recorded on laptop webcam. It would be nice to see a 4K option in the future, or at least a move to 1080p/60fps.
Great video Alex, but the acoustics in that garage are terrible. You might consider some acoustic foam or at least some more soft things in there to absorb sound.
Great feature. I have broad hips so I've been running speedplay zero's for ages with a 65mm spindles. So Wahoo please hurry up and make the improved new zero's with 65mm spindles....
When I used to use Time ATAC pedals on my mountain bike. I could move the cleats backwards and forwards. However I couldn't move the cleats sideways. They had round bolt holes in the cleats. I don't know if they are still like that now. As I Crank Brothers pedals. As I use the Crank Brothers Candy pedals on my hybrid and the Eggbeaters on my road bike. I can use the Crank Brothers 3 bolt cleats on road shoes. Mountain bike shoes for walking and road shoes for power transfer.
Please put some soft surfaces in that garage to reduce echo if you are going to present from it. I feel like I'm on the phone with someone on the toilet.
When I had seen the first minute or so of this video, I was completely sure, the Q factor would be the width between the pedal arms divided by the stroke, e.g. 146 mm divided by 345 mm = 0.432 (without dimension, because mm divided by mm).
Q-Factor is really only an issue if you are going to get a Fatbike or if you are a huge person. Best Fatbikes have narrow q-factors as low as 183mm-193mm.
#askgcntech Hi GCN Tech. I'm in the market for a gravel bike capable of light gravel and firetrails etc. I ride a small size road bike, but I see that some smaller frame gravel bikes only come in 650b wheel size. As I would be riding mostly on-road with the occasional off-road detour, should I stick with 700c wheels? My concern is toe overlap as I have experienced this on my road bike when making tight U-turns. Thanks.
#askgcntech Hi Alex. Congrats for the nice work. My girlfriend rides a Cube Nuroad Race FE 2020 with a GRX 600 crank set, with a standard 170mm length. After her bike fit we were told that the correct length for her would be 155mm, but the smallest GRX is 165mm. Could you recommend a model, brand or marketplace where we could find a compatible? Cheers from Berlin
They have a spacer washer that comes with them that must be used on some cranks, but I didn’t have to use it on either my Rotor crankset or my DuraAce sets.
@@mathewrose2951 Ultegra and 105 didn't require the spacers either with the Favero. The Q factor of the Favero is very slightly more than the Dura Ace pedals I replaced but it's almost insignificant the difference is so small.
I'm looking to go from a pair of Look Keo 2 Max pedals to Assioma Duos. The Assiomas have a 1mm longer axle. Am I to assume I won't notice a difference between them?
Move your cleat outwards by the same distance (to move your foot inwards) if you think you'll notice a difference but I seriously doubt you will. I moved from Dura Ace pedals to Favero Duo and the Q factor was very slightly increased (cant remember the exact measurements but it was tiny) and I didn't notice a thing, I just set up the cleats (Keo compatible) that came with the Favero as I had the Shimano ones set.
TYVM bravo !!!!! WOW Fascinatiing topic, must admit ignorance as i had not given this a thought ....in a about ten years , ...... and very glad to have it bouncing around the skull again. .... if I ever meet a cyclist with wide set legs ,....... i plan to have a frontal view of him /her on the bike ..........to see if they are properly-aligned , ..........from hip to pedal .
SO! How do you measure your personal Q factor? Are woman with wider hips in need of a wider stance or tall people compared to shorter people? Time to get a bike fit specialist to finish this discussion.
Look at your feet when you stand naturally. Walk up and down a long hallway, the stop and see where you feet land. Also on a bike, if you pedal knees out, you need a larger q factor. So move the pedals out. If knees towards top tube, move feet in.
@@scottbaker5851 It ain't that easy to figure out knees in or out. One of the best ways I discovered by chance was to ride on a straight set of road when the sun is low and directly behind you, minimise the width of the shadow of your bike in front of you and observe the shadow of your legs (and knees) in relation to the shadow of the frame. This way I found that I had too narrow a stance. However I would also like to hear of a possibly more biomechanical measurement. What you describe woul give an approximation but remember that when standing / walking your legs are straight or only marginally bent. When cycling your knees, hip joints move through a much larger range of angles and only at the extreme of the pedal don stroke doe the angles approach those you have when striding. If your hip joints are 'toe in' or 'toe out' for the lack of a better description, your legs will move very different at the acute angles during cycling, compared to walking.
it's not the correct picture for Ullrich's narrow q factor time :) that should be a pic from the 2003 tour de france when he was on the (back then) famous walser tt bikes :) ah, what a bike
"You're going top want to race your friends anyway..." No, I'm just not. Sorry, not all of us are competitive watt obsessed weight weenie sock length preoccupied wind tunnel tested carbon reinforced power optimised lycra lizards. Can you believe it's possible to ride Strava free? Gobsmacking...
Q factor means "Quality Factor" and was probably nicked from electronic engineers who've been using the term for about a century. (For example www.collinsaudio.com/Prosound_Workshop/The_story_of_Q.pdf). No need to rewrite history here. Quack? My arse.
Never worried about it. And I do worry. I worry more now. I’m still worried. Sod it. Can’t get any more worried. I’ll just keep riding. Q good or Q bad. I’m still worried. I’m worried. No. I am worried. Christ. No more Q factor videos. No no. No. Go away.
Have you ever thought about q factor as something to consider? Have you ever changed it on your bike? Let us know 👇
Its important for recumbent bikes, particularly velomobiles as narrower means more aerodynamic and snaller fairing nose
Thought about it as I had knee pain. As I already knew I had wider than average sit bones it was obvious I needed wider than average Q Factor! Well obvious after the pain.....
Thanks, any advice on the nightmare of how to narrow the q factor on some wider bikes ? There's often clearance to do so between cranks and stay. Just don't have countless parts to have endless attempts. Get another bike I suppose.
@@mikes_3d If you have a BSA square taper bottom bracket then these come in a few different widths. Only mm differences but it might be all you need. If your hollow tech....I think you are stuck.
@@SuperNeilB Thanks for the help. Hope your knee is OK, same issue with me. You are absolutely correct with taper. Of course, need to not foul the crank on to the BB with narrower spindle. On other BBs a different set of issues as you say. Need crank arms which simply which don't angle out too much. On my old mountain bike I use old cheap taper fit chainsets which are narrower than newer ones and others. Need to do it on another bike which is not taper fit.
I have found that a more narrow stance on my bicycle is more beneficial to me, I began to experience inner medial tendon pain on my knee. I moved my cleats outward bringing in my foot closer to the frame and my symptoms disappeared. Another way is changing pedal spindle if you can, extensions if wider suits you, different cranks, or bottom bracket axle. Just watch the distance between crankarms and the chainstays.
Ulrich and Lance may have had issues but the pioneer of narrow Q at the bottom bracket source was Obree - it worked for him but (of course and as ever...) it’s horses for (TT) courses - Obree was (and remains) an outlier! Never knew the origins of the name - Q factor is a term used my other world - the music industry - in regard to how wide a range frequency is being affected either side of a central point when using EQ. Makes perfect sense now - nice one!!
Glad you enjoyed the video, Obree was an outlier for sure!
As q factor is a huge factor of designing fairings for HPV racing, as narrow Q factor means lower CdA, Id think it would go more far back than Obree.
@@taufikabidin412 ah that’s interesting - I didn’t know that - Q factor in the same place - so essentially decreasing the distance between pedals? I didn’t know that!
I used those pedal spacers on my road and TT bikes and found after time they created a creek in the bottom bracket. It was a long and head-ached experience of investigation and experimentation with a solution occurring after greasing and tightening everything, then removing the 20mm spacers. My guess is the longer lever causes the effort to put greater stress on the BB. I'm not a engineer however, this was just my experience.
Wider q-factor fixed the pain in outer part of the foot for me. Will look for an even wider one in the next upgrade
I am 5’3” tall male with narrow hips. Q factor is very important to me. I have had constant knee issues due to wide qfactors on bikes. I have installed road bike cranks on all my bikes including mountain bikes. I machine the cranks to shift the chain rings for proper chain line. I make the crank arms barely clear the chain stays. It is frustrating that bikes are pretty much built with the same q factors for all size riders.
Adjusting your cleat width is not the same as adjusting your Q factor. The cleat position can dictate where the force is positioned on your foot which can have a knock on affect on your knees. Adjust with caution!
@gcntech #gcntech
It would b great if you could be more specific in how to determine the correct Q factor aside of trial and error. Is there a biomechanical measurement which would give me a specific measure to set my pedals ??
To date, one of the best ways I discovered by chance was to ride on a straight set of road when the sun is low and directly behind you, minimise the width of the shadow of your bike in front of you and observe the shadow of your legs (and knees) in relation to the shadow of the frame. This way I found that I had too narrow a stance and change to a MTB crank set on my road bike increasing the width by 10mm. The first few rides felt different, not better or worse, just different but OK.
However I would also like to hear of a possibly more biomechanical measurement.
Further down a commenter (scott baker) suggested a "waling methode to determine a q factor. But what he describes would 'only' give an approximation because when standing / walking the legs are straight or only marginally bent.
When cycling the knees, hip joints move through a much larger range of angles and only at the extreme of the pedal down stroke do the angles approach those you have when walking.
If the hip joints are 'toe in' or 'toe out' , for the lack of a better description, the legs will move very different at the acute angles during cycling, compared to walking.
If you have a trainer, film yourself from behind with different size Q factors.
Cavendish and Wiggins use/used custom longer pedal axles. In Cavendish's case, it is about 1 cm per side for a total crank q-factor of around 170 - mountain bike territory.
Great video! You live and you learn. Thanks Alex👍
I think that Lance chap denied he'd ever reduced his Q factor, then viciously attacked anyone who said he had. The other fella is another story.
Since it's a fit specific measurement, the right dimension will be specific to the person.
I have narrow hip joints, so a narrow q-factor works for me, I get a lot more power and comfort with track cranks, which generally measure 137mm.
My Campagnolo Record Pista c4abks are 131mm and are great 👍
There are a lot of riders for whom narrow q-factor does not work well at all. So, how do you know? Just take some video from the front while riding your bike on a trainer. If your knees make a v-shape (wide at the top of the pedal stroke then narrow at the bottom), it's likely because you knees are being forced inward by the pedals when they want to be outward. My knees hurt for years (despite several professional fits), until I discovered this.
I've used pedal extenders to remedy this and they dramatically improved comfort, but they have multiple problems too: 1) +40mm wider is too wide, 2) can't be safely used on carbon cranks, 3) can't tighten them to 35-40 Nm standard. Speedplay long axle pedals also work but they have other problems -- any small amount of grit will prevent you clicking in. So my latest project is try a Praxis Cadet MTB crank and M30 bottom bracket with 2x Praxis road chainrings and a Cane Creek 7.5mm offset direct mount spider on my road bike. This gives a nice wide q-factor but not too wide. But the chainline is too wide for the front derailleur limit screws. I'm going to try using a SRAM wide braze on derailleur mount and longer limit screws...we will see if that works.
If anyone else has a solution for running MTB crank on a road bike and getting the front derailleur to shift across 2x road chainrings, let me know!
If estimating your preferred Q-factor is something you're looking at, then this might be of interest
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15438627.2013.852093#abstract
Have a search for 'self selected Q-factor', there's a small but interesting bit of discussions regarding the subject.
Oh and regarding MTB crank on road bike; assuming you still can't get enough movement of the FD to the outer chainring then there's a couple of options you could try, depending on speeds and manufacturer - e.g. you could try an MTB FD (pull differences can sometimes we sorted with the limit screws) or if you have a Shimano 11-speed road setup then the GRX front mech is designed for a wider tyre clearance.
@@fukawitribe thanks! I am using a Shimano GRX 810 front derailleur, which as you say is designed for a wider chainline. But it still isn't wide enough for the High limit screw to work properly with the big ring. Can a Shimano MTB front derailleur work with an R8000 11 speed road shift/brake lever and a 50T big ring? I didn't think that was possible but I hope I am wrong. And, does a Shimano MTB front derailleur have a wider chainline, or what would make it work better than a GRX? Please tell me more!
@@northkyt If the GRX mech doesn't reach out to the outer chainring, then not sure if the 11 speed MTB derailleur will work with the road shifters and limit screw tweak; a bunch of up to 10 speed did (apparently), but not aware if it's OK with 11 speed STI and FDs one way or another. That would have to be a *really* wide chainring offset though, probably more than is needed to clear a 2.2" tyre outback depending on chainstay length/rear wheel spacing (i'm assuming a road-esque bike). Is there a reason why you're shifting the _chainring_ line rather than tweaking the pedal offset to get the Q-factor you want ? There was a number of different pedal spacers available when I last looked (I use them), but not sure if any were less than 20mm each, i'll have a look later.
Also just a quick one - if you haven't already I would strongly advise getting a bike fit to sort out exactly what you need before spending more time and money, they may find another way to getting you comfortable. Good luck.
SQlabs has pedals that come in various lengths.
In resonators, the Q-factor is the ratio between the total energy stored in the resonator, and the energy lost per cycle.
Back in the days of the penny-farthing they used to call this 'tread' although it was measured between the centres of the pedals at the time. Even then it was thought best to minimise it, with 'touring' models having a tread of 14" (355mm) or so and racing models coming in at around 12" (305mm). (Subtract around 100-120mm to allow for pedal width)
Of course the price you paid for this was reduced hub flange width, and given that wheels were 50"-60" in diameter you didn't want to reduce this too much or you would weaken the wheel. Thankfully this was less of a problem once the Safety Bicycle arrived in 1885 ...
I'd imagine the optimum measurement was whatever the spacing was between left and right feet in a normal walking or running gait, since we've been doing this for around 500,000 years :-)
I would like to hear from a bike fitter on finding optimal Q factor
Scuff marks on the outside of both cranks from the shoes of those with large or wide feet could be prevented by pedal spacers.
I was pondering about increasing the q-factor in order to have a better chainline in the small cogs. Seems like it's wiser to scratch that idea
Is Alex in isolation or is his garage that cool that he doesn’t want to leave
I use Shimano pedals with the 4mm longer axle. The only reason is to stop my fat feet rubbing against my cranks and wearing off the finish! Especially so in overshoes.
I believe Tom Ritchey in the early 1990s was big on q factor and had a crank design that actually lowered the q factor on mountain bike so your pedal stance was the same as a Road bike so , then things didn't " feel" out of wack when switching back and forth from road to MTB
Hopefully you guys will take some of that GCN+ money and spend it on cameras. This was obviously recorded on laptop webcam. It would be nice to see a 4K option in the future, or at least a move to 1080p/60fps.
Get a closer mic or put a rug in that room, the echo is real!
Graeme Obree designed his world hour record bike to minimize Q - it worked for him.
1 banana wide
Are you sure the Q comes from quack and is not related to the Q Angle (angle from the outside of the pelvis through the patella)
Bought new Crank Bros pedals and assumed the Q factor wouldn't change. Knee pain led me to discover they are wider and had to adjust my cleats inward.
Great video Alex, but the acoustics in that garage are terrible. You might consider some acoustic foam or at least some more soft things in there to absorb sound.
Great feature. I have broad hips so I've been running speedplay zero's for ages with a 65mm spindles. So Wahoo please hurry up and make the improved new zero's with 65mm spindles....
When I used to use Time ATAC pedals on my mountain bike. I could move the cleats backwards and forwards. However I couldn't move the cleats sideways. They had round bolt holes in the cleats. I don't know if they are still like that now. As I Crank Brothers pedals. As I use the Crank Brothers Candy pedals on my hybrid and the Eggbeaters on my road bike. I can use the Crank Brothers 3 bolt cleats on road shoes. Mountain bike shoes for walking and road shoes for power transfer.
So.. from now on we shd call it quack factor, right?
Maybe!
Please put some soft surfaces in that garage to reduce echo if you are going to present from it. I feel like I'm on the phone with someone on the toilet.
Wow they named a physical length a "factor".
It is an interesting way to name it, but it's stuck
When I had seen the first minute or so of this video, I was completely sure, the Q factor would be the width between the pedal arms divided by the stroke, e.g. 146 mm divided by 345 mm = 0.432 (without dimension, because mm divided by mm).
Is there going to be an actual problem if the Q-factor on the left side is different from that on the right side?
I learnt something from that video. Thanks.
Well explained. Thanks Alex.
I was waiting for another vid, nice!
Still do not know what Q factor is and if should I be concerned?
Q-Factor is really only an issue if you are going to get a Fatbike or if you are a huge person. Best Fatbikes have narrow q-factors as low as 183mm-193mm.
Nice video, maybe put some things on the wall and floor to absorb the echo... sounds a bit like you're in a can
Efficiency is at least as important to non-racers. It provides increased range and comfort...
#askgcntech Hi GCN Tech. I'm in the market for a gravel bike capable of light gravel and firetrails etc. I ride a small size road bike, but I see that some smaller frame gravel bikes only come in 650b wheel size. As I would be riding mostly on-road with the occasional off-road detour, should I stick with 700c wheels? My concern is toe overlap as I have experienced this on my road bike when making tight U-turns. Thanks.
nice video, would be even better if it didn't sound like it was recorded in a fishbowl
#askgcntech Hi Alex. Congrats for the nice work. My girlfriend rides a Cube Nuroad Race FE 2020 with a GRX 600 crank set, with a standard 170mm length. After her bike fit we were told that the correct length for her would be 155mm, but the smallest GRX is 165mm. Could you recommend a model, brand or marketplace where we could find a compatible? Cheers from Berlin
Yeah Q factor itself is an important factor in a bike fit.
Great vid. Wondering how using powermeter pedals like the Favero Assioma could impact the Q factor?
They have a spacer washer that comes with them that must be used on some cranks, but I didn’t have to use it on either my Rotor crankset or my DuraAce sets.
@@mathewrose2951 Thanks. I'll have to see if Sram is similar.
@@mathewrose2951 Ultegra and 105 didn't require the spacers either with the Favero. The Q factor of the Favero is very slightly more than the Dura Ace pedals I replaced but it's almost insignificant the difference is so small.
I'm looking to go from a pair of Look Keo 2 Max pedals to Assioma Duos. The Assiomas have a 1mm longer axle. Am I to assume I won't notice a difference between them?
Move your cleat outwards by the same distance (to move your foot inwards) if you think you'll notice a difference but I seriously doubt you will. I moved from Dura Ace pedals to Favero Duo and the Q factor was very slightly increased (cant remember the exact measurements but it was tiny) and I didn't notice a thing, I just set up the cleats (Keo compatible) that came with the Favero as I had the Shimano ones set.
What cyclists should be checking is if thier frame is central to the pedals.
I can feel the splinters through the phone screen
#askgcn I have a matt finish bike and sometimes is hard to wash the bike, what is the best way to get that great look at the and without any marks
Queue Factor at my post office is terrible
So much echo in this video, could you add some sound dampening, wall treatments, or something
Q factor is actually the distance between the pedal threads and the edge of the bottom bracket. What you’re referring to is actually stance width.
Lads bring out GCN+ app for LG tvs like good chaps
Is this recorded on the MacBook webcam?
Record it with your phone
TYVM bravo !!!!! WOW Fascinatiing topic, must admit ignorance as i had not given this a thought ....in a about ten years , ...... and very glad to have it bouncing around the skull again. .... if I ever meet a cyclist with wide set legs ,....... i plan to have a frontal view of him /her on the bike ..........to see if they are properly-aligned , ..........from hip to pedal .
yay new video!
SO! How do you measure your personal Q factor? Are woman with wider hips in need of a wider stance or tall people compared to shorter people? Time to get a bike fit specialist to finish this discussion.
Look at your feet when you stand naturally. Walk up and down a long hallway, the stop and see where you feet land. Also on a bike, if you pedal knees out, you need a larger q factor. So move the pedals out. If knees towards top tube, move feet in.
@@scottbaker5851 It ain't that easy to figure out knees in or out.
One of the best ways I discovered by chance was to ride on a straight set of road when the sun is low and directly behind you, minimise the width of the shadow of your bike in front of you and observe the shadow of your legs (and knees) in relation to the shadow of the frame. This way I found that I had too narrow a stance.
However I would also like to hear of a possibly more biomechanical measurement.
What you describe woul give an approximation but remember that when standing / walking your legs are straight or only marginally bent. When cycling your knees, hip joints move through a much larger range of angles and only at the extreme of the pedal don stroke doe the angles approach those you have when striding. If your hip joints are 'toe in' or 'toe out' for the lack of a better description, your legs will move very different at the acute angles during cycling, compared to walking.
@@robertrjm8115 Shadows display a skewed form and I would imagine is highly, highly inaccurate based on the source of light.
if you ride both MTB & road, Q factor is already varying wildly and still OK, so why does it matter?
I fiddled with Q factor before and found too much play actually gave me saddle sores. BEWARE
what happened to the video and audio quality?
2:33 - Subliminal messaging, nice. I’ll take three.
Of Alex?
I was wondering where all the OSB had gone from B&Q
The B&Q Factor!
Live, from the GCN echo chamber! Imagine riding a trainer in there, the noise...
Alex's garage isn't quite as good as the sets sadly
@@gcntech a rug on the floor or ceiling would help with the echo, doesn’t have to be in frame. Or a lapel mic.
@@gcntech geht him a lapel mic and/ or make him hang some this carped on th walls that are not in the shot!
What is that echo seems a land line of the 80’s
Q factor is an audio term to me.
Further reading on this subject, Cam Nicholls' video with pro bike fitter Neil Stanbury: ruclips.net/video/OPASHllkqJM/видео.html
it's not the correct picture for Ullrich's narrow q factor time :) that should be a pic from the 2003 tour de france when he was on the (back then) famous walser tt bikes :) ah, what a bike
From now on, I'm always gonna call it "Quack-factor".
That is ok, but why chain is on the right ?
Ha ha, I assuming you are referencing the video from a few weeks ago.
I’m here because I’ve got WIDE hips.
The graphics department have been busy. Nice work.
Wait, the grainy 'shot on a webcam' look is intentional?
But...
How to find the correct Quack-factor ?
"You're going top want to race your friends anyway..." No, I'm just not. Sorry, not all of us are competitive watt obsessed weight weenie sock length preoccupied wind tunnel tested carbon reinforced power optimised lycra lizards. Can you believe it's possible to ride Strava free? Gobsmacking...
Most bikes are road bikes but you mean racing bikes.
Q factor means "Quality Factor" and was probably nicked from electronic engineers who've been using the term for about a century. (For example www.collinsaudio.com/Prosound_Workshop/The_story_of_Q.pdf).
No need to rewrite history here. Quack? My arse.
It's Q Anon of cycling.
Never worried about it. And I do worry. I worry more now. I’m still worried. Sod it. Can’t get any more worried. I’ll just keep riding. Q good or Q bad. I’m still worried. I’m worried. No. I am worried. Christ. No more Q factor videos. No no. No. Go away.
Bloody hell are you in an echo chamber?
Please no Q factor videos. I’m happy with my Q good bad indifferent.
so ...you explain a lot of thing ...but you are actually not explaining anything at all.