Leaning my bike to the left

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digitalnorbs
Posts: 441
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:49 pm

by digitalnorbs

Guys, I finally found a comfy position on my road Ike, but I still can't figure out why my body is trying to lean the bike to the right?


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digitalnorbs
Posts: 441
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:49 pm

by digitalnorbs

I meant to say to the left, not right, sorry


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Laurens
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2012 3:43 am

by Laurens

Is it because you are holding your iPad while riding?

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JKolmo
Posts: 654
Joined: Sat Feb 10, 2007 2:00 pm

by JKolmo

Family jewels to the right bike to the left?

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

Leg length imbalance?
Flexibility in each side?
Twisted spine?
Collapsed saddle?
Carrying an Injury?
HUGE nut on the right. ;)

thisisatest
Shop Owner
Posts: 1980
Joined: Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:02 am
Location: NoVA/DC

by thisisatest

If you feel like your bike needs to lean to go straight, something else is going on. For body asymmetry, I don't usually see the bike leaning, or even the rider, that much. People usually have developed ways to compensate, and the head, eyes, and perspective, are centered. So I'm betting on the frame or fork being out of alignment.

mattr
Posts: 4671
Joined: Fri May 25, 2007 6:43 pm
Location: The Grim North.

by mattr

thisisatest wrote:I don't usually see the bike leaning, or even the rider, that much.
I've seen it a handful of times, in 25+ years. One of the guys i ride with now has a problem with it, well, not so much a problem, he just gets on with it.

Other than that, yes, it could easily be a badly aligned frame.

bricky21
Posts: 1403
Joined: Tue Sep 14, 2010 3:28 pm

by bricky21

Is the bike actually leaning( has it been verified), or does it just seem to be leaning? If you're sitting to one side then you'd have to compensate for that somehow with your upper body. Perhaps whatever your doing to balance yourself out is giving the impression that the bike is leaning. :noidea:

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ergott
Posts: 2870
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:03 am
Location: Islip, NY
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by ergott

I was sitting to one side on my bike for a while and it was determined that my saddle was too high. Went down 2cm and all is well.

digitalnorbs
Posts: 441
Joined: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:49 pm

by digitalnorbs

i did that with my scoot cr1 and now with a cervelo, so i think the bikes are not it, it has to be me, when riding, and looking down i can see that the balance is shifted. i did a test and used a shim on my left shoe 3mm, that brougt me back up to more centered postion and when looking at the top tube i can see the bb area almost even, now it seems as the left foot bottoms out sooner then the right side. Im going to take off the shim and drop the saddle a bit tonight,what about moving cleats side to side, would that do anything?

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

I had a similar issue with my fixie a while ago, i figured it could three things

1) Saddle is to high and your compensating by slidng off one side of the saddle which effects the leaning of the bike.

2) I broke my leg when i was 10 months old and now my left leg is 3 mm longer, this would obviously compensate for the leaning of the bike.

3) The roads here have a particular fall away to the side of the road so the surface isnt flat, i think this meant my balance was off much similar to riding around a velodrome.

Hope this helps
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

gb103
Posts: 71
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:07 pm

by gb103

From your info regarding a shim it sounds like a leg length difference. Most people seem to asses a leg length difference by the person laying on their backs and looking for symmetry, ie hips, knees, ankles and feet. The body will therefore compensate this difference by rotating the pelvis which can lead to referred pain from the lower back all the way down to the heel/foot depending upon your biomechanics while giving the appearance that both legs are equal in length. An easy more accurate test is to lay on your back, bend your knees so your feet are flat on the ground (basically your legs/knees are bent like an upside down v). Slide your feet up towards your buttocks, life your bum off the ground so your stomach is level with your knees, then return your buttock back to the floor. Lift your head up and look at your knees if you have a leg length difference one knee will be lower than the other. A small spirit level is ideal.

The most important point is to ensure your feet stay flat on the ground, your feet do not move and that your fleet are level with each other.

Alternately try looking in a full length mirror with your top off with bare feet as rotated pelvis/pelvis misalignment will show you have a tendency for you upper body to lean to one side or be slightly twisted. If these don't come up trumps maybe worth seeing a chiropractor/osteopath.

Unfortunately I know all this from personnel experience.

Jmeloy
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:39 pm

by Jmeloy

One other thought, I had a similar instance and finally determined that the front wheel wasn't entirely seated in the dropouts. Little piece of debris was blocking it from fully seating. HAd to lean to ride with no hands.

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roadytracky
Posts: 97
Joined: Fri Sep 21, 2012 3:58 am
Location: Southern California

by roadytracky

Currently going through a similar problem. It happens to me on 2 different bikes. I've lowered my saddle on both bikes, but that didn't help. Changed cleats, but that didn't help either. I am hoping that going to the chiropractor will fix the problem. The issue went away when I took a month off the bike so perhaps I'm compensating for saddle soreness without realizing it. I'll be curious to see what answers materialize in this thread.

progetto
Posts: 18
Joined: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:12 pm

by progetto

I know a guy that was riding around on different length crank arms for some time until I pointed it out to him.

by Weenie


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