You know when your out on the bike by yourself for a long time, lot's of time to think. That's where I came up with this one. Just a random thought that popped into my head out on the road....
I went to high school with a kid that had part of his foot/leg cut off by a lawn mower when he was very young. He wore a special shoe with about 3-4 inches of lit on it. I never saw him on a bike (but he was a great soccer player) I was just thinking, how do/would they retrofit bike for people with significantly assymetrical leg lengths. I know my example is an extreme case, but could you use crank arms of different lengths? Or would the differing lengths play havoc with pedaling cadence...
As I said this is just one of those head scratchers I came up with while riding and didn't know the answer to.
I bet with a person could develop a decent cadence but I think it might mess up the power. I am no kinesiologist but it seems like the longer leg would be burdened with more work. Also if you lengthen one crank arm to accomodate for a shorter leg it will be fine on the upstroke but the pedal will be further away on the downstroke.
Lonnie Utah said:
You know when your out on the bike by yourself for a long time, lot's of time to think. That's where I came up with this one. Just a random thought that popped into my head out on the road....
I went to high school with a kid that had part of his foot/leg cut off by a lawn mower when he was very young. He wore a special shoe with about 3-4 inches of lit on it. I never saw him on a bike (but he was a great soccer player) I was just thinking, how do/would they retrofit bike for people with significantly assymetrical leg lengths. I know my example is an extreme case, but could you use crank arms of different lengths? Or would the differing lengths play havoc with pedaling cadence...
As I said this is just one of those head scratchers I came up with while riding and didn't know the answer to.
..... if you lengthen one crank arm to accomodate for a shorter leg it will be fine on the upstroke but the pedal will be further away on the downstroke.
Instead I have usually just seen stack height blocks added to the pedal/cleat to accomodate the shorter leg where individuals have a significant difference.
