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does riding bikes wear out your knees?

#21
LAPetrarca said:
^ This is the correct answer.

When straddling the bike, you should have about one and a half inches between the top tube of the bike and your junk. On a step-thru model, it doesn't matter.

For proper seat height, when the pedal is at the bottom of the stroke, parallel to the seat tube, your leg should be completely straight if you place your HEEL on the pedal. This should provide a slight bend in your knee in the riding position with the ball of your foot on the pedal. From there, it's just a matter of minor tweaking, if any.
Click to expand...

The 1 1/2" part is not always a good rule of thumb anymore- particularly if one is on a MTB. The many variations in frame design often provide quite a bit of standover clearance(thank GOD ;)), whereas a traditional road frame(and there's a lot of newer, decidedly non-trad stuff these days)will *usually* be closer.
I totally agree w/the rest, and am really only nitpicking on the standover part. :)
 
#22
This has nothing to do with bike riding, but have you had any history with something called "gout"? My father has suffered from it in the past, it comes an goes...it puts his knees in an immense amount of pain, so much that he even has trouble walking whenever it hits. And it can hit simply from him eating the wrong food. Totally sucks
 
#23
Rush-2112 said:
This has nothing to do with bike riding, but have you had any history with something called "gout"? My father has suffered from it in the past, it comes an goes...it puts his knees in an immense amount of pain, so much that he even has trouble walking whenever it hits. And it can hit simply from him eating the wrong food. Totally sucks
Click to expand...
Gout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm still curious as to what a *pushbike*(see OP)is...
 
#30
I have no idea on correct fit for a bike, but I have spent years as a personal trainer and fitness consultant ... more people wear joints out due to a muscular imbalance surrounding the joint, which in turn causes the joint to wear out of its ideal range of motion to compensate ...

biking is predominantly a quadricep (pushing) motion, if one is not using toe straps and reciprocating an exaggerated pedal return (pulling) with the hamstring ...this may not be the best motion for racing, speed, etc. ... as I said I am not a biker, but I have been around the block a time or two when it comes to muscular development, and also joints wearing out (osteo-arthritis), as I was also a catcher in baseball, and a goalie in hockey for probably 15-20 years ...

A well proportioned hamstring to quadricep strenth ratio would be hamstring capable of about 66% (2/3) the weight movement of the quad .. most people are not anywhere near that ... try to think of motions that are done in everyday life that involve dominant hamstring movement (pulling)... there are very few vs. quad dominant pushing motions (stairs, squatting and back up, PUSHING the pedal when biking, etc) ... and this creates a very strong muscular imbalance, which again, in turn causes to joint to overcompensate for that imbalance ...

What are the two most common joint replacements we see? ... the knee and the hip ... it is my contention that this is due in great part to the muscular imbalance surrounding both (in situations other than accident/high impact/ high stress athletics/etc) ...

A long reply, but if you are biking for exercise and/or leisure, just make sure you spend time getting reps in doing leg curls to keep your quad/ham balance in check, and getting good toe rotation for the calves on the pedal ... and of course, PROPER stretching before/after is very important as well ... also, get the input on correct bicylcle fit from someone who knows, and preferrably from someone that understands kineseology as well as sells bicycles ... :)
 

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