Bike Fit Question - Leg Length Discrepancy

[Mr. SR500]

I think John covers the basics on the videos, but we were with a week, so there were lots of details, bottom line is I think it's very difficult to say without a very good bike fitter helping you.

I've gone crazy with fitting, I've been professionally fit, John Howard gave me several good pointers and I've experimented myself. My legs vary some as I believe many peoples do. My chamois also use to slide to the side about 1/2". So I tried Lemond shims (I still use 1 for each shoe), but I've tried tup to about 6 on one leg. The shims I use now are for tilt. I've adjusted my cleats, fore and aft of each other, sliding the cleat of the longer femur forward, and the other back a bit. I've even enlarged my seatpost saddle binder so I could shift my saddle off center a hair.

Nothing seamed to really make a difference, so I've basically gone back to neutral and stopped trying to figure it out. I never did have pain, but just wanted the best fit. So other the one LeMond shim under each cleat, my bike setup is "normal". A I've not had problems with mileage or pain (longest ride is the RAIN ride in around 9 hours for 160 miles).

So I would go with what makes you comfortable, but if needed find a good fitter and work with them.

If I lived near San Diego, I would go to John, and I'm sure he would dial me in on the bike, give me a stretching routine especially developed for me, and make some corrections. But I live in Indiana, my fit is close, and I don't have any comfort issues, so I just focus more on getting faster and riding.

Best of Luck - it's a very interesting subject...

[Triskeliongirl]

I will say it one last time. Shims cannot be used to effectively correct a 1 inch LLD. Shims are great for correcting smaller LLDs, on the order of millimeters, as are some of the other techniques mentioned. The reason is that with a large shim, while your leg can be the correct distance from the pedal (and knee angle) at say the bottom of the pedal stroke, at the top of the pedal stroke, its like having a crank that is an inch too long and will raise your knee too high and cause a sheer force on your knee. I too worked with local fitters, got shims, got the idea to try different length crank arms, and contacted Lennard Zinn to obtain some. He immediately referred me to Tom Slocum of High Sierra Cycling. His dropped pedal system is ingenious, because it continuously adjusts throughout the pedal stroke so you are always the perfect distance from the crank arm. http://www.hscycle.com/Pages/cantsandwedges.html
He then offsets the chain rings to balance the leverage throughout the pedal stroke. He is an engineer that specializes in this, and has done work for several elite cyclists (olympian alexi grewel for example). I highly recommend him.

FYI, my 3 cm LLD was caused by a cycling accident. Like you I lost bone. In my case one sit bone is shorter than the other, and one of my hips is twisted relative to the other after my pelvic, hip and back fractures healed. The end result when I sit on a bicycle seat is that one leg hangs down 3 cm longer than the other. But, with Tom's system I feel biomechanically normal on the bike, better than I do walking even with shoes that are fit with lifts, etc. (which is also imporant though!). I'll never run again but I can cycle like a normal person. I also think my brooks saddle helps, since it accomodates the asymetry in my sit bones well (marks are deeper on one side than other).

[KnottedYet]

I was talking about her regular shoes. (the platform Tevas and Birkenstocks, etc.)

I completely agree with you about the crank adjustment. Those are groovy!

[Triskeliongirl]

Absolutely Knotted! I wear a lift in my shoes that is essential to walk comfortably. Its funny the shoe lift isn't as large as my bike correction, but I think that is cuz my LLD is different standing than when on the bike, due to the specific nature of my fractures. Also, it may be that my body had partially adjusted before I started wearing lifts, so correcting the full amount was too much. I buy these very inexpensive lifts: Actually, I started with these cuz they are adjustable
http://clearlyadjustable.com/
but once I realized I needed the full correction prefer these: http://gwheellift.com/plastic-heel-lifts.html
I use the 12 mm in the shoe of my short leg side, sticking them in with the tape you can order from the same company. Not all shoes can accomodate such a large lift, but I find they are great under the insole of a Nike Air Pegasus running shoe. I bring them with me when shoe shopping to be sure the shoe is deep enough. I find if I try a larger lift, I run into other problems, like either the shoe can't hold it, or I start to feel unbalanced, like one foot is walking on high heels and one on flats, perhaps another reason I settle for an incomplete correction.

Actually, if you are interested my on the bike correction is 2.2 cm. While the first bike fitter measured me at 3 cm (distance from top of femur to ground while standing), Tom's on the bike measurements came out to 2.2 cm (he raises plates under your feet that meet your feet while you are seated on your bike to get the on the bike measurement).

[KnottedYet]

Oooh, thanks for the links for the heel lifts! I've got a patient who could use those websites.

[Triskeliongirl]

Oooh, thanks for the links for the heel lifts! I've got a patient who could use those websites.

The first system is cool cuz it consists of a stacked system in 1 mm layers, if you aren't sure how much of a lift is needed, or want to work your way up, and they are quite long making for a very gradual transition that is very comfortable. But, I found they don't last as long, since the layers start to come apart over time. But, they do look good in sandals, etc. since they are not very visible. The company in the second link is where I buy both. They are very fast and good (think TE, priority mail package arrives within days of placing an order). Both are firm which is also very important, but comfortable. If shoes allow it, sometimes I also replace insole with a superfeet insole, and place lift under insole on short leg side, but not all shoes have room for both the superfeet and lift.

[Mr. SR500]

The first system is cool cuz it consists of a stacked system in 1 mm layers, if you aren't sure how much of a lift is needed, or want to work your way up, and they are quite long making for a very gradual transition that is very comfortable. But, I found they don't last as long, since the layers start to come apart over time. But, they do look good in sandals, etc. since they are not very visible. The company in the second link is where I buy both. They are very fast and good (think TE, priority mail package arrives within days of placing an order). Both are firm which is also very important, but comfortable. If shoes allow it, sometimes I also replace insole with a superfeet insole, and place lift under insole on short leg side, but not all shoes have room for both the superfeet and lift.

Any pics of your setup, sounds very interesting.

[Triskeliongirl]

Melisa, if you are hesitant about the custom crankset due to the cost, perhaps you could ask him about just starting with the dropped pedal, if it could be attached to your regular crankset. It wouldn't balance the leverage so wouldn't be as effecient (and mine also has elliptical rings which helps with my knee issues), but it seems to me that it would do a better job than shims. I tried shims, fore and aft cleat positioning, and shoe inserts (in various combinations). The biggest problem I had was persistant pain that wouldn't quit, to the point where I could barely walk.

After a lot of very painful PT to get my SI joint in order, I started on Tom's system, and have been pain free since the spring of 2005 when I got my first system. I have two now, which also serves to limit how many bikes I can have at any one time (which in some ways is a good thing...........). I have done multi day tours, centuries, etc. with no pain at all (from someone that was in tears when I tried to ride a century before). If cycling is important to you, with a 1 inch LLD, I think investing in Tom's system is worthwhile. I also paniced before I did it, even almost cancelled my trip to see him. The whole thing was quite expensive for me, as I had to fly to california to be fit, stay in a hotel, etc., on top of the cost of the sytem, but it was worth every penny as an investment in my long term health and well being (and no, Tom doesn't pay me a comission to say these things ). In fact, I have now bought 3 systems since my first was on a bike that was stolen. Talk about a drag, on top of the cost, I couldn't ride for 2 months while he remade it, which is why I had him make me 2 at once (cheaper also to make 2 at once than 2 separately).