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Does your knees hurt after a long ride?


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I typically ride on paved bike trails with very few bumps. After about 25 miles, my knees hurt.  The suspension on the Patton (suspension tuned to soft and comfy) definitely helps, but doesn't get rid of the knee pain. I would have to take a break and walk for bit before jumping on the euc again.

I'm trying to understand what can cause my knees to hurt when all I'm doing is just standing there rolling on a smooth surface 90% of the time.  I could stand all day at work and my knees do not hurt. I could walk all day and my knees will not hurt.  Not sure what's going on here.. lol.

On a smooth, straight trail, I usually stand up straight with my knees almost locked. During turns, hard accelerations, over bumps, and braking, I have my knees bent slightly...

Edited by Glock43x
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Are your pedals angled up? I find riding the v8f bothers my knees where as the mten4 does not. My knees move much more on the mten4, it’s those angled pedals that bother me. 
what part of your knee hurts?

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Posted (edited)

my pedals are set to 0. the bottom lower of my knees hurt. just below the knee caps.  90% of the time, the trails are straight with wide turns. Nothing crazy. Gonna play around with the pedal angle and see.. Never messed with that for my EUC's.

Edited by Glock43x
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glock43x,

im 66 now.  my knees begin to hurt much earlier than your experience. but i dont get off and rest.  im constantly bending my knees alittle or alot, and i dont lock my legs straight.  that will translate any vertical movement to my back.  for some reason though, im lucky at my age to still have a strong back.  but regarding knees,  i always have a slight bend regardless.  and to top it off, im riding non-suspended.  your description (i dont know your age) of the distance you ride before you rest,  doesnt indicate to me you have a problem, ...  on the contrary,  you have pretty strong legs and knees to be able to tolerate a distance of that length !!!

consider yourself lucky to be able to ride that distance without a rest !!!  IMO, you dont have anything wrong.  perhaps that only thing i could guess at,  is that may be yoiu should eliminate the locked straight legs, and always have a slight bend in your knees.  not so much that you are adding alot of pressure to them.  just enough to soak up any mild road bumps.  occasionally straighten and then bend again, rinse, repeat, etc,...

seriously guy,  25 miles before knee pain ?  you dont have any problems riding long distances....you are a prime candidate for that distance challenge that was proposed by jason from ewheels !!!

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Do you do any seated riding? A lot of riders I know will give their knees a break doing that. My knees only bother me if I’m doing a bunch of heavy carving and I’m torquing the wheel from side to side. The V13 I found hurt my knees, because it hit me exactly at the joint. One of the reasons I bought a different one. 

Edited by Hellkitten
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There's some lateral tension to the knees when riding euc, especially when mounting and turning. The strain is different, depending of the weight of the wheel and its height and of course your legs' anatomy.

The collateral ligaments and the meniscs of the knee are the structures which suffer in this case and they hurt a bit or a lot, depending of the knee condition. The lengths you are mentioning are big, so, most probably, your knees are in good condition. 

I don't think anybody can ride an EUC for so long and not suffer some degree of knee pain.

Riding EUC is not physically correct way of using our knees. The question is, do your knees hurt if you walk the same length?

Edited by Aztek
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Dropping some body weight helps too. If you toe-out when you walk you might need to keep that angle when you ride, adjusting your pads for it etc. 

Use different shoes. Try composite footrests.

Seated riding at times.

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Before I got a suspension wheel my knees constantly ached, and more so when doing longer rides.

Since suspension arrived I have started doing much longer rides and my knees still haven't ached like they used to.

But I've got the V1 rubbish Master suspension, so in theory mine is much worse than yours and I would have thought your knees should be getting off even lighter !

That not to say my whole legs don't turn to what I could best describe as 'numb jelly' anyway after a solid 30 miler, but at least my knees don't punish me later for it any more.

I wonder why yours do. How old are you, @Glock43x ? My knees only started going wonky after about 45....

I'm like you in that on smooth ground I have my legs nearly straight a lot of the time, but I try to never be locked at the knee. Also I try and absorb short range ups and downs with bent legs even when I think suspension would basically sort it out, which seems to help knees in that you get less vertical shock imparted to them.

Perhaps a few squats at home every day could strengthen that general area and make it more capable of smaller knee-bend movements with less stress ?

Edited by Cerbera
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On long journeys my knees don't hurt before my muscles hurt. Then when the leg muscles start to burn this tells me that the knees are going to sound the alarm. I hold the muscles flexible as long as possible to distribute the cushioning over the entire leg which is my only suspension to assess and maintain the correct assessment of the terrain. When I get a wheel with suspension I will reconsider the position and action of the knees. I avoid keeping my knees straight to reduce impact and resonance.

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At 64, usually after 30 minutes, my legs would start to feel numb and stiff. Then I either walk or rest for a few minutes and numbness/stiffness would go away. After years of riding, I prefer to sit down on my KS18XL, Sherman S, KS18S whenever my legs tell me they need a break. Able to sit down and rest my legs makes my journey more enjoyable, esp. during long trips!

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1 hour ago, Scubadragonsan said:

At 64, usually after 30 minutes, my legs would start to feel numb and stiff. Then I either walk or rest for a few minutes and numbness/stiffness would go away. After years of riding, I prefer to sit down on my KS18XL, Sherman S, KS18S whenever my legs tell me they need a break. Able to sit down and rest my legs makes my journey more enjoyable, esp. during long trips!

im looking forward to being able to do that on my lynx...i couldnt do seated riding on a tesla V2.  i anticipate that the seated riding will give the rider a distinct advantage for covering longer distances COMFORTABLY....i really can use more comfort when riding an euc for a fair distance....

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Fairly new rider, only ridden 200 miles so far. Now I have some things to try the next ride. I have also wondered about compression sleeves for your knees like people will sometimes workout in. Not a brace, just a sleeve. Anyone tried them? 

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21 hours ago, Glock43x said:

my pedals are set to 0. the bottom lower of my knees hurt. just below the knee caps.  90% of the time, the trails are straight with wide turns. Nothing crazy. Gonna play around with the pedal angle and see.. Never messed with that for my EUC's.

Yeah I've been dealing with this type of pain in the past (mid 20s). However this was with non-suspension wheels. I imagine the reason for the pain was how I was forced to keep my knees bent at a certain level at all times, to be ready to absorb shock. It's kind of an awkward angle, and if you started riding on non-suspension wheels I imagine you are still bending your knees a little too much (even with suspension you should never keep your legs straight/locked). 

Whenever I got that type of pain I would start riding slower to allow me to ride with almost straight legs for a few minutes, or take a break... The faster you ride the more of a bend you need to keep your knees safe from the shock, so maybe riding slower will allow you to not bend as much, allowing you to ride for longer before the pain sets in.

It also comes down to how often you ride. When I rode 30+km a day, I would only ever get that pain after many hours of riding. 

Edited by xiiijojjo
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