On Fri, 10 Mar 2017 12:51:25 -0500, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

On 3/10/2017 12:14 PM, wrote:
A friend of mine just had a custom bike built and although it fits great there is a 2 cm shoe overlap of the front wheel. The danger of this is making a hard turn and trying to straighten out with your foot then in the way. Criterium racers in particular could do this because they only stop pedalling at the absolute apex and then start again with the front wheel still turned.

Anyone else had any experience with this? I remember high siding because of this. Luckily not in a race to be run over by a hundred riders.

I have overlap with (IIRC) two of my bikes, exacerbated by front
fenders. I've never had a problem with it. It doesn't matter once a
person's riding, because except at super low track-standish speeds, the
steering angle is not great enough to cause interference.

But I have two friends who toppled as they started from a dead stop,
both with the same cause. As they stood still, they had their front
wheel turned so the rear portion of the wheel was outside their foot, so
to speak. As they started up and tried to balance, their toe prevented
the front wheel from returning to center. No injuries; just embarrassment.

If one builds a smallish bike ( or perhaps a bike for smallish people)
with normal "road bike" dimensions it is probably impossible to make
it without toe overlap. I have four bikes, three with normal road bike
dimensions and angles. they all have toe overlap. The one bike I have
with no overlap is a mountain bike frame built as a utility bike,
solid forks and all that.

Frankly I see no problems whatsoever in riding a bike with toe overlap
as it quite simply doesn't enter the picture except at very, very,
very, slow speeds.
--
Cheers,

John B.