Does Q-factor make a difference?

Decreasing your Q-factor, or bringing your crank arms closer together, may make you more aerodynamic, but it won’t necessarily make you faster. You may lose a significant amount of power, or stop recruiting your glutes in such a narrow position.

How does Q-factor affect cycling?

“Q-factor can influence Q-angle, but Q-angle can’t influence Q-factor,” he notes. “Increasing your Q-factor increases your stance width and decreases your Q-angle.” It’s your total stance width that you need to pay attention to as this affects how it feels to pedal.

What is the Q-factor on a bike?

Essentially Q-Factor is the distance between the pedal attachment points on the crank arms, also referred to as Tread. It could also be described as the width of your crankset. This affects your stance, if you’ve ever been snowboarding think of it as the same thing, essentially the distance between your feet.

What is Chainline Q-factor?

Q factor is nothing to worry about. It’s the distance between the outer edges of each crank arm. Road bike q factor is narrower at around 150mm and MTB is around 170mm and are pretty standard.

How do I reduce the Q-factor on my bike?

The easiest way to reduce your Q factor is to install a shorter bottom bracket. There are many good, inexpensive square-taper BBs available in different lengths. You could pull the cranks off your present BB, measure them, and then order a shorter BB.

Is a higher Q-factor better?

A higher Q results in a higher peak, but this must be narrower than what a lower Q device has to have the same total integral.) A high Q factor is good in resonators and watches, where operation at a single frequency is desired.

Should Q-factor be high or low?

Higher Q indicates a lower rate of energy loss and the oscillations die out more slowly. A pendulum suspended from a high-quality bearing, oscillating in air, has a high Q, while a pendulum immersed in oil has a low one. Resonators with high quality factors have low damping, so that they ring or vibrate longer.