Have for over a year.

And always doing each foot independently is a good way to go.

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Baum Ristretto, Baum Mondrian Corretto & the '89 Merckx! | "If you could eat it in one sitting, hold your line." | twitter.com/Tinea_Pedis

Doing what?

I'm sure he means setting each foot up independantly (doing).
This is something I need to look into. I have always had trouble with lower back pain but only on the right side. Never ever on the left.
I have a tendancy to drop my heels when outputting high power so I moved my cleats as far back as they could go. While that certainly reduced the heel drop it had no effect on my back. After that I moved them forward a little and noticed the left one heel drops while the other doesn't. So perhaps there is an imbalance or something else going on.

In any case, the further forward the cleats, it seems the more you use your calves. Good for looking ripped so if you can't be super fast, at least you can move your cleats and have the gun show

i have been playing with my cleat position in this year, not because i feel uncomfortable but just to experiment. i think that cleat position is will not hinder or improve our performance as long as the position is not too drastic. i have a high arch and my cleats are always on the ball of my foot, because as a former track runner my feet always feel the need to dorsiflex. even when i walk my heel is always light when impacting the gorund.
even a fitter last year told me that when looking at a client he had to have consideration on the subject's simetry to do a fitting assesment. Also most mass produce cycling shoes are manufactured assuming that you are running your cleats on the ball of you feet. unless custom made their shape is going to have a sole that is not flat.

I have been riding for the past few years. Last year I had a pair of Sidi Zephyr carbon shoes with Speedplay Zero pedals. I kept getting pain on the outside of my foot, right at the ball of my foot where it is widest. I assumed this was due to the shoes being too narrow and not fitting well. I ended up getting a pair of Shimano R133L's for Christmas. put the Speedplay cleats on and started riding again, just on the trainer. I am still getting the same pain. Not nearly as bad as with the Sidi's, but it is still there after riding for anything more than 30 min.

Could this be due to cleat positioning? Currently the cleat is in a neutral position on the shoe, with room to adjust it in any direction. Or again, does the shoe just not fit right? Any info or advice would help. Thanks.

_________________
pedal damn it.

My Bikes:
2012 Scott Foil 20 -- 7.31 kg
2013 Felt F3X -- 8.71 kg
1988 Cannondale Road Bike -- heavy commuter

Sounds to me like it could be your natural pronation / supination fighting against the shoe setup.
You might need a wedge or two to level the pressure evenly.

where do you get said wedges? is this something that i should go to the LBS and have a fitter look at my positioning?

_________________
pedal damn it.

My Bikes:
2012 Scott Foil 20 -- 7.31 kg
2013 Felt F3X -- 8.71 kg
1988 Cannondale Road Bike -- heavy commuter

If you search you can find my prior comments about my switch from Shimano shoes to Specialized.
Basically, due to their construction, Shimano shoes appear to be wide enough, but compress the foot laterally when tightened. The Specialized hold the foot down, without compressing it laterally, so they are only slightly wider,. but feel much different.

Of course Specialized S-works also have 1.5mm of varus wedge built into the sole, so that can also help.

just read you comments in the other thread. thanks a lot for the information. maybe ill be checking out the Specialized shoes at the LBS soon. i have a pair of Specialized mtb shoes but just figured they felt better because they are no where near as stiff as my road shoes. maybe the shoe design from Specialized is really what i need across the board. thanks for the advice.

_________________
pedal damn it.

My Bikes:
2012 Scott Foil 20 -- 7.31 kg
2013 Felt F3X -- 8.71 kg
1988 Cannondale Road Bike -- heavy commuter

This is a very good post and basically covers what I do.
Tri bike cleats are mid foot otherwise I overuse the calves and cant run off the bike
Track bike is pretty much under the ball of the foot (just behind) and roadie is somewhere in between.
Yes it means I have three pairs of shoes, but I dont buy the latest and greatest so they last me years anyway.

Lots of great knowledge in here... Just slightly behind the ball of the foot feels best for me.

One topic that nobody really seams to take into consideration when recommending placing the cleats under the ball of the foot is the shoe sole angel relative to the ground. These days most shoes comes with a curved soles, so that the heal comes a bit higher than the toes when standing on the cleats (cleat surface parallel to the ground). If you place the cleats when the shoes is in this "position" (cleat/pedal surface parallel to the ground) the cleats need to be moved pretty long forward on the shoes. On the other hand if the heal is dropped, making the feet parallel to the ground, the ball of the foot is effectively moved backwards requiring the cleats to come after. Does anybody know in which position the feet/shoe sole should be in when placing the cleats?

Level the shoe from front to rear. Follow Hogg's method on finding the 1st metatarsal joint, mark it, then measure from there.

FWIW it took me a while to find my cleat position. 21mm behind the ball of the foot and I'm a road racer.

Get a bit confused when a see stuff like this.

The protocol is to level your shoe. Go to Steve Hogg's site- he explains it in thorough detail. The picture you posted is arbitrary and just randomly depends on where a rider's foot is at bottom dead center. That varies for every rider especially on pedaling style.