Cleat position - Whats your theory?

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KWalker
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by KWalker

Doing what?
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mattyb
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by mattyb

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 :lol:

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roca rule
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by roca rule

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.

roberto21
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by roberto21

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.
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mattyb
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by mattyb

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.

roberto21
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by roberto21

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

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.

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.

roberto21
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by roberto21

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.
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Andrew69
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by Andrew69

shadwell wrote:One thing i have learned is that there is not necessarily one cleat position which is best for all cycling disciplines, track ""tend"" to have cleat over ball to allow faster accelarations as the leg is over tdc sooner, road race ""tends"" to take a middle ground looking to enlist all leg muscles in proportion of their ability, ie balance the load using the largest muscles to do the greatest work and the smaller muscles to do lesser volume / level of work, balancing endurance with speed in essence..... and for pure endurance with lower peak force, the cleat under arch (or midfoot ) position has been shown to offer considerable merits.... In every incidence the "evidence" is published so each needs to take from it what they will...

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.

sh33mon
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by sh33mon

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

syklisten
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by syklisten

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?

KWalker
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by KWalker

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.
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syklisten
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by syklisten

Get a bit confused when a see stuff like this.

Image

KWalker
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by KWalker

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.
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THUNDERHORSE
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by THUNDERHORSE

syklisten wrote:Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The one thing that keep bothering me now is that someone means that the further back on the shoe the cleats are placed, the more power do you loose. Is this a fact or just an opinion (which there is a lot of when discussing cleat position)?


roca rule wrote:. 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... 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.


Im not sure how much power you would lose by having the cleat position a shade behind the ball of the foot (speaking as someone who has yet to ride clipless). But I would liken it to sprinting positions vs a jogging positions and the corresponding foot strikes.

Similar to what Roca suggests, no?

Sprint position is more the first 1/3 of your foot where as distance shifts the focus to the middle 2/3 of the foot. So it would seem that location of the cleat could also be affected by the type of cycling you do most.

Moving forward I will definitely be taking note of Steve Hogg's recommendations as so many have cited him here.

Having just read the Pose method's tri book ill share that they're considerations:
Position the cleat so that the pedal axle lines up directly underneath the ball of your foot. This is the point where you will get the greatest transfer of body weight to the pedal. Your feet should point directly forward. If you have structural/alignment problems with your feet, do not attempt to straighten this out. Set the cleats to accommodate this characteristic rather than correct it.

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