Home Chat General Chat

Cleat Position - The Definitive Guide (when finished)!

Hi All

This is a bit of a mystery to me, i don't know what i'm aiming for in terms of cleat position, what problems bad position cause, and how much difference it really makes.

I have soooo much adjustment!!

Too far to outside of foot = ??
Too far to inside of foot = ??
Too far forward (so the cleat is closer to the tow of the shoe) = ??
Too far backward (so the cleat is closer to the heel of the shoe) = ??

Then there's angle.....

Should the cleat be straight with your foot (if you were to drawer a line from the centre of your heel to your middle toe)?

Or turned in pointing towards your big toe? So that when the cleat is straight in the pedal your shoe heel is slightly in and your shoe toe is slightly out (from the bike).

Can anyway start to answer my 101 questions?

Comments

  • MGMG Posts: 470
    OK to start with.....

    Cleat angle - this is found by sitting on a table (or similar) and letting your feet dangle, the angle at which your feet point, should be the angle your shoes point when clipped in. mine point slightly out wards.

    Cleat position - the spindle of the pedal should run a line horizontaly through the ball of your foot, too far forward and you'll kill your calves, too far back and your quads will suffer, just in the middle and goldilocks is happy, capiche?!!

    or have a gander at this.........

    http://www.bikesplit.com/bsa5.htm
  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    cheers MG....i'm off to dangle me legs...then an hour on the turbo to test......
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    Aha,

    MG you've answered what I've been looking for. I'm sure my position is all wrong...

    Ta
  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    well..........managed all of 30 mins on the turbo before almost dying of heat exhaustion! God.......its a world away from actually getting out on the road.......

    anyway.......my feet dangle straight forward - but the outside of my feet dangle lower than the inside (if you know what i mean)......i think most peoples do....don't they?

    All in all i couldn't really tell the difference on the turbo......i need to get a good ride in and then i'll know for sure.

    Any other suggestions to add......so we can build a definitive guide ..
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    Gary you're really back for real, huh?!

    Hooray!!!
  • garyrobertsgaryroberts Posts: 869
    yeap.........next race is 9 weeks and counting, not run more than 10m in the last two months......weigh 1/2 stone more than i did 6 weeks ago!

    I cannot be seen running around in skin tight lycra with a belly sticking out further than my chest!

    Yes my god.......i'm back!

    Jess......you gonna get on board with the new tri-club?
  • BopomofoBopomofo Posts: 980
    Gazza you lazy great tub 'o' lard. Nice to hear you're back at being tri-obsessive.

    Good topic, though. The main nail which has been clouted here is that yes, you need to test out your adjustments, also yes, you need to do it over a fairly long period. Also, no big changes and no multiple changes.

    So, moving your cleats, changing your saddle height and trying new shoes would be a no-no.

    I like the idea of giving it a 30min whizz on the turbo just to see if you are roughly right, but I reckon you need at least a couple of hours (or the intention of a couple of hours) over varied terrain. I've had a few saddle experiments where I've made up my mind that I've got it wrong after just 30mins, but ONLY because I knew I had another 90mins to go and it was too bad to go that far. Probably all inthe mind but hopefully you get my point.

    I think you can get wedges to level your feet up, but hey... if you need those your TdF team sponsor will pay for them. Another one of those bits of kit that make cock-all difference to us average age-groupers, but nevertheless seem like an essential when you are in shopping-frenzy mode.

    My feet splay out a bit, one more than the other, so I adjusted my cleats until it felt right and suddenly my knees stopped hurting. Funny that. Optimise the kit you've got, then when you can't optimise it enough buy a better bit of kit.
  • GHarvGHarv Posts: 456
    Best advice in cleat fitting here...

    http://www.tritalk.co.uk/forums/viewtop ... ht=#842806

    G
  • gingertrigingertri Posts: 277
    I cannot be seen running around in skin tight lycra with a belly sticking out further than my chest!
    Unless you can get PVC tri suits and want to call yourself dafyd

    all other things covered! did anyone else look on the GHarv link and put their shoes against the table?
Sign In or Register to comment.