If you don’t need the float in your cleats, you often won’t notice it. It is better to have more float and not use it, than have less float and need more. Locking the foot into position with minimal float cleats can cause pain and injury to various structures, especially the knee. If the foot feels unstable on the pedal, the issue is not usually having too much rotation in the cleat, but rather whatever is causing the leg to operate in poor alignment. You never want to be at the end of your float range, as this will transmit torsional forces further up the chain. Having available float in your cleat will allow you to move the foot in or out to a more natural position during the pedal stroke, allowing the knee to track in its natural plane of movement. How to set cleat position: cleat float and rotation positionĬleat float refers to the amount of inward and outward rotation available when clipped into the pedals. Knees kicking out during the pedal stroke can indicate a stance width that is too narrow, knees dropping in can mean the stance width is too wide. To determine whether changes will need to be made, observation of your pedalling on the bike is essential. Our stance is self-selected, influenced by posture, habit, anatomical and physical characteristics such as pelvis width, lower limb alignment or hip stiffness. Whilst there are numerous other ways to widen your stance width, the only way to narrow your stance width is via the cleats - moving them to the outside of the shoe. Cleats placed towards the inside of the shoe will widen your stance width. Ideally in cycling, we want the hip, knee and foot to operate in a straight line.īoth road and MTB cleats will have some side to side adjustment, between 4-6mm. This refers to the side to side position of the cleat on the shoe, by which we can manipulate Q Factor and stance width. How to set cleat position: lateral position and stance width Toe overlap usually only becomes an issue when track standing or riding tight corners at low speed (such as bike paths) and is relatively normal, especially for smaller bikes with shorter wheelbases.Īnd finally, changing the fore/aft position of your cleat may require small changes in your saddle height and fore/aft position. I have encountered some riders who have set their cleats forward to avoid toe overlap. However, this is at the expense of foot stability, the further forward the cleat is positioned towards the toes, the harder the calf muscles have to work to control and stabilise the foot owing to the lengthening lever arm. A forward cleat position means a greater ability to change speed rapidly and accelerate (although not affecting outright top speed) - making this change could be useful for improving your sprinting, as well as crit racing and track event performance. Moving the cleats rearward reduces their work, which is beneficial for endurance riding.Ĭleat fore/aft to some extent will be determined by the type of riding the cyclist does and what they prioritise. The calf muscles are largely made up of fast twitch fibres, which are not ideal for stability. Placing the cleats further back will also decrease recruitment of the calf muscles (Milour et al 2019) by reducing leverage from the ankle pivot point. Anecdotally, many clients report this feels more powerful and stable, although research suggests there is no increase in power output with a more rearward cleat position. Placing the cleat slightly behind the ball of the foot often decreases compression of nerves and blood vessels under the metatarsal heads, minimising the chances of foot and toe numbness. My tendency is to fit a more rearward position than this, often as rear as the holes drilled on the sole of the shoe will allow. Just using the 1st metatarsal (big toe) as an indicator of the ball of the foot will result in a cleat position in front of the metatarsal heads, as they run diagonally towards the 5th metatarsal.
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