General Cycling Discussion - Foot position on pedal

Hi,

Just wondering...when you are commuting/road cycling on a mountain bike, what is the recommended position of your foot on the pedal. Should the arch of your foot be in the middle ?
This is what my boyfriend says but I prefer to cycle with the ball of my foot over the pedal.

If I try it any other way, I start to get pain in my knee.

Justen

As usual the boyfriend is wrong, we seem never to make any progress. The ball of your foot should be on the pedal. This is true with any bike. Good luck with the guy, he doesn't seem like the brightest crayon in the box. I'm sure you'll enjoy telling him he's wrong. :D

-Middi-zon

The ball of the feet should be on the pedal, that's definitely right. However, for maximal power transfer, I think the ball of the feet should be directly over the axle of the pedal?

Anyway, getting things like this wrong isn't surprising. I've seen people with their saddles so low and even people with their heels over the pedal.

The ball of your foot should definitely be what you are using to power the bike. With my clipless shoes, I beleive the manual stated that that the farther back on the pedal the ball of the foot was placed, the less comfortable but the more power transfer (faster acceleration). The farther forward the ball of foot was placed over the pedal, the more comfortable but less snappy speed wise. This was in relation to setting up the position of the cleat on the bottom of shoe. I would think you could apply this to positioning of the foot over the pedal even when not using clipless. Either way, the ball of the foot should be placed on the pedal-not the arch or the heel.

-Moab


This is from memory from about a year ago. Correct me if I am wrong.

Originally posted by Middi-zon
As usual the boyfriend is wrong, we seem never to make any progress. The ball of your foot should be on the pedal. This is true with any bike. Good luck with the guy, he doesn't seem like the brightest crayon in the box. I'm sure you'll enjoy telling him he's wrong. :D

-Middi-zon

Oh yeah...can't wait till he gets off duty ! LOL !
He is always so sure that he is right about everything :-)

Justen

Just show him a picture of the sole of any cycling shoe. You can see where the cleat cutout is. For example: