Cleat stackers/shims
 

Anyone use these to correct for a shorter leg? How do you figure out how many to use, as they come in 3mm thickness? Personal situation is right leg is shorter 17mm (5/8") Thanks.

I have no specific insight... Just as crank length, I would think there would be personal preference involved.

You may want to see if anyone in the adaptive cycling forum can help. There may be people who hang out there that don't read this subforum.

It just so happens that I ordered a shim kit made by Speedplay to help with my leg length discrepancy.

My wife has one leg about 1cm shorter. Three things were adjusted to accommodate this. On the shorter leg a 4mm shim was added, the cleat was moved forward ~ 4mm and the nose of the saddle rotated toward the longer leg by a few degrees.

One book that addresses this is the Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists by Andy Pruitt.

top of cleat would stick up higher than the shoe sole and so the foot may rock sideways , unless you have some shoe shop add some
thing for the ends of your SPD pedal to contact on your shoe's sole ..

5/8" may require a shim + changed crank arm length ..

more expensive cranksets , notably French TA offer a lot more arm length options; like 172.5, between 170 and 175.

I've made my shims from Lexan, and will head to the fastener store to track down some longer screws. I made an impression of the heel, and poured acrylic into it and allowed it to cure. Trimmed it down to the appropriate height. Now I will attach to the existing heel, and then do the same for the toe end of the shoe. Wont get a chance to work on it this weekend, but I'll keep going. Might just make one shim at the correct thickness once I'm all done, and have verified my work.

Shoe shops are funny.they won't add anything to your shoe unless you have a prescription. It's my shoe. Who the hell would want to alter their shoe and cause themselves grief? i dunno.

I also considered different crank lengths, but, another expensive option that I just didn't want to endure. I'm not cheap. I just choose to spend on other things. I can also ride my SPD's on the platform side and then not worry about any of this! I just wanted to gain the efficiency of clip less pedals-although I can't say as of yet that I have physically or mentally seen an advantage.

17mms?

Yeah, that's what he said. Mine's close: my right leg is 1/2" shorter than my left. (No wonder I run around in circles.) I have SPD's, so it's tough to shim the cleats. One of these days I'll be able to afford custom shoes that will work with the leg length discrepancy and pronation of my right foot. For now, I back off if things start feeling strained.

Not sure what exactly the question is, but 17mm is between 5/8" and 3/4". mm refers to millimeters, which is a metric measurement. The discrepency was created when my 2 lower legs were broken 7 places below the knee between the 2 sides, as a result of being hit by a car. No pins or plates were placed, as I was 13 at the time and they figured that everything would heal up just fine after they were reset. Guess not so fine, but this is what I have to work with!

I am committed to do a cross country tour next year, and when my back and neck are out of alignment, I'm out until I get to the chiropractor. That is not going to be easily done on the road, so I prefer to stay aligned. My other choice is to use my street shoes instead of clip-less.

My wife uses SPDs on mtb shoes and I shimmed the cleat by cutting out a piece of polycarbonate sized to fit in the cleat recess in the shoe and drilled two holes in it. I also beveled the front and back edges to prevent them from hanging up with clipping it. Polycarb (Lexan) is good because it very tough and flexible.

FWIW: A common recommendation is to shim only half the discrepancy, so if one leg is 15mm shorter, use a ~7-8mm shim.

What did you do with the rubber shoe tread (the walking portion)?

Nada. The cleat protrudes a bit beyond the rubber. For her this isn't an issues in mtb scenarios and is only a concern in the potential to scratch hard floors.