Originally Posted by
slcbob
"Fitter" or defaulter?
I'd agree you don't indulge bad habits, and we might be close to saying the same thing. I didn't state the corollary to my comment above, which is if you are so biomechanically out there that you need all this extra float you may need some coaching more than pedal adjustments (like me with golf clubs). So in that sense I'd agree.
But a lot of folks use 4 or 6 deg of float to only have to get within 4 or 6 deg of their good fit, and may even be riding at a premature release in one direction and twice as far from release in the other direction because they gooned it up. And their knee pain, etc., is due to a combination of that bad fit and the bad bio mechanics in the first place.
It is one thing for a pro fitter to look at you and affirm that you are center mass in the bell curve, which I suspect you got. It is quite another thing to get a "this oughta work" standard answer akin to a low end bike shop size and set up and call it a fit - whether you pay for it or do it yourself - then confuse the need for more float with having missed being right in the first place, whether that be for the realities of your non-50th percentile body & style, and/or for your inaccuracy in executing the 50th percentile set up.
I have no idea what you mean by "defaulter". The fitter I went to doesn't work for a bike shop, he does bike fitting for a living. There's no way to say whether he's actually good or not just as there is with no other fitter - it's not the kind of thing where you can say for sure, and I've never been 100% happy with any fitter I've gone to (well - either of them).
What I can say is that I haven't had any knee pain since going to him and following his advice.
I have other issues that he seems to be helpless to solve - like saddle numbness, and my feet going numb. But his advice on pedalling technique (and his saying that the cleats are usually (though not always) best just installed in the default position, having a pedaling technique with even power throughout 360 degrees and keeping the knees in a straight line going up and down) did solve my knee issues. I mean, who knows really, that's what he said he did to my cleats, I don't have any way to really confirm that or anything.
I've always loved how my Speedplays have so much float. I was surprised that with the new setup and pedal stroke that I found I didn't care nearly as much about float any more.
So yeah, I think we're kinda saying the same thing - by being right with the fit and pedalling technique in the first place, I no longer needed much float in my pedals. I was rather surprised, but - that's how it's been. I don't know if I would want to get rid of it entirely, but it became much, much less important.