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Old 06-23-05 | 11:10 AM
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jonTu
C'mon DJ...
 
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 92
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From: Represent Brooklyn NYC.

Bikes: '02 Cervelo Prodigy, '97 Olmo Gara Pista track, '03 Redline Conquest Pro

offsetting pedal cleats

I'm in the market for a new set of road pedals and wanted to tap the infinite wisdom of the forums about an unusual, but by no means unique, physiological issue before I made a purchase. My right leg turns out approximately 15 degrees at the foot, such that if I were to sit on the edge of a table with my feet hanging in the air and my knees straight my left foot would be at 90 degrees to the table but my right at about 75 degrees. This presents an obvious issue with clipless pedals. While actually pedaling my foot only turns out about five degrees (which is good, otherwise my crankarm would be a mess by now), but on some pedal systems this can make the chances of accidental release much, much greater. The way I've overcome this in the past is to install the cleat slightly off-angle, in that the rotational arc of the pedal float aligns with the natural positioning of my foot. Installing the cleat straight and cranking up the release tension has a propensity to either leave me with no toe-out float, which diminishes comfort on longer rides, or to force my foot into a "normal" position, which is a strain on my knee. Conversely I don't want to accommodate my right foot and leave my left foot, which is happy to sit within 2 or 3 degrees of straight no matter how hard I'm hammering, skating on an insane amount of float.

I'm currently on old-style SPD pedals, where the two-bolt install makes offsetting the cleat a snap. I'm wondering what modern road pedals allow for this. Sports medicine folks I've spoken with say that this is a reasonably common problem, so has anyone else out there with a less-then-optimal neutral foot position found a set of pedals they love, or perhaps some other solution I'm not thinking of? Geometry would suggest that a 3-bolt system wouldn't allow much cleat offset, eliminating any pedal that didn't allow a large amount of float, such as the Speedplays or the Time Impacts that every shop seems to have on clearance. Am I wrong?

Thanks for advance for any good tips.
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