Originally Posted by
elcruxio
People also rode too high saddle heights and had too much reach for decades but that doesn't mean we can't improve. People still fit with KOPS too...
There's also a decent chance that the ball of the foot position is due to being convenient when using pedal straps instead of being biomechanically optimal. Only recently the mid foot retained position has started to be properly tested.
It's also not fashionable to have mid cleat shoes and walking with mid cleat road shoes would truly interesting.
As to biomechanics, having the cleat further back uses the calf less, which is a good thing because the calf generally isn't contributing to power generation. Its role is most of the time purely stabilizing. Having less energy and oxygen wasted by the calf is almost always a good thing. Also when there's less need for the calf to stabilize the foot, it will be more stable which can have all kinds of benefits, like better knee function. You can then also have the seat lower which is aerodynamically beneficial.
I mentioned the uselessness of the calf. Moving the cleats back you might lose some top sprint power because there the calf does contribute (when standing and all that) but it's not a strong muscle. The loss is going to be pretty minimal.
Doesn't need to be soft soles. Could be a hiking boot. Though with large enough platforms it doesn't really make that big of a difference.
I've always though of clipless as more of a safety device. It's nice to know that your feet won't slip no matter how tired you get or how rough the going gets. There is also the benefit of higher maximum power output (at the cost of higher energy use) for those tricky situations where you've been ambushed by a steep climb and you have too high a gear on.
And clipless does allow for techniques which generate more power for accelerations etc.. But they're not more efficient. In fact they use a lot of oxygen per watt. But they're great for going fast and for fast accelerations.
You're making a series of unwarranted assumptions, like why toe clips are the length they are. They could have been longer if anyone wanted them to be, and the straps could have been further forward as well.
But all of this is your speculation based on the belief that everyone until now was just bumbling around in the dark. But they weren't: Finished velodromes and stopwatches have been around for well over a century, and top athletes have been looking for whatever advantage they could find the entire time. If you think six day racers didn't care about their performance or preventing injuries, you are mistaken.
As far as what is natural, watch people climb stairs and ladders sometime. When standing, we want to use the balls of our feet. When seated, I doubt it matters all that much because the torque is much lower.
If some actual data comes up, great. Until then, your idle speculation seems like you have a belief you haven't really thought through yet. Good luck.