Originally Posted by
jaxgtr
I have had massive foot pain for a while and attribute a lot of it to a small pedal surface and narrow q factor bike for my wide q factor body. I found some relief by using SPD's and pedal extenders, but I still end up getting numb spots while riding. I have been looking at getting some Time Atac Z pedals as they seem to have a fairly good sized surface, much like a platform that I can still click into. They are heavy as hell on the downside at 512 grams, but then again so am I. My shoes have plenty of space in the toe box, but I find I am riding on the outside edge of my foot a lot. Has anybody tried the Specialized Body Geometry shoes and the semi-custom beds?
Many schools on this as well. One school is...if you have a carbon soled shoe, point loading of the cleat is less critical...in other words, shape of pedal matters less. Likely the truth is even carbon soled shoes flex a bit. Another school says that neuroma suffers should not ride carbon soled shoes because they are too unrelenting in terms of pressure. The bottom of the foot isn't rigid and if the sole of a rigid carbon soled shoe does not precisely agree with the anatomy of one's foot, you will have point loading and hot spots. Nylon floored shoes have a bit more forgiveness. Bottom Line...if you can find one is....if you have hot spots you have to change what you are doing. The best method of changing hot spots is to move your cleat location. People damage the pads of their feet if they are right over the spindle and the floor of the shoe shape does not precisely agree with the shape of the bottom of the foot which is many times the case without custom footbeds. This lack of agreement is what causes hot spots and injury.