I've searched a bit and can't find anything on this. I'm considering going clipless and I was wondering where your feet take the most force on clipless pedals. Most of them I see have the cleats on the ball of the foot which would make me think that the muscles in your ankle absorb a lot of the pushing/pulling force. I have a bum ankle so on my platform pedals I pretty much pedal on my heel, or a bit forward of it, but way back from the ball in any case. So is the cleat location adjustable? or is my entire understanding of it just wrong??

You have a bit of fore/aft and side to side adjustment, but only a few mm. I'd think your pedalling style would cause more harm than anything else, but if it works for you, who am I to criticize? See if someone can hook you up with a good cycling coach or physio that can work with you to see if clipless is an option. I'm not sure that ankle problems will prevent you from pedalling properly.

The muscle distribution is probably about the same as when you are using flats. The only difference is that you will use the muscles on the front of your shin more.

If your ankles hurt you so much that you cannot cycle with the ball on the pedal, I would suggest either road riding or swimming until those tendons and muscles are ready to go.

More advice ... here is a simple ankle strengthening excercise that fixed my chronically bad, perpetually spraining ankles. Do a ankle rotation. But instead of just spinning it around, use your hand to provide resistance all the way around. Do it in both directions. This will strengthen and stretch all at the same time.

I'll second the advice of our tandem riding friend here and tell you to seek out the help of a cycling coach or physical/occupational/sports therapist. Your insurance should cover that...even if not one consultation is pretty cheap.

I'd say just to buy the pedals and move the cleat all the way back since good MTB racing clipless shoes are very stiff. However, you sound like you've got a unique problem that a professional could probably help you out with.

i think that if your doing mtb with clipless and you have an ankle problem your crazy, this isnt a sientific fact or anythign so dont trip if im horribly wrong. the point of clips it to be able to pull up in the airl, wouldtn tis jyst !@#@# up your ankles even more?

OK, to the guy who said you're crazy for riding a MTB clipless with a bum ankle, well - as with the case of a lot of people around here who shell out advice without having any experience whatsoever - he simply has absolutlely no idea what he's talking about.

On Feb 2nd of this year I severely sprained my ankle (partial grade 3 - the most severe) while jogging (rolled it off a curb with full body weight...ouch!) and had to be taken, by ambulance, to the ER. As you can imagine, the ankle was really bad and was borderline for surgery however, it had retained enough muscular integrity to the point that I was able to avoid that route.

Upon beginning physical therapy with one of the best physical therapy clinics in Southern California (they work with several U.S. olympic teams and had numerous NFL prospects in the clinic while I was there) the first thing they had me do once they finished working the ankle was get on the stationary bike.

I told them that I wanted to get back on my bike ASAP and asked them about clipless pedals and they not only said it would be OK but encouraged me to get out there as soon as I felt my ankle could bear weight.

Granted, I could not ride the technical stuff I normally enjoy riding because there's too much of a risk of having to unclip and put my foot down but riding fireroads caused absolutely zero pain (even when I rode Harding - a 20 mile up and back).

You have to make sure you're comfortable with clipping in and out however, riding clipless with a bad ankle is no problem whatsoever.

Now, if you've never ridden clipless and are thinking of going to it now AND have a bum ankle, I'd advise you to wait until your ankle heals as you'll likely tip over more than a couple of times as you get used to them.

Good luck.

told ya i could be horribly wrong.

Are you referring to the guy with the cannabis leaves for his avatar?

Excellent point.