George

I haven't been riding much lately and Im doing short rides now, about 20 or 25 miles. When I get back Im having knee pain. Mostly my left knee, but sometimes both. I have had several fits, but I can say none of them fixed my issues. I'm using giro insoles now and I have tried the Specialized, but Im still having the same problem. I think the Giro insoles are more comfortable, but Im thinking about getting some that are heat molded.

I did take all the shims out of the shoes and I was ok for about a month. but the pain came back the last few weeks. I had two of the yellow wedges under my cleats yesterday, but today I have pain in my left knee again, none in the right. I took one wedge out of the left shoe and left the one in. I'll see how that works tomorrow. So Ill have two wedges under my right shoe where I didn't have any pain and the single wedge in the left, but Im still thinking about the molded insoles.

Thanks for any replies.

RPK79

Could just need some adjustment of cleat position depending on where the knee pain is.

Carbonfiberboy 

Concentrate on getting fit more than bike fit. A very big part of getting fit is stretching, improving flexibility. Try these stretches for your knees, every day, maybe 3 X day to start with. Don't overstretch, just to the point of minor discomfort.

The other thing is where is your knee pain exactly? Knee pain can be anything and from any cause. My guess is that is has nothing to do with your feet. Seldom does. Foot pain has more to do with feet. Let us know exactly where it hurts. One can google up drawings of knee structure with the various bits labeled.

George

Sharp pain in the kneecap. Almost gone, but still there. I haven't been riding as much as I would like to.
Thanks for reply.

johnny99

If you have discussed your problems with your fitter and they couldn't find or fix the problem, I would look for a better fitter. While eliminating pain is of course a worthy goal, a good fitter should have a systematic way of accomplishing that, eg by observing or measuring the angles and wobbles in your joints as you ride

George

tagaproject6

How tall are you and how long are your cranks?

George

tagaproject6

You may want to look at shorter cranks, 172.5mm or 170mm. When all else fails with shims and shoe adjustments and cleat/float adjustment cranks are likely the culprit. I've had a few cyclists using 172.5 cranks complaining of knee pain, sometimes on one side only, sometimes both, we changed crank length and it solved the knee pain issue. Taller folks, do not necessarily need longer crank arms. And no, lowering your saddle will not have the same effect.

Are you a spinner or a masher?

George

For the most part, I spin.

I just took the wedges out of the shoes and with any luck,Ill give that a try tomorrow.
Thanks again.

Carbonfiberboy 

Where "in the kneecap"? Directly behind the center, above, below, more to one side than the other, in which case inside or outside?

George

Feels like the center

Carbonfiberboy 

Mark your current saddle height with electrical tape on the seatpost. Raise your saddle. Try 5mm to start, if you can handle that, keep raising it in small increments until you feel like your leg is getting too stretched out. Chondromalacia patella, mild case. Your fitter sucks.

Experiment with relatively short, frequent rides. I used my rollers when I had it.

When it doesn't hurt any more, lower the saddle back down, but not as low as you have it now.

You could also start taking glucosamine sulfate and MSM. It's cheap if you look around online. I've been taking it daily for ~30 years, no ill effects . . .

George

deex

What type of cleats do you have? I feel float also affects knee pain.

f4rrest

Yes, sounds like chondromalacia. Many cyclists get it.

I found that Penetrex cream helped mine. I also kept experimenting with shoes, wedges under the cleats, insoles, and cleat position/float. Don't give up.

I ended up with different color cleats on each foot.
One shoe half size larger than the other. One custom insole.

MagicHour

This and further a good fitter might also take a look at things like your gait/foot pronation, hip and general flexibility and core strength; knee pain could be any combo of a number of things.