Does anyone use any sort of shims to compensate for leg length discrepancies when pedaling?
Any thoughts, tips and suggestions?

Possibly cranks of a different length?
Insole in shoe?
See a podiatrist?

Just some ideas...

I would think insole, cleat spacers would be preferable to unequal crank arms?

How much of a discrepancy? If the difference is small (like a quarter inch), your body may adapt without mechanical help.

I have a half inch discrepancy (right leg is shorter) according to a CAT scan I had last year. I knew I always had right knee issues - they came and went in cycling and skiing, but you'd never know it by my gait or spin. You'd be surprised at what you body can adapt to.

Anyway, I bought a box of LeWedges, and started playing around with them in August. I initially started with 5, one to even the foot out, then 4 alternating wedges to make up a quarter inch. It f*cked up my normal feel and just threw off my whole game. I have backed off to just a single wedge under the inside of my right foot and over the winter (spinning 3 days a week) I can occasionally feel more pressure under my right foot or just fatigue in my right leg, which is what I would expect if it's getting more of a workout than it's used to.

My right quad is slightly smaller than the left (about a quarter inch), so in my weightlifting, I throw in an extra set with the right leg to see if I can bring it back to par with the left.

Bottom line is, go easy on any adjustments or see a specialist - your body has already adjusted for as long as you've been alive, and if you're not experiencing any pain or other issues, leave it alone.

Most peple just fit to the short leg.

Never confirmed, but I think my right leg is longer than my left. Not sure if this is the proper fix but I moved the right cleat about 2mils further back than the left. I ride toes down so in my mind this has the affect of shortening my foot.

How much LLD? How was it measured? Is the difference from ankle to knee, or knee to hip?

Paul

time to upgrade?

There's a few other threads on this subject (I'll see if I can find them - EDIT: see below):

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=leg+length
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=leg+length
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=leg+length
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=leg+length
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=leg+length

I use lemond lewedges (left femur is 1/2" shorter than the right).

My left leg is about 1 inch shorter than my right thanks to an adventure I had while ski racing in high school.

Years ago, someone made me a platform out of layers to plastic that were glued together, shaped to match a Look cleat, and drilled for the mounting screws. This has worked well for me when I am on the bike, but can be a hassle if I have to walk in my shoes.

-John

My right leg is half an inch shorter, and I had problems with my left hip, low-back and leg, as a result of keeping my saddle too low, to accomodate my shorter leg. I have Speedplay pedals, and used a second cleat base (whatever they call the flat part that fits below the cleat), with longer screws, on my shorter leg. I have also moved my longer leg-cleat a little further back, to fine-tune it. With that, along with increasing my saddle height, I have had good results, without doing anything too drastic.

I think custom block pedals would be one solution. That way there'd be a consistent correction around the pedal stroke. Shorter crank on the short side would work for the bottom of the stroke, but bring the longer leg knee too high at the top.

This is what I do. I actually have a curvature of the spine which makes one leg shorter. Frankly I never really noticed much a a difference.

There are shims for the cleats that can be purchased,


But unless you are experiencing pain, had the doc spot some damage in a scan or need to wring out every last mph, I wouldn't worry about it.