what's really the use of adjusting the cleat back and forth? i have heard somewhere ppl saying its if you adjust it more backwards then gives more power to pedal down. but if more forwards then it provides better lifting power. so does this mean that if you want to go fast on the climbing, then better to move ur cleat bit more forward? what's your experience with the cleats position on shoes? i always pull it as backwards as i can. i feel that is very powerful when i pedal down.

I always try to get the pedal spindle in the middle of the ball of my foot. That is what feels best to me, may not be what is best for you though.

I pick whatever feels better.

If I can't decide, I set the cleats a little differently on each side, then figure out which one i like better. Then I duplicate its position on the other foot.

The cleat position determines the ratio of muscle groups being used. For instance, if you have you cleat forward, you'll be using more of your calves during your stride, if you move it too far back you'll be using mostly quads. Neither extreme is good and results in unbalanced muscles and strains. Your cleat position should present a balance of these muscles such that you're using mostly quads as these are your biggest muscles.

Check out this chart to see what muscles are being used in what part of your pedal stroke.

I remember an article in Bicycling magazine that showed that there was good benefit from placing the cleats back as far as possible. Also, I believe Joe Friel advocated this on his blog.

Excellent illustration. Thank you for posting that.

Bob

I read all the articles, drank the koolaid, and moved my cleats back as far as they would go. After about three months or so I realized that it didn't really improve anything, so I moved it back to under the ball of my foot. With the cleat further forward I feel a bit more stable when I'm standing on the pedals. The thing about a rearward cleat position is that it's different for everyone. But it's free to try, so why not?

Maybe "as far rearward as possible" also means "not so far back that you lose stability when standing."

Would that be better solved with shims, though?

Forward cleat - more pedal rpm, higher saddle, more calves, less sustainable power. I personally cramp more and my Achilles gets really stressed. It's how I know I put my cleat too far forward.

More to the back cleat - lower rpm, lower saddle, more hamstrings, more sustainable power, less top speed. This is a "pro" thing - Lemond joked about how all Italians pros would get whatever shoe, slam the cleat all the way back, and call it a day on cleat adjustment. I cramp my hamstrings more and I lose some top speed.

In my old age I prefer a more rearward cleat position. It matches the loss of speed nicely. I surprised myself a couple shoes ago when I realized I wanted to move the cleats further back and I couldn't. I used to move my cleats all the way forward.

I also ankle quite aggressively in certain situations, not on purpose. My foot is literally vertical at the top of the pedal stroke. I think this is why the forward cleat worked well with me earlier, but now, at a lower cadence, a more rearward cleat is fine.

"Mid sole" - I haven't tried it but one of the CyclingNews fitness editor/advisor/Q&A people really pushed this for a few years. I think the Women's World Champ used this position, but I'm not sure if that's the one that got caught doping or not. Whenever I hear of someone improving exponentially, I think of the athletes that started a drug regime and attributed their improvement to some weird technical thing. Or I think of the lying guy that attributed his 20% gain to a crank system he used, when in fact he just copy/pasted data into the csv files to make nice power graphs (really!). Anyway, not many people use the midsole. It's supposed to pretty much kill your sprint but improve your sustainable power by a lot, like EPO-lot.

I'm curious about Rotor cranks because pros actually use them, even Thor. But maybe that's why he's not sprinting well in the faster sprints. Who knows.

cdr

Yeah, I did; it also made me think of a kid at work who has one leg a bit shorter and the issues he's having with saddle height.

Personally I've fiddled with small adjustments(fore/aft toe in/toe out) to my cleats since I bought a new bike 4 years ago.
I think I've finally got the optimum position..hope I don't need new shoes soon, else I'll be repeating the whole process again!