Clipless Foot Placement
 

Hello all,

I have recently come across a strange problem with the placement of my feet in clipless pedals and was hoping I could get some advice on what to do.

On a ride two days ago, I kept having an urge to move the ball of my right foot farther up on the pedal, and I thought that maybe I didn't have the cleats set evenly on the bottom of my road shoes. So, before riding yesterday, I adjusted the cleat so that I was sure the right cleat was farther back on the road shoe, causing the ball of my foot to be farther forward on the pedal. When I compared it to my left shoe (which feels fine) I noticed that the cleat was definitely placed a bit farther back on the right shoe than on the left. I went for a ride, and still had the urge to move my right foot forward and my left still felt fine.

This seems sort of strange to me because I know for sure that the ball of my right foot is farther forward than my left on the pedal, but I feel uncomfortable and still want it to go further forward even though the left feels fine where it is. (I have tried moving the cleat all the way back on the right shoe and it cannot go any farther now.)

SO, my question is... should I set them up evenly and just wait until I get used to riding with my feet in the same position on the pedals? What other options would you suggest?

Thanks for any help!

Assuming there are no medical issues such as leg length discrepancies then yes your cleats should be symmetrical. You want the axle of the pedal to be at least under the ball of your foot if not a little behind it. This is a VERY simplified description...

+1

Are your left and right leg muscles about the same size and shape? Are your left and right pedaling strokes even? Is one foot (weaker leg's maybe) angled differently when you're hammering? Just wondering. Otherwise, I too would say symmetrical cleat positions.

+1 and people's feet are often slightly different length, many like me have as much as a full size difference, so a good position of the ball of the foot relative to the petal can look odd on the shoe and obviously the cleats may not be even.