Cleat placement.

UPSed

UPSed

iMTB Hooligan
I know this is a personal preference but I'm just curious where you clipless riders have your cleats placed on your shoes. I generally have mine just aft of the ball of my foot. Just bought some new Shimano SPD's and they allow for even more adjustment. Going to try placing the cleats between the arch and the ball of my foot and see if I like it better. My thinking is there may be a small compromise in climbing but more control on the decsents. Thoughts and opinions?
 
Re: Cleat placement.

UPSed said:
I know this is a personal preference but I'm just curious where you clipless riders have your cleats placed on your shoes. I generally have mine just aft of the ball of my foot. Just bought some new Shimano SPD's and they allow for even more adjustment. Going to try placing the cleats between the arch and the ball of my foot and see if I like it better. My thinking is there may be a small compromise in climbing but more control on the decsents. Thoughts and opinions?
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I have mine set at the very bottom of the arch... I'm using the Crank Brothers Mallets. Former SPD user, but I used about the same foot position. I'm out of the saddle more and more on climbs, and I find this works better for me. My downhill philosophy is "Don't make the wife a widow", so I tend to ride more conservatively than most on the downhills.
 
Re: Cleat placement.

On HT 29er I have the cleats just behind the ball of my foot. The 26 FS, the cleats are far back as they go...I do minimal climbing on it. :mrgreen: Road bike...same as the 29er.

For shoes I use the Northwave Striker Carbon 5 and the S-Works Trail. Pedals are the Crank Brothers Eggbeater 3 and the Mallet 3.
 
Re: Cleat placement.

Interesting question. What I am seeing in these responses so far is that the ball of the foot is preferred for climbing but the DH bias is to be more flat footed on the pedals. I would challenge that thinking a bit. If you compare to other sports, wouldn't we all want to be somewhere near the ball of the foot for the downs as well? Seems all sports require an aggressive athletic stance, and flat footed is not that stance. Skiing, snowboarding and every sport that requires running demands an athletic, somewhat ball-of-the-foot stance. Granted snowboarding and surfing also involve heel weighting - but I think those sports are an either/or proposition with little time spent flat footed with the weight directly over the arch.

Mt biking has a unique aspect to it in that when we need to be our most athletic selves (ripping down a hill with lots of rocks, turns, roots, ruts, changing surfaces, etc) we have one foot forward and one foot back. For most of us, it's the same foot forward all the time (I am regular foot - left foot forward, which is harder on your crank arms than goofy foot, as the right crank is always getting tickled by the chain). Should we put one cleat further back on the forward foot to compensate for this?

My thought - stay aggressive and athletic in your stance for DH. Unless you are leaving the pedals and coming back (real tail whip), in which case, you are crazy and have entered another realm.

I wonder where pro DHers have their cleats? Now I'm gonna start studying all of the pictures to see.
 
Re: Cleat placement.

I broke my left foot badly about 30 years ago, before they had the tech for screwing small bones. If I ride much over 15 miles, I get one hell of a hot spot in that foot. Flats, SPD's etc all hurt the same. I stumbled across an article on hot spots and one of the suggestions was to move the cleat back as much as possible. One of the best things I ever did.
 
Re: Cleat placement.

As far back as the shoe will allow. Otherwise I get nasty hot spots and numb toes (it still happens, but it takes longer).
 
Re: Cleat placement.

The stiffer the shoe and more rigid the connection is from the bottom of the sock through to the pedal spindle, you'll find that placing the cleat so that the pedal spindle is below or just behind the ball of the foot will eliminate pressure. Obviously, it depends on the type of riding. If you're a sprinter, crit/roadie/style, then you'll end up with the spindle just forward of the ball as you will naturally press down more with the front of the foot and hotspots from more than an hour of riding aren't really you're concern.

The bigger issue I see is mismatching shoes with pedals. Generally, the foot fatigues from the pressure point and the flex of the foot around the pedal. I've seen a few people with really flexible, comfortable shoes and something like an eggbeater complain that their foot hurts.

Personally, my shoes are as stiff in the sole as possible, and I use Candy's for the better platform. For my limited DH, I use Mallets and clip in with the same rigid shoes. In all cases, the axle spindle is a hair behind the ball of the foot. For road, same issue, although keeping a higher cadence lessens the pressure per pedal stroke and reduces foot fatigue, even over 200+ mile/12+ hour rides.
 
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