Apologies for the dark side content but frankly I’m yet to find a road forum that doesn’t just tell me to spend more money.

In order to speed up the commute, I bought a road bike (giant defy 4) and fitted spd’s. I’m loving the better gearing for the road and the SPD’s make more of a difference than I thought but….

After about 45mins, I am finding I get pins and needles in the ball of my right foot, exactly where the cleat is.

Has anyone else found this? is something set up wrong or is there anything I should check?

Thanks in advance for the info/humour

Not a problem I’ve experienced but “hot spots” are not that uncommon, I don’t know the solution but you’re defiantly not alone!

What shoes are you using? The stiffness or lack of may be an issue?

i had the exact same issue, i moved the cleats forward quite a bit, just experiment with different cleat positions, it took me a few weeks to find a comfy position.

shoes are shimano RO77. I kind of figured that if it was the shoe itself I’d be getting the issue with both but I guess I might be wrong, its happenned before!

No those shoes are plenty stiff

Thanks for all the responses.

I’ll try moving the cleat. Thing is, for the first 45 mins, they feel really comfy so I don’t want to move it too much.

Is there a guide to setting them up properly somewhere online? I’ve kind of made it up so far

As spock says, change the cleat position and find what works for you.

I had a similar problem (pain in the arch of my foot) and resolved it by trial and error moving of the cleat position. In the end I need my cleats quite far back.

As a general rule the ball of your foot should be over the axle of the pedal.

Loosen the middle strap, it’s your feet heating up and expanding causing the pins & needles.

Leave the cleats where they are

I’m thinking a sunday afternoon of general tinkering and faffing looks likely. Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll give them all a try. Nice to know its a ‘try it until you find something that works’ situation.

Now….. How to convince the wife that a good use of our wedding anniversary is me faffing with the bike???

I have been riding with SPD’s or similar (Bontrager, Time) for about 16 years. I really like them but they do take a bit of setting up when you first get them. As you get older it can be difficult to bend your foot up whilst straddling the bike in order to make those necessary adjustments.

I believe I got plantar fascitis from a set of SPD’s that I hadn’t set up optimally. Reading above it seems some may have also suffered this and not known the name of the condition. That was VERY painful in the morning and caused the arches of the foot to be inflamed to the point of some disability. Managed to get better from that, but it took orthotics for a while and time.. but have since set up pedals and cleat better. I think you need to get the cleat as far forward as possible so the ball of the foot is unhindered and can flex and provide most of the contact on the cleat.

Think about getting yourself some custom insoles made up – I use them in all my shoes: SPD, 5.10, running shoes, etc and find they make a huge difference to how my feet feel while I’m exercising.

SPD or SPD-SL?

I’ve got a book written by Andy Pruitt the man behind the Specialized Body Geometry gear and his remey for “hot foot” is moving the cleat as far back as it’ll go . Put it in google and see what comes back .

Schmiken – According to the box, SPD-SL.

Pardon my complete ignorance, but whats the difference?

EDIT- I have applied the use of google, it would appear that SPD-SL’s are stiffer because of the 3 bolt system (correct?)

SPD-SL are road pedals, SPD are MTB ones.
Try doing this:
http://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/blog/2011/04/power-to-the-pedal-cleat-position/
It worked for me!

I’ve got a book written by Andy Pruitt the man behind the Specialized Body Geometry gear and his remey for “hot foot” is moving the cleat as far back as it’ll go . Put it in google and see what comes back

I respect the original Minkow body geometry (BG) saddles, yet now lament how the BG saddles are not as good as they once were. But, back to peddles, moving cleats as back as far as they will go? Surely pushing on the arch of the foot is the recipe for plantar fascitis?

Pressure points?

MTB SPDs with a rigid sole are ok till you repeat the same movement again and again till something hurts -your feet from not moving around.

My personal rule is spds for short commutes under 15 miles (one way) and check saddle height/shoes. Cleat positon sounds ok.

You could try a road shoe but I would personally try road pedals with your shoes, a larger platform road pedal will distribute the pressure over a larger surface area.

Choose quick to get out of road pedals and double sided (Keos are easy but big feet with shimano pedals were a pain).

I get pins and needles too! Don’t know why but they are also really comfy for the majority of the ride and I just wiggle my toes when I get that fuzzy feeling..,

Think about how tight your shoes are (socks, strap tightness etc) and think about the insoles in the shoes. I was getting a bit of numbness when I was IM racing (112miles, often without socks)at about 90 miles and changing the insole worked a treat.

Pedal spindle MUST be under the ball of the foot to avoid pressure on the plantar fascia. Downwards power is transmitted by the metatarsals in the ball of the foot, otherwise you are relying on the stiffness of the shoe to avoid very painful injury! The standard shimano insoles are thin and I invested in some specialized footbed insoles (£25). If you perform a simple squat test in front of a mirror you can determine if your knees track inwards (valgus) or outwards (varus) and proper insole shims included in the insole pack can be used to correct this. The specialized insoles also have a ‘metatarsal button’ to support the ball of the foot.
Worked for me.

Oh, and I use RO76’s which are pretty similar in terms of fit.