My knees have started to give me problems. Hurting right at the top of the knee cap, mainly when pedalling, but now off the bike as well.

I keep thinking flat pedals might be sensible – I ride on roads, and off-road.

What pedals should I look at and what shoes? They need to try properly with the humidty and tropical storms at this time of year – would Five Ten Water Tennies work or is there a similar grippy, but easy drying shoe out there?

Have a look at the Adidas Terrex range – I have a lightweight pair which dry really quickly.

Could be lots of reasons for knee pain. I’d probably suggest looking at fit before changing to flats.

Click

Have you paid much attention to the height and fore/aft position of your saddle? Maybe even crank length.

Position/fit issues will come out of the woodwork vastly more on the road as you stay in the same position more. It’s far more likely to be about your leg motion than it is the attachment of your foot to the pedal.

^ only really came out the last few weeks, I have been playing a bit more with the position on the bike.

So I guess you didn’t mark the start point of the things you moved ?

There are so many guides for saddle height etc online that you should take a look at those to set the bike up before you buy new shoes to mask the cause of the issue/s.

A lot will depend on the pedals. I ride grippy flat pedals on my trail bike, clips on my XC bike and non-grippy flats on my commuter. The grippy flats allow the least freedom of movement whilst pedalling and standing, once I have got my foot in a position it stays there. There is more rotational play in the clips, and on the non-grippy flats my foot moves all over the place, but I can only generate power by pushing on the pedal, there is no kick and scoop over the top and bottom of the pedal stroke.

The commuter has Shimano trekking pedals with a clip one side and the non-grippy cage the other, so with a pair of them that is two options to try out.

I don’t know if this applies to everyone but one thing that I find is that with flat pedals the ball of my foot is between the axle and the front pins, whilst cleats put it closer to the axle. Which is one of the reasons I have a lot (like 3cm+) more saddle layback with cleated drop bar bikes than I do with flat-pedalled MTBs.

The usual advice for a starting point is that your knee should be vertically above the pedal axle with the pedals horizontal. Worth trying, you just need a helper and something on a piece of string.

Wot they all said, but I had a quick look at the water tennies cos they sounded interesting

The Water Tennie’s Stealth™ C4™ rubber outsoles are softer than the S1™ rubber of the Canyoneers, giving the Water Tennie the highest friction of any Water shoe

Would suggest any pedals with pins are going to rip through the soles pretty quickly.

It’s much more likely to be something positional/muscular than a matter of how your foot is attached to the pedal.

What they said – what changes did you make immediately before the pain?

I found my feet naturally find a comfortable position on flat pedals.

Given it’s an easy change, and you can start off by using an existing pair of trainers with them, why not just give it a try with a cheap pair of pedals first?