Cleats back – long term experiences?

Moved my cleats back on the shoes recently to address an ankle issue – was getting consistent inflammation around the outside of the ankle, caused by or aggravated by cycling I don’t know, but the new foot position sorted it overnight. Don’t think I’ve seen a simple change have such an instantly beneficial effect on the bike before.
The price to pay, though, is that the change in pedal stroke seems to be taxing the quads, which I guess is what you would expect. A hard effort feels like they’re really being put to the test, and there’s some general soreness in the thigh muscles after a ride in a different way to what I’m used to.

Has anyone experienced similar? Had the cleats back for approx 2 months now and wondering what sort of adaptation period you would expect. Or whether I should have a bit of a tinker to find a compromise position.

Was the cleat position the only thing you changed? Maybe a saddle adjustment may be needed?

You’d probably want to lower your saddle.

The price to pay, though, is that the change in pedal stroke seems to be taxing the quads,

You’ll adapt, might take weeks, might take months, depends on how much you ride and at what intensity.

FWIW I’ve been ‘cleats back’ for about 3 years, pretty much eradicated calf cramping on anything under 200k for me, also greatly reduced the impact of a knee issue I’d been having (further fixed by other changes*) and reduced overall fatigue in the legs and improved my seated climbing power both grinding and spinning. I think it’s had a noticeably better impact when riding fixed/SS as well.

Downsides are a very slight loss of power in full on sprints, but mostly have adapted to that too now.

I did need to fiddle with my saddle position a bit too, mostly setback from memory* but also dropped a bit as well I think, but that might have been ‘other changes’ related to the knee fix.

*position and a move to shorter cranks

All my cleats (road & mtb) got moved back loads following a bike fit last year.
Instant improvement in comfort and ability to get power down & feels more stable off road.
Had to drop saddle a couple of mm to compensate.

I like mine so far back I Dremel the slots as the standard range on my Sidi shoes is not quite enough – just make sure your saddle is far enough forward to allow you to adapt. I did mine originally to avoid achilles tendon problems that are associated with long rides. The less leverage at the ankle joint, the less you do long term damage.

similar experience here, moved the cleats back and had to lower the saddle by a few mm and slid it fwd just a touch. I ruptured my achilles a few years ago and my left calf has never quite had the same power or toe extension since so I found that shifting the effort to my quads helped balance things out.

Two things that I noticed : climbing out of the saddle is less effortful and i think (nothing more than feel) that my pedal stroke is more rounded and less ‘stampy’

I moved mine back a bit, felt fine a couple of weeks later, so moved them right back. Only felt better, no issues at all.

I would check the saddle height if your getting sore.

I have mine as far back as possible and am considering the dremel technique to move them further back. I notice when riding flats how much further forward on the pedal my foot is compared to when I use my clips

Thks all, I’ll try dropping the saddle a bit and see how that goes.

@amedias

FWIW I’ve been ‘cleats back’ for about 3 years, pretty much eradicated calf cramping on anything under 200k for me, also greatly reduced the impact of a knee issue I’d been having (further fixed by other changes*)

What was the knee issue? I am suffering with a Bakers Cyst at the moment and wondering how on earth to fix it. Whether cleats may be the issue (there is no other underlying condition to have brought it on)

What was the knee issue

A damaged cruciate ligament from an old trials injury, causes some instability and stress issues on one side only. I was getting terrible pain on any rides over 30-40 miles with resulting mobility issues afterwards as a result but over time and with some work it’s under control, generally have no issues on normal rides and only mild discomfort after 200k so a massive change for me. Mine will never be ‘fixed’ without surgery (and even then might not!), but for now it’s kept in check with a combination of positional changes and stretching and strengthening exercises.

I have no idea what you could do for your issue as it’s not something I’ve experiences and as with all things like this, best to get professional advice from a decent sports physio and/or fitter who can advise for your specific problem. Even someone with the ‘same problem’ as you might need different actions to resolve.

thanks @amedias

I’ve had the MRI and consultation with a guy who’s a surgeon for a EPL footy team. He says “should go on its own” and told me to go and see a physio.

2 physios have shrugged and said “nothing we can do”.

5 months later…..I still have the same issue. I can cycle a bit, but can’t properly train. And it is starting to drive me mad.

You’re probably not as far back as me, but as others have said, you’ll still need to adjust saddle hight, fore/aft etc…
Ive been using my mid sole position for over 10 years now, here is an older longer thread and info/ideas about making your own shoes.

The old Shimano DX shoes were great as you could dremmel the slots back loads. Think about where you’d position your feet on flats.
When my wife switched from flats to clips about 4 years ago she found it was like riding on tippy-toes in comparison and struggled downhill. We drilled the slots back to almost midfoot and solved the problem. She’s no slower on the climbs and back to being fast on the downhill again.

Here’s Fabien explaining it. Fab talks cleat placement

Tom KP

I’ve got my cleats as far back as possible, but not in the middle of the foot. I would imagine that if the cleat was in the middle of the foot you won’t be able to drop your heals as much as you won’t have the ankle articulation, which negates the benefits of flats. With the cleat behind the ball of the foot, but not in the middle of the arch of your foot you can still get good ankle articulation to get nice and low in the bike which is the benefit of flats, on the downs and not really compromising the pedalling efficiency. IT’s trial and error as everyone will have different position that works for them.

I’ve always had the cleats right back and offset to one side a bit as well. So my feet point out slightly with the cleat in the neatral position on the pedal. Since my feet tend to point out slightly in a standing position. Never had any issues.

The cleats sit towards the back of the balls of my feet. Not in the middle of the foot. Much as described by Wobbliscott in fact.