Was taken more or less from above tbh, will put them as far forward as poss and see how it looks for reference.

Cheers!

That’s as far forward and inboard as the cleats will go.

Just realised the grass needs mowing too.

You are getting close to what is acceptable.

If your foot is level it still looks like you could use a bit more adjustment.

What pedals are you using?

There should be two sets of cleat fixing holes in the sole plate, can you take them off and move the cleat forward to the next pair.

Yes the cleat is on the furthest forward pair of holes, the cleat bolts are as far forward in the slots on the sole of the shoe as possible.

Not sure id like to ride with the cleats that far forward, pedals are XT trails.

Is your foot horizontal in that pic? Does it feel as if the pedal is under the ball of your foot? The pedal still looks quite far back, but that could be the angle.

It might be worth having a bike fit

In that last pic the overlap looks fairly normal?

Best suggestion is to set your cleats where they suit and then practice some slow speed tight turns on a nice bit of grass. Get used to standing and dipping your toes.

I have recently (3 weeks) taken delivery of my own Planet X XLS. Size Medium.

I am 5’10 with clown feet – size 11, so if anyone is going to get toe overlap, it’s me.

On the XLS, like all my bikes, I do get toe overlap. However, after my toe hitting the tyre on the first ride, not hit it again in the subsequent 60 miles. This is with no conscious effort to adapt riding style. Must just be doing it sub consciously.

In other news, it really is a great bike.

Hmm, that last pic looks better – with the axel where I’d expect it, just behind the sticky out lump behind your big toe (the tibial sesamoid apparently) but I would expect that to be closer to the middle of the range of cleat movement not at the very end – could be the angle/perspective of the camera maybe. Amount of toe overlap looks reasonable aswell in the last pic.

You really need to be riding on the drops on rough downhills tho, your hands are bound to get bounced off the hoods, if it’s really too low raise the bars a bit. Learn to get your arse behind the saddle on steep stuff aswell. CX appears* to be a different technique, you can’t mince down slowly with the rear tyre scraping your shorts, bit more speed and momentum with your weight further forward. I’m a confirmed saddle dropper on the MTB so getting used to steep downs on my cx was hard work and I still get nervous but it gets better quite quickly. I can get behind the saddle ok but getting back over the top when the trail bottoms out occasionally gets me, usually with humorous consequences 😳

*just a guess, not had any training or even read any CX technique** mag articles
**officially it’s probably “get off and run”
😉

I’m surprised no one has picked up on what the problem here is. You are trying to ride a CX bike like it was a XC bike. When you get in a steep slow techie climb type situation you should jump off it, sling it over your shoulder and run!

Hard to tell from the pictures if the cleat is right or not as you cannot tell the angle. I mark on the shoe where the ball of my foot is using a pen, then adjust using that mark. Conventional wisdom is that it should be over or just slightly in front of the pedal axle. I wouldn’t have it any further forward.

Top overlap is not unusual for bikes like this. They are designed to be ridden as speed where you don’t turn the bars in the same way. Even on a CX course with sharp bends I never notice the tow overlap because my pedals are in a different position and I’m not pedaling. While the first comment I made was meant in jest, there is a bit of truth in it – they are not XC bikes and thus don’t excel in situations where a XC bike does.

Thanks lads, some great pointers there that I will bear in mind. Given me a bit more confidence in what I’m trying to do.

As said, I think a lot of my problems stem from pushing the bike too far. I suppose it is a ‘cx’ bike and not an xc bike, I have been riding it like a rigid hardtail.

I do find it hard work on the steeper downhill stuff as I feel all my weight is forward, especially as I’m so used to having the saddle down and my arse over the back wheel which is kind of why I was on the hoods as it felt my weight was a tad further back.

I guess it’s just going to take a bit more practice (and carrying)!

Thanks again.