Are your cleats too close to the cranks compared to previously? If so, push them out away from the cranks. Of course, new shoe can result in leg injuries if you change something substantially. According to Greg Lemond's book, cleat positioning is the first step in overall bike position. You have to change EVERYTHING including fore aft, saddle height, stem height and length the moment you change your cleat position, because now all your joints are at a different point in space with respect to the pedals.

Well actually, if the cleats were too close to the cranks than me feet would be further out. Does that make sense? If you mount the cleats on the very inside of the shoe then your feet are further from the cranks whereas if you mount them on the outside of the shoe it pushes your feet in towards the cranks.

I have tried adjusting cleat position though, yes. It felt like I was using my toes too much so I slid them back a little and I adjusted them to try to get my feet away from the cranks. I couldn't find a position I liked in terms of side to side. If I got my feet away from brushing against the cranks then it felt like I was pedalling with the wrong part of my foot, if it felt like I was pedalling with the right part of my foot than my feet felt too close to the cranks.

I guess maybe being naive, I thought a good bike shoe was a good bike shoe and it would be fine. The Tri-Vents certainly are comfortable, maybe they are just not the right shoe for me if I am struggling to find what feels like a good position and am having this new injury issue?

I put my cleats on my Carnacs and rode with them this morning and they felt better but the tightness behind both knees was still lingering from a hard ride on Wednesday. I am going to rest and stay off the bike this weekend and if I can get the tightness to subside try a hard ride in the Carnacs early next week and see how my knees feel the next day.

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Portside Athletics Blog

Have you tried to account for the change in stack height between the shoes' soles?

A few things:

1. The Specialized do have a flatter sole profile as you have noted.

2. The Specialized have the Body geometry feature which tilts or cants the sole outwards slightly.

3. The Specialized shoes have a thinner sole( thus lengthing your effective seat tube height)

4. Did you get the cleats set up properly - fore/aft, narrow/wide and float etc . ..

Note the above points are not a knock against the Specialized Shoes - Specialized is making some of the BEST cycling shoes on the market right now, it's that there may be enough minor differences here, to possibly explain the leg problems.

My suggestion would be to go to a bike fitter who is really good a shoe/pedal set up and let them have a look.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Thank you very much for the informed response.

Everything you said makes sense, the tightness I am experiencing is mostly behind and inside of my knees so the comment about the Body Geometry tilting the sole outwards makes sense. The thinner sole plus the lack of the thick adapter plate certainly lengthened my effective seat tube height. I didn't think of this at first but last week realized it and lowered my seat slightly, maybe not enough. I mounted the cleats myself on the new shoes, again, being naive and not realizing how important it was. Maybe I will ask around for someone knowledgable on cleat mounting before I sell my Tri-Vents. This weekend I am going to do lots of stretching and icing and ride the Carnacs next week to see how it feels.

I am almost certain it must be the shoes as it is definitely not a running issue, I have run a 10-miler and a 5k in the past 2 weeks and had no issues afterwards. Did a moderately hard ride Wednesday evening and have been very tight and sore since.

Thanks again, and I am not knocking the Specialized shoes either, very comfortable, just might not be the right shoe for me or maybe I need to get them dialed in better.

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Portside Athletics Blog