Hi original,

with a new shoe to copy the "old" cleat position is an option but maybe not the solution .. many things can be different .. shape, layer, stiffness .. from the insole to the uppers to the sole .. have the cleats motion-grades, great .. try the directions that your feet are looking for ..

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Lots of different things in addition to moving the cleat left/right laterally could be causing the knee strain, biggest thing being how your toe is pointed.

If I can't get my new cleats in the same spot, I'll ride the trainer with my new cleats semi-loose, and move my foot around until I get comfy. Then carefully unclip, and tighten them down. There are other methods, but for the half dozen pairs of shoes I've worn over the years this has worked for me.

Really like that idea. Not sure why I never thought of it.

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How do you manage to unclip without moving the cleat?

A couple of different tricks. 1) don't keep them so loose to where they move without force. 2) I've also had someone help me and tighten a cleat while being clipped in.

That makes sense. I was thinking maybe slip the feet out of the shoes, and use a sharpie to trace around the cleat before taking them out of pedals...

 Firstly, I'd say getting assistance from a good fitter is invaluable as tiny changes to position can make a huge difference. I appreciate this isn't always possible / practical but did want to raise it as even swapping between old and new S-works shoes took a while to get right because the sole shape had changed making measuring the fore/aft hard.

As for setting the angle, then my old hack used to jump on the trainer and ride with the old shoes/cleats, then change to the new ones set pretty close. I use the cleats with a bit of float, and so I can tell which way I'm floating and if I get to the limit of the float. Then stop pedalling, make a slight adjustment, repeat.

It also used to be possible to tighten/loosen cleat bolts through the pedal when clipped in. Been a while since I did that, may only have been the look deltas and with the new power meter pedals etc that may no longer be possible.

But back to the start, the fore/aft is the hardest to get right yourself, although if you have a plumbline then you can do this. Get that first, and then fine tune the angle as the fore/aft will change the angle you need.

Buy Speedplays. Problem solved.

How so?

Thanks to everyone to contributed to this thread. I truly appreciate your input.

Have a great season!

+2 - Speedplay pedals have 'float' so can move a bit side to side. This can also be adjusted on the cleat. Also more aero than other pedal systems.

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I'm with you... Speedplays are much harder to set than other systems. Especially if you want 0 (or as 0 as Speedplay allows) float.

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Other cleat systems also allow float, that's not unique to Speedplay. Float is great for allowing some movement during the pedal stroke if needed (ideally with a perfect fit and perfect biomechanics you wouldn't need it, but things are rarely perfect in the real world). But IMHO float is not a suitable fix for having a poorly aligned cleat.

OP's question was about reproducing correct foot placement relative to the pedal/cleat interface when moving to different shoes. I don't know of any easy answer for this with the pedal systems I've used, so that's why I was curious if Speedplay addressed it.