Question for you...

Are they flaring out on the down stroke or the upstroke?

Are they always out or do your knees do circles? A video from the front should reveal this.

jaretj

A dollar says your seat is too low.

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Ex Race Director, put out of business by the Rona

a buck-fifty says a good cleat fitting and possibly some wedges resolve most of the issue. my cleats need to be asymmetrical to help reduce mine, both location of cleat and number of wedges. had nothing to do with seat being too low, in fact my seat is more likely on the too high side

A buck-seventy-five says it's one or both. In my case I was the buddy that noticed the knee flare in someone else. He hadn't realized that his seatpost collar had slipped and his seat was nearly 2" too low. That solved the majority of his poor form, but he still struggled with foot pain. He tried wedges from http://bikefit.com/products.php and it cured it almost immediately.

There is more than one way to skin a cat . ;)

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Ex Race Director, put out of business by the Rona

If the knees are always out or in, i'd say a canted insole would solve it. But if you only flare out at the top of the pedal stroke its most likely due to your seat being too low or your bars too low, or your hip joints just not flexible enough to handle the position. When your hip gets to the most closed position (top of the pedal stroke) the joint starts to impinge and your knee goes out in order to compensate.

I'll try to take a video tomorrow. Since I am a n00b when it comes to bike fitting, how would cleat wedges help out, don't they just add height between foot and pedal? Wouldn't that be more for like a leg length discrepancy? Or are you talking about wedges that are angled (wider on the outside in order to help align my ankles, knees, and hips?)

FYI, I use Look Keo pedals if that helps with explanation of any specific wedges.

I am going to assume everything else with your fit is dialed in.

Although wedging the cleats might help, it is not necessarily the best thing to solve this. For knees that bow inward, by all means consider medial wedging or arch supports, but for knees that bow outwards, finding a way to increase the q factor or stance width is far more likely to be successful. Do you have this issue on a mountain bike or on a stationary or spin bike? Both of these bikes have wider stance width. If you find the wider stance helps, adjust cleats accordingly and or go with longer spindle pedals.

Another thing to check would be tight IT bands. I had a bike fit checkup today and this very subject was discussed and it turned out to be the cause of my knees flaring out a small amount at the top of the stroke.

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On the internet, you can be anything you want. It is a pity so many people choose to be stupid.

Get some pipe cleaner and tie it around your top tube. Make the ends stick out so that your knees brush them when they are in the correct distance. You'll be fixed in a week.

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Another possibility is shorter crank arms.