It’s an LG Tri Shoe and the cleats (Crank Bros Quattro) are as far back as they can go right now. Any adapters or anything available to get them back further?
Hmm…not familiar with this set up. You’ve probably been searching the internet for clues. Maybe you could cut out more space where those three screws are and move that plate holding the CB cleat?
Interesting choice to run a mtn bike cleat on a tri shoe. I actually switched from a mtn shoe and SP frogs on my commuter to the LG Tri-lite shoe and SP X2 pedals because I prefer the unrestricted float. Just a little more cumbersome walking around like a duck, but, the X2 pedals are phenomenal.
The Quattros are actually road pedals. The MTB version are called Candy pedals, but look pretty much the same.
How much farther back are you trying to go?
Any machine shop with a milling machine could easily add 5mm-10mm to those slots (both the through holes and the countersink for the screw head).
You might need to get medieval on it with a Dremel tool and extend the mounting openings rearward along with the corresponding threaded orifaces for the bolts. I’ve done this- it is a lot of work and you risk ruining a pair of shoes if you get overzealous or are not precise enough. Work in small removals of sole material.
How much farther back are you trying to go?
Any machine shop with a milling machine could easily add 5mm-10mm to those slots (both the through holes and the countersink for the screw head).
x2
I’ve done things like this myself before. I’ve drilled extra holes in the bottom of the shoe and moved the plate inside the shoe too. It’s hard to do but if you have the tools, it works well.
I want to move them back to at least midfoot. I have some metatarsal issues right now and steep climbs aggravate it as the ball of my foot where the pain is sits right on the cleat and the cleat is as far back as I can get it. Not sure I want to perform surgery on my shoes.
Not sure I’m willing to do this. I’m starting to look for WIDER bike shoes since I’m a 2E width with large bunions, and this shoe seems a bit restrictive. What do you guys (TriSports) have that’s wider (size 44), and might have a cleat positioning a bit further back?
You may want to look at Bont shoes. The entire sole is fairly flat (and heat moldable in any case). You could then redrill the shoes and insert the internal threads. This sounds complicated, but the original Look pedals came with threaded inserts and a paper template for you to drill your shoes (since shoes at the time had traditional cleats and weren’t Look compatible). We all did it.
Best to tackle the source of the problem: you say meta-issues → go get new shoes that fit you, maybe look @ orthotics or heat molded soles, and perhaps talk to a good fitter who knows about feet - some of them have started doing work akin the the mythical bootfitter role in ski circles.
Some types of cleats, notably speedplay, sell adapter plates to give you additional fwd/aft adjustability, but only for those pedals.
Some shoes have much more fore/aft positions built in.
It should be really easy to grab a drill, drill through the cleat a bit forward or aft of the desired location, and make it work, but you should experiment as this can make some kinds of pedals release accidentally (this can kill you, goes without saying), and you may pull the screws through the cleats if you do a bad job on the drilling, or don’t have enough material around the holes.
Again, to tackle the source of the problem: go get new shoes that fit you.
In a nylon sole, I drilled a set of mounting holes further back on the sole. I inserted star nuts inside the shoe, so the mounting bolts go through the sole into the star nuts (sandwiching the sole between the cleat and star nuts). It looks a bit ghetto, but so far no one has asked to look at the bottom of my shoes.
Just an update, as was suggested, I got “medieval” on my bike shoes and did some dremel and drill work and have moved the cleats back to midfoot. The problem now is that it’s VERY sketchy to turn while pedaling because the front tire/wheel hits my toe BIG TIME, so I’m a bit sketchy to ride like this.
I had moved the cleats back about an inch originally, and did a 2-hour ride yesterday. I liked it, but wanted to move back further to the midfoot. Not sure if I want to risk riding like that though. We’ll see.
About a month ago or so, I took the advice of some of you guys and got “medeival” on my shoes with a dremel and modified the cleat position to this:
The job wasn’t pretty. I had to grind away a lot of the plastic on the bottom, slide the mounting plate back using screwdrivers/needle nose plyers, and ultimately put the cleats in the center of the arch, which felt too far back. So, I moved them forward to a position at the front of my arch, still behind the ball of my foot. I had to find a longer screw for one side of each cleat as the plastic there was thicker than the screws that came with the cleats would reach.
Just a few days ago, I tried some new bike shoes with the normal cleat mount position and the difference was pretty profound. The NEW position on the pictured shoes drastically decreased the use of my calf muscles and incorporated my hammies, quads and glutes almost exclusively. I felt less fatigue (after an adjustment period), and after moving my saddle forward to accomodate the more forward shoe position, was just as comfortable riding aero as ever.
The only real downsides: There is some front wheel/shoe overlap, so you have to be careful when turning that your shoe doesn’t hit the front wheel. Also, it’s a bummer that other than custom shoes, there’s no real way to get your cleats this far back without modifying your own shoes, which you wouldn’t want to do with carbon soles. I looked into the Speedplay adapter plate thing for those type of cleats/pedals, but it doesn’t move the cleats nearly far enough back for my tastes. I moved my cleats back over an inch from their furthest back stock position.
So, in summary, it’s definitely worth experimenting with a cleat position like this, and I’m a bit amazed that none of the bike shoe companies offer this on stock shoes!