I recently fell into a youtube black hole talking me into moving my cleat as far back as possible for what seems like very little downside. I’m not talking about going as far as mid foot placement, but just moving it back. I was wondering what some thoughts on cleat placement for triathlon and if anyone has gone to further back position.
I will give you my take on it.
Now this is coming from somebody who ran cleats jammed all the way forward because as a triathlete the runner side of me told myself that the feeling of power production felt higher forward.
Pretty much 90% of my bike fits are now ending up with cleats all the way back.
I find it solves multiple problems with knee tracking and riders are far more comfortable on the seat as they now don’t feel like they need their seat jammed high up their bum.
Moving the cleats back opens the knee angle solving many knee niggles.
I believe that it is also more efficient as the thigh muscles no longer have to stabilise both the knee AND the ankle/foot interface.
The problem is that moving cleats back FEELS less powerful so many do not initially like it.
This is because the muscle tension around the knee is much lower due to the less need for stabilisation and that feels like less power is being produced.
Ready for Slowman to come along and tell me I don’t know what I am doing…
Always all the way back for our house. (n=2, both triathletes & road & MTB cyclists)
Am I out of touch or do people not just align the ball of their foot with the pedal axle? That’s what I was taught 20 years ago and haven’t thought about it much since then. Maybe shoes have gotten stiffer since then and the load is distributed better? Idk
I have found moving the cleats back with patro mid foot cleat adapters works great for me. After I went to short cranks, I was having knee pain with my knees going way past my KOPS so by moving the cleats back my toes moved forward on the pedal and my knee pain is gone. I do miss some of the ankle action for steep climbs or standing on pedals, but for TTs or Tri I think mid foot cycling is great.
That is still the most common way to place a cleat, but there seems to be a good argument for moving your cleat further back, especially for triathlon.
I recently fell into a youtube black hole talking me into moving my cleat as far back as possible for what seems like very little downside. I’m not talking about going as far as mid foot placement, but just moving it back. I was wondering what some thoughts on cleat placement for triathlon and if anyone has gone to further back position.
I had this exact conversation with my physio yesterday, they also have a well respected bike fit studio. I mentioned that I usually move my cleats to the back and they responed yes they also find that optimal.