What the Relationship between Seath Height & Cleat Position

Triathlon Forum
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I had been tweaking my seat height, saddle fore aft and cleats to get them to where I felt totally comfortable after I switched to the Easton Attack bars some 500 miles ago. I did a focused, restrained IM pace 112 mile ride last week and things felt really good. Hips, back, and feet. But I have been dealing with a groin/psoas injury on my right side which is my short ( by 1") side which is a problem when I run.So I had to very slightly lower my seat to relieve the groin/psoas from where I have had it. Made quite a difference for that. But my right foot got really bad hot foot after about 25 miles on a 33 mile ride today.

The only difference was the slight lowering of the seat. I wasn’t having a hot foot before. So I assume there must be some equally subtle cleat adjustment I need to make on the right cleat. Anyone informed know which way to move it? I really don’t want to make any major changes since I know I am close to the optimal position I had before I switched to the Easton. But IMH will be rather uncomfortable they way it was today.

Thanks, Barb

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Barb,

Usually, when someone is trying to equalize leg length discrepancies, one moves the cleat slightly forward on the shorter leg and slightly rearward on the longer leg. This might be effective for slight (less than 1/2 inch) discrepancies. For bigger discrepancies, often times shims are used between the cleat and sole of the shoe.

However, anyone who is a trained fit professional will usually tell you that doing this type of a fit adjustment yourself is probably asking for trouble.

For the slighter discrepancies, as you move the cleats forward or rearward from the optimum or neutral point of the foot, you begin to introduce inefficiencies in pedaling and power transfer.

This is just one more reason to go to a professional when requiring this type of assistance besides the possibility of screwing up the biomechanics of your body’s pedaling idiosyncrasies if you experiment by doing this type of an adjustment yourself for such a large leg length discrepancy.

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Be careful here. There is a generally accepted order of operations with establishing biomechanical alignment on the bike. In general, you work from the feet up to the waist, then the waist to the arms.

Think about this: It means the position of your cleats are established before your saddle height is set. This means, your saddle height relies on your cleats being correct FIRST, then your joint angles at the knee and then at the pelvis being established.

If you do enough fits, you see why this flow chart makes sense. You can;t view cleat position in a “vaccum” simply as it is viewed from the side. That is too myopic of a perspective. There are very, very significant issues surounding the point at which the foot “rotates” laterally on the pedal, i.e., employs available pedal float- espcially with Speedplay pedals or any pedals with around 14 degrees of rotational movement.

Thik about this: As the cleat goes forward on the shoe, what is that doing to the invlovement of the achilles tendon at the back of the foot? What is it doing to the total range of motion of the heel as it tracks through the pedal rotational movement (“float”)?

This is why moving your cleats to adjust your saddle height is a recipe for creating other problems. Now, those new problems may be a reasonable trade-off, but they may not.

In an case, it is treating the problem symptomatically. With a substantial leg length discrepancy, a very serious biomechanical issue, it should be fully evaluated by a P.T., not a bike fitter. The bike fitter works for the P.T., not the other way around. The P.T. can then pass on their requirements to the bike fitter in terms of using appropriate shims to correct or “neutralize” the problem. Even this has implcations though, as the addition of the shims increasing roacking torque on the shimmed side.

If the leg length discrepency is minor (less than 1 cm) it is ususally OK to size to the shorter leg and then check in frequently for tenderness in the patellar tendon on the LONG side, indicative of a too-low saddle height. Then it is back to the therapists office.