Position Bicycle Clips
Here we’ll try to cover the basics, giving you pointers to help you find your optimal position on your bicycle. Of course we cannot take into consideration the multitude of factors such as injuries or all the differences between riders.
Steps
- Lateral Adjustment. A rider should have their legs and feet in a natural position, not forcing their body to pedal in an unnatural manner. For a majority of us this means moving your cleats to the outside of our shoes, to allow them to get as close to the crank arm as possible. Riders with wider hips will benefit from moving their cleats to the center or even as far as the inside of their shoes to push their feet further out.
- Angling the cleat.In many cases riders don’t ride with perfectly straight feet. To compensate for this and to take full advantage of the float, the cleat needs to be angled so that when in the natural position the cleat is centered on the pedal.
- Heel out (further away from the crank than the ball of your foot) requires the tip of the cleats to be pointed away from the crank. Heel in will require the cleats to be pointed towards the crank. The amount will vary depending on how far off center the foot is while riding and it is likely different on each foot.
- Front & Back. Moving the cleat front and back along the bottom of the shoe will allow you to line the Axle of the pedal up with the ball of your foot. This will improve the power transfer from shoe to pedal.
- Small adjustments often translate into big differences in feel. Adjust your cleats on short rides to find the optimal position. Avoid making changes prior to long rides.
Tips
- If the front of your knee has been bothering you, it is likely that your cleat is not centered properly.
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