Incorrectly fitted cleats can cause knee pain or even injury. We speak to a bike fitting expert on how to get yours sorted.
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00:00 (whooshing)
00:02 (electronic music)
00:05 - Hi, I'm Hannah Reynolds, fitness editor
00:08 at Cycling Weekly.
00:10 Today I'm at Bespoke Cycling's flagship store
00:12 in Canary Wharf with expert bike fitter Ben Hallam,
00:15 who's gonna show us how to fit our cleats
00:17 to our road shoes.
00:18 Today we've got SPDSL cleats with 105 pedals,
00:22 but the principles are the same,
00:23 whatever cleat and pedal system you're using.
00:25 We've loosely fitted them, so now over to Ben.
00:28 Where do we start?
00:28 - So what we need to do first is a standing
00:30 and moving assessment to understand how the body moves
00:33 off the bike so we know how to set up the cleats
00:35 on the bike.
00:36 Now you can do this in front of the mirror yourself
00:38 and be able to see your body's natural movement patterns
00:41 and where you may need to move your cleats.
00:43 So first thing I'd like you to do is have a little march
00:45 on the spot for me, and then stand whatever feels nice
00:48 and comfortable for you.
00:49 That's good.
00:50 So we're looking for are the feet rotating out,
00:53 rotating in, are we naturally standing very wide,
00:56 in which case the feet on the, when you're riding
00:58 may need to be moved to the outside.
01:01 Here we can see on the left hand side,
01:03 we have a slight rotation out.
01:05 Next thing we want to do is look at a little bit more
01:08 dynamically what happens as you move.
01:11 Stand about shoulder width apart,
01:13 and I want you to rotate feet straight ahead for me.
01:16 Now this may feel a little unnatural,
01:18 but we want to see where your body moves out
01:23 of that straight alignment,
01:24 because it gives us an indication of what we may need
01:26 later on when we're fitting the cleats.
01:27 Raise your arms up in front,
01:29 and sit back and down into a squat
01:32 as low as you feel comfortable going.
01:33 What we're looking for here are do the feet
01:36 rotate out as we move?
01:38 Do the knees bend out?
01:40 Do the knees drop in?
01:41 If the knees drop in, we may need to allow some rotation
01:44 in the cleat to not restrict this movement.
01:49 So next Hannah, what we need to do is a seated assessment
01:52 to look at rotations around the knee.
01:55 Take a seat on the end of a bed or a couch
01:56 with your feet dangling in the air like this.
01:59 What you're looking for, if you look down from the top,
02:02 does your foot sit straight?
02:03 Does it rotate in?
02:05 Or does it rotate out?
02:07 This is going to indicate where we need
02:09 to potentially set your cleats
02:11 so that you're not forcing your foot
02:13 to be in a position it does not want to be in.
02:16 So Hannah, next we're going to deal
02:18 with the cleat position fore and aft.
02:20 Now this is very important because
02:22 if the cleat is too far forward,
02:25 the pedal axle ends up underneath your toes.
02:28 That will lead to you gripping with your toes,
02:31 which can often lead to cramping in the foot.
02:33 It also is a less stable position
02:35 to be able to push through.
02:37 If you imagine climbing a step
02:38 and only having your toes on the step,
02:41 then think about how much pressure
02:43 you could put through your foot.
02:45 Vice versa, if the cleat is too far back,
02:48 then we're losing out on a lot of leverage
02:50 and efficiency can be affected.
02:53 So to measure this, what we're going to do
02:54 is use a flat surface like a skirting board
02:57 to be able to get a reference point
02:59 of how far the balls of your feet are
03:01 away from the back of your foot.
03:04 So what I want you to do, Hannah,
03:05 is stand with your heels against
03:06 the back of the skirting board.
03:08 I want the feet to be nice and straight.
03:10 So if you're straightening up your feet, good.
03:12 And I want your ankles to be in a nice neutral position.
03:15 So not dropping your arches all the way in.
03:18 Next, we're going to take a tape measure
03:20 and we're going to measure the distance
03:21 from the back of the skirting board
03:23 up to the ball of the foot.
03:25 So the knobbly bit on the inside of the foot
03:28 at the base of the big toe.
03:30 And here we're at 17 and a half centimetres.
03:34 Now we want to transfer that measurement
03:37 across to the shoe.
03:38 Now the best way I've found of doing this
03:40 is putting a little piece of electrical tape
03:42 on the side of the shoe to allow you
03:44 to place a mark on the shoe
03:46 without actually damaging your shoe.
03:48 What I prefer to do is to actually place the cleat
03:52 slightly behind that first ball of the foot
03:55 because underneath that first ball of the foot,
03:57 there are a couple of little sesamoid bones
03:59 that are similar to a knee cap
04:02 to allow the transmission of force around there.
04:04 If we load those, some people find them a little bit sore.
04:07 So I want to hit just behind that point.
04:10 So what I tend to use is just the thickness
04:12 of the back of the shoe to add that little bit of length
04:16 to hit just behind there.
04:17 Now, if your shoes have a little bit of plastic
04:19 on the back, like a city,
04:21 we want to add that measurement
04:23 to the measurement we've already taken.
04:25 Next, we want to place the shoe
04:28 against the skirting board in a straight position.
04:30 Take the tape measure along the inside of the shoe.
04:35 Take your pen and mark the measurement that you've made
04:40 just up the inside of the shoe.
04:42 So here we're at 17 and a half.
04:44 Every cleat has a mark on the side
04:47 showing where the axle sits underneath the cleat.
04:51 This is what we want to line up
04:53 against the mark we just made.
04:55 Next, we want to deal with rotation.
04:56 Here at Bespoke, we use a fancy little tool from Ergon
05:01 to allow us to replicate exactly the rotation
05:04 of the cleats every single time.
05:06 But you can do this very quickly
05:08 with a piece of corrugated cardboard
05:10 cut out to the same shape as a cleat.
05:12 For Hannah, on the left-hand side,
05:16 we need a slight rotation here in,
05:20 and then tighten up the bolts.
05:21 Next, what we want to do is deal with the position
05:24 in and out, so the lateral position
05:26 and relationship of the foot, knee, and hip.
05:29 To do this, I would ride on a turbo in front of a mirror
05:33 so that you can see the position of your hip,
05:36 knee, and ankle.
05:37 If knees and hips are tracking outside of your foot,
05:41 then the cleat probably needs to be pushed inside,
05:45 which will put your foot slightly further out,
05:47 a little bit wider.
05:49 Vice versa, if your knees and hips
05:52 are inside of the position of your ankles,
05:55 then the opposite needs to happen.
05:57 Push the cleat to the outside of the shoe,
05:59 which will put the foot closer in.
06:02 Lastly, we need to deal with rotation.
06:04 Hopefully, we've done the majority of this
06:06 with the body assessment that we've already done.
06:09 Now we need to feel if we are sitting
06:12 on the edge of the float that is available.
06:16 Often, I find it easier to close your eyes
06:18 and feel if your foot is being forced
06:20 to sit in a position that isn't natural.
06:23 If you feel like your foot wants to be more heel closer
06:27 to the bike or heel in,
06:29 then this is where we would want to stop,
06:31 reorientate the position of the shoe,
06:34 and then check again.
06:36 Do this in small increments
06:38 because it sometimes only needs a few degrees
06:41 to be just perfect.
06:43 - Today, we've been using the yellow SPD-SL cleats,
06:46 but is there a difference in float
06:47 between the different colors?
06:49 - Yes, so with SPD-SL, it comes in three different colors.
06:52 It comes in the yellow, the blue, and they also do a red.
06:56 Now, these indicate different amounts of float.
06:59 Now, float is how much freedom the foot has to rotate
07:04 before it comes out of the pedal.
07:07 The yellows have six degrees.
07:10 The blues have roughly sort of two degrees of float,
07:13 and the reds are completely fixed.
07:16 Look run a similar system.
07:18 They run red for nine degrees of float,
07:21 gray for four and a half degrees of float,
07:24 and black for fixed.
07:26 Speedplay had the ability to micro-adjust the float.
07:30 - Does everyone need float in their pedals?
07:33 - Float is important if you have a restriction
07:36 in your movement.
07:37 That means that your knee is not going to track
07:40 in a perfect straight alignment.
07:41 This can come from the hip, knee,
07:44 or simply a core instability
07:46 that will pull everything out of alignment.
07:49 Your foot needs to be able to rotate with that movement.
07:53 Otherwise, the knee has to take up that additional movement.
07:57 This can overload structures in the knee and cause pain.
08:01 I believe it's a misconception that everyone needs float,
08:05 and sometimes if you have knee pain,
08:07 more float may not be the answer.
08:10 If the reason you're getting knee pain
08:12 is because you have instability
08:14 and are unable to control the movement of the foot,
08:17 increasing the amount of freedom your foot has
08:20 will just exasperate the issue.
08:22 In this situation, potentially,
08:26 less float may give you more stability and control,
08:29 but this is something that you should get checked
08:32 by a trained fitter.
08:33 - So how would I know if my cleats were set up wrong?
08:36 - You may get an indication
08:39 if your cleats are set up incorrectly
08:42 because you develop a knee niggle, a pain,
08:45 or if you're feeling that you're on the edge of the float
08:47 and your foot is not tracking and sitting
08:50 in a position that feels natural.
08:52 If your cleat is not positioned correctly fore and aft,
08:55 you may find that you drive through your heel more
08:58 or tend to point your toes or grip.
09:00 This can often lead to foot numbness.
09:03 This may be another indication
09:04 that your cleat position may not be quite right.
09:07 - So what we've done today is a good starting point
09:09 for getting your cleats in the right position,
09:12 but it's a very complicated part of bike fitting.
09:16 So if someone still has any discomfort or pain
09:20 or any concerns, best thing to do is to go along
09:22 and see someone like yourself, I imagine.
09:25 - That's correct.
09:25 There are areas on top of this,
09:28 including angles of the foot and the cleat,
09:31 and also dealing with leg length differences,
09:33 which we'll do from the cleat.
09:35 - Thanks, Ben, that's really helpful.
09:37 If you've got any more questions on bike fit,
09:39 leave it in the comments box on the page below this video.
09:42 And for more bike fitting information,
09:44 visit www.cyclingweekly.co.uk.
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