Pedals and Knees!

[l4dva]

Hi guys,

Not sure if this one has already been talked about here tired to have a little look but didn't find much.

Anyway here goes...

All my life I've been walking around with my feet pointing slightly outwards and never really thort anything of it. Since i've started cycling again, ive had issues with my knees, aches and pains so went to see a physio who worked out that there was no actuall damage to ligaments etc just the fact that my feet are now being forced to be positioned straight while in the pedal rather than pointing outwards thats causing the problem... he suggested stretches to counter-act the muscles to allow for greater movement in that direction and said this will help but I shouldn't have to stop cyclying, but just make sure i do the exercises etc.

What I would like to know is will getting the clip in pedals and shoes help me here? My physio said they may be fine but I have to make sure they allow for some movement so its not fixed completely straight.

What I was woundering is (this is quite a random idea but here goes anyways) if I could put a spacer between pedal so that they stick out a little more than usual so that when my foot is on the pedal i can still have that slight angle where they point out a little without having my heel hit the frame or chain every time i turn the pedals. The physio said I wont be able to change old habits and my feet will naturally sit in that position now, but with the stretching it will give my muscles and knee a bit of extra movement thats needed. This was about 3 ish weeks ago, Ive been doing the stretches twice a day everyday since, and still feel the aches after riding ( I don't really notice anything while im riding its usualy after). I used to cycle all the time as a kid, but I just had a flat pedal and I used to hate using end of my foot in the caged side of the pedal, eventually I just took the cage off because it kept scrapping the floor when I cyclyed using the other side side of the pedal, but im guessing I used to cycly with the centre of my foot on the pedal. Insidently now I always use the cage. I don't feel safe without my toes in that cage now.

I don't want to go out and buy the new shoes/pedals and then find them no use to me, but I'm guessing the only way to find out is going to be by doing just that. Before I go out and buy anything I just wanted to know of any problems that may occur from using the clip in pedals, or if any one else has had a similar issue and could offer any advise.

Thanks!

 

[Flying Dodo]

I guess it all depends exactly how much your feet are angled out. If you feel comfortable using clipped pedals ie ones with a cage, don't feel you have to switch to going clipless.

However if you do switch, what you should do is ensure you have the cleats on your shoes properly aligned to take account of the angle of your feet, but also ensure it's not too much of an angle so it doesn't obstruct movement.

Once you've bought some new pedals and clipless cycling shoes, what you'll need to do is simply sit on the bike and after moving the pedals so they're out the way, let your feet dangle down, so you can gauge the amount of angle off from straight ahead. Then it's a question of offsetting the cleats in your shoes by the equivalent amount, so that even though your feet may not be straight, the cleat is. Obviously you'd have to ensure that the angle wouldn't be so severe so that the heels hits the chain or frame.

On the thread of pedals, you might get away with adding up to 5 mm or so of spacer washers to help you offset your feet.

The advantage of the clipless system with cleats from your point of view would be that over time you'd be able to slowly adjust the angle to re-train your feet to move to a more north-south alignment.

Perhaps see if you can borrow someone's bike with clipless pedals and see how you get on?

 

[l4dva]

Thanks for the advice, I poped into evans today and had a look at what they had to offer, it would seem the mountain bike pedals allow a certain degree of float, so I could have slight movement in my foot. I'm going to order some pedals soon and give them a try,I may use the washers like u mentioned to give my heels a bit of extra space as well. Hopefully with time the aches will stop!
Thanks!

 

[Baggy]

I knew someone who had very sticky-outy feet when he rode, he used Crank Brothers eggbeater pedals which have loads of "float". Time Atac pedals also allow more movement than some.

 

[l4dva]

I knew someone who had very sticky-outy feet when he rode, he used Crank Brothers eggbeater pedals which have loads of "float". Time Atac pedals also allow more movement than some.

I was thinking of getting shimano M520 after recomendation from a LBS and here on CC. Do you know how these compair to the ones you have mentioned with regards to amount of float. I can't see any figures for floating amount on the shimanos, but the crank brother ones state that they have 6 degree of float

 

[Baggy]

Sorry, don't know much about Shimano, I've always used the Atacs.

I found this:
"Time Atacs feature a patented 10 degrees of rotational float combined with 5mm of lateral float."

Am not sure if the Shimano has as much rotational float - the reviews I've found mention 5 degrees.

 

[xpc316e]

I do know that proper spacers are available to move your pedals out a bit, but I can't point you to them. I am fairly sure that they are American. I use road shoes and cleats and found that my knees played up if I kept my feet aligned in the straight ahead position. I adjusted the cleats a bit and the problem is solved, but I must say that I never noticed it with the old MTB cleats/shoes I had because they had the extra float built in and I used to ride with the tension in the pedals kept quite loose.

 

[Hont]

Also worth giving speedplay pedals a look. I have the frogs and they allow enough outward float that my ankle can brush the cranks.