Cleats and legs of different length

After mountain biking (uncleated) for years without a problem, my left knee wasn't at all happy to
be clipped in on a road bike. My left leg is 3/8's of an inch shorter than my right and has been for
25 years, with the inevitable bone/muscle changes.

I wonder if there is some kind of a cleat solution out there...

-Eric Nitzsche

 

"nitzsche" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> After mountain biking (uncleated) for years without a problem, my left knee wasn't at all happy to
> be clipped in on a road bike. My left leg is 3/8's of an inch shorter than my right and has been
> for 25 years, with the inevitable bone/muscle changes.
>
> I wonder if there is some kind of a cleat solution out there...
>
> -Eric Nitzsche
>

I wonder if it's as a result of your discrepancy. Even though you weren't clipped in, your feet were
more than likely on the pedal the majority of the time on your MTB so that may be a bit of a red
herring. Have a good shop check your cleat position as it could be either too far forward or back,
or rotated incorrectly. If all seems correct there, you can make or buy a shim to put between the
cleat and shoe of your shorter leg. Again, a good shop can do this for you. It's definitely
correctable, take heart.

Cheers!

Scott..

 

"nitzsche" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> After mountain biking (uncleated) for years without a problem, my left knee wasn't at all happy to
> be clipped in on a road bike. My left leg is 3/8's of an inch shorter than my right and has been
> for 25 years, with the inevitable bone/muscle changes.
>
> I wonder if there is some kind of a cleat solution out there...
>
> -Eric Nitzsche

I found these: Big Meat Power Wedges: http://www.bicyclefit.com/bigmeat.htm Mike

 

> After mountain biking (uncleated) for years without a problem, my left knee wasn't at all happy to
> be clipped in on a road bike. My left leg is 3/8's of an inch shorter than my right and has been
> for 25 years, with the inevitable bone/muscle changes.
>
> I wonder if there is some kind of a cleat solution out there...

I'm not sure why a leg length difference would cause a problem for a clipless system and not for a
toe clip/strap arrangement. In fact, a difference of 3/8" isn't all that much to begin with. People
tend to think of their bodies as being quite a bit more symmetrical than they actually are.

Keep in mind that your body has already been dealing with this situation for a very long time, so
any "solution" you now try might potentially cause problems elsewhere (off the bike). But generally
people try to deal with leg length differentials by shimming one-half the amount of the difference
in length. In your case, that's not very much, and could easily be accomplished with the "Big Meat"
shims someone else referenced.

It's possible your knee problem might be related to having the cleats mounted too far forward on the
shoe, increasing leverage to tendons and ligaments. Try moving the cleats towards the rear of the
shoe (putting more of your foot over the pedal) and see if things improve.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

"nitzsche" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> After mountain biking (uncleated) for years without a problem, my left knee wasn't at all happy to
> be clipped in on a road bike. My left leg is 3/8's of an inch shorter than my right and has been
> for 25 years, with the inevitable bone/muscle changes.
>
> I wonder if there is some kind of a cleat solution out there...
>
> -Eric Nitzsche