79pmooney

My PT diagnosed me with a right leg 12mm shorter than my right in the first minutes of my first session! Next visit she gave me inserts to use in all my right shoes, even cycling. Now these are heel lifts, not full insoles. So I got thinking - shouldn't I be shimming up my right cleat? So I cut a piece of 1/4" aluminum plate and put it between the cleat and the sole. PT approved and said going half the heel was what she would have suggested.

Rode yesterday (10 miles each way, commute) and today for 40 miles. Never noticed it except that things just felt right, more right that I have ever felt before. No, I did not feel like superman. Time off the bike and backing off big time for achilles issues (the reason for the PT visits) meant that any fast powerful rides are months away. But I do feel a symmetry I have never felt before. However, oddly, the right foot which always wanted to be heel out (and my right knee insists on) is now turning out even more. Weird. Got to ask my PT about that one. Good thing is that she is a bike rider and a good one.

Went this morning to the cobbler I will have modify my street shoes. He pulled out two he had just done for others. It looks like my inequality of leg length isn't just very common, it is also rather small. Both shoes he showed me were a lot more, one around a full inch.

Now I have to go and make a dozen shims. I'll bend the plate to match the sole and cleat, have it extend a little behind and well in front and taper the fronts. I wonder if I am going to notice a stiffness advantage? This is a good way to compare sole stiffness. 1/4" 6061 aluminum is going very close to ultimately stiff under this 150 pound rider.

Fun and games!

Ben

fietsbob

As I recall..

Wedge shaped Cleat shims as a product, got LeMond's name attached to them, for Marketing . Look and SPuD types..

79pmooney

Weren't Lemond's shims designed to correct feet that turned out (of in) as viewed from the rear? Mine are a uniform thickness uner the cleat, so from my right foot and leg's perspective I am lowering the seat 1/4". The taper will be entirely in front of the cleat and just there to keep the shim from overturning the pedal before I am clipped in.

Ben

DPGCeleste

bikefit sells wedges to correct for varis "cant" and shims to correct for leg difference. They are available for several types of cleat systems...

expatbrit

I have shims under my left cleat; apparently they're a standard fit option for SPD-SL type cleats. 2 x 3mm sorted out a left knee pain.

79pmooney

Wow! This has been a revelation! I have now modified most of my shoes and only ridden modified ones since I started. Today I went for my first ride on my good bike with its Delta Look cleats. Moved my seat up 1/8" or half the cleat thickness. I have been getting used to sitting straight on my bikes for the first time ever. Today was the first time I ever both sat straight and had the seat correct. (Next move is to up the seat that 1/8" on my other 4 bikes.)

I cut out shims in 3 patterns, SPD, LOOK and for Exustar track cleats that use 2 bolts of the LOOK pattern. 1/4" 6061 aluminum plate. The shape of the shim is roughly to extend under the cleat, around the bolt holes and around 1 to 1 1/2" in front of the cleat. Each plate is then drilled for that shoe and bent to fit the sole. Pretty easy to do once I figured out how to bend the plate. Not hard. I put the cleat in a bench vise that is well bolted down and bend with a good sized pipe wrench with a pipe over the handle. My wrench is probably 15" and the pipe 5'. 3' would work. A 5 lb sledge is the right tool for the final finessing. I put 0.01" aluminum sheet over the wench jaws to minimize scarring of the plate. I clean the shim edges and add tapers at the front with a disc grinder and file. Nothing fancy. Once the shoe is walked on, aluminum takes a very beat up look! Effort to make show pieces is a little like polishing turds. Cleats are then mounted with bolts 5mm longer than stock.

This sounds micky mouse, but the end result feels solid and right. I expect these shoes to last as long or longer than their partners. No drawback to riding at all. Only issues are off the bike with the SPD cleats that are now entirely exposed beyond the lugged soles instead of clicking slightly on hard floors. Now they walk like the worst of the bad cleats of decades ago.

And riding a bike where I can look down exactly through the plane of the frame and wheels. Ever time. Fun!

Ben

AndyK 

My right leg is 1cm shorter than my left, so I use one of these:

Specialized Bicycle Components