davei1980

Hi all - I am relatively new to platforms and MTB. I have been practicing "heals down" technique on descents which are steep, rough, and technical.

I have so far assumed that the foot position should be the same as with my clipless setup: balls of feet lined up with pedal spindle

I noticed my ankles get very tired on long descents and they feel better if I move my feet forward slightly.

Is it considered good technique to slide feet forward slightly while descending or is this a crutch or is this a personal "feel" thing which I am overthinking?

Kapusta

No, it is not a crutch, and there is no rule about having to have the spindle under the ball of your foot with flats. Or that you have to place the spindle in the same position with flats and clipless in general. I know that for me, I tend to place my foot on flat pedals with the spindle farther back than on my clipless. Nice thing about flats is that you can put your foot wherever you want for whatever situation you are in.

There are some folks (particularly this guy) advocating for running the spindle farther back on the foot with flats in general.

Russ Roth

I ride with the ball of my foot just forward of the axle, feels good to me there and in a couple instances has still been far enough that when I've bounced my feet still had length to spare though I have big feet.

2cam16

With my flats, spindle is also slightly behind the ball of my foot. I feel like I have more control in that position.

davei1980

thank you- I just assumed that my clipless setup is optimal. Gonna mess around and see if my ankles thank me.

i might have weak ankles too- when I run my ankles get sore long before I become winded....

qclabrat

Keep at this Dave, everything difficult has its rewards

Ryder1

After ~13 years on SPDs, I switched to flat pedals last year for the "sole" purpose of moving my foot forward in reference to the spindle. So much happier now. SPDs were murder on my ankles, etc. But I did have to replace my bikes with longer ones.

I find with larger platform pedals, the foot will naturally move forward more than with smaller ones. There are lots of great large pedals nowadays: OneUp, Crank Bros. Stamp, Kona Wah Wah 2, etc. You can get all those in nylon/composite for $50 or pay more for alloy (which have very few advantages). Sticky shoes also help a lot. Good luck!

davei1980

Thanks man - I am great with nylon pedals but my next ones will have replaceable metal pins unlike my current ones which (DMR V6's) all the pins are sheered off from strikes.

Because of price, reputation, color choices (I prefer pink pedals, long story, lots of daughters), etc. I am going to try RF Chester's next - I have very small feet (size 8 in mens/41 eur) with EXTREMELY high arches so I don't think I need a huge platform.

Gonna try some new foot positions and see if my ankles love me for the decreased leverage on them.

Cheers!

Ryder1

I also have crazy high arches and ankle issues - coincidence? Even with the SPD cleats fully rearward on shoe, they feel too far forward, like I'm tippy-toeing. Flats feel so much better, more stable to me. Maybe people with high arches are better candidates for flat pedals?

Chester colors are great. I am currently picking out a custom powder coat color, so I looked at the Chester colors for inspiration, lol. RF needs to make a "large" version already, would definitely sell.

davei1980

Cheers to those of us with hi arches! My mom was SO disappointed me and my brothers didn't do ballet.

Clipless is not a problem for me but I never did long descents while standing either, that's when I get in to trouble with my ankles. Gonna mess around a bit with different foot positions as soon as my bike comes back from the shop (new brakes, so exciting!)

skibum69

I have always run my pedals, SPD or flats, with the spindle under the ball of my foot, anything else just feels weird. Same goes on my motorcycles.

Amt0571

I use SPD pedals and have the cleat positioned in the rearmost position my shoes allow. The ball of my foot is very slightly forwards of the axle. I use the same position in my MTB and in my road bike.

I set it up like this because if I placed the ball of my feet directly over the axle, I developed pain in my heels on long rides.

WannaGetGood

I haven't read all of the posts above mine so I am sorry if I repeat something. Foot positioning in my opinion is what your comfortable with. One thing I can recommend is that no matter where your feet are on the pedals, its more important to be using your legs to drive the back-end into the ground in order to keep a solid base.Your feet do no need to be super vertical to do that. Keep trying new things, within a logical limit, to find what you find you like.

davei1980

That's a really good point and no, hasn't been mentioned before in this thread