johngwheeler

I've fitted Speedplay Zeros to my bike and set up the cleats on some Shimano RS7 shoes.

I started with the cleats at their "zero" position fore & aft (marked with a red line), but find that after an hour or so my feet start to become a bit numb. After two hours this is really uncomfortable and I have to stop or loosen the shoes right off.

The numbness is on the bottom of the foot, under the ball. I have quite flat feet though, and I have had a similiar foot numbness / discomfort if walking all day.

The shoes feel the right size for me when I put them on and I can wiggle my toes about in them a bit.

Could this be related to cleat position?

Do the tiny Speedplay pedals apply more pressure to the ball of the foot that other pedal systems?

Or is just a question of shoe fit, that maybe needs orthotic insoles?


Thanks for any suggestions!

Scarbo

Are your Shimano RS7 shoes new as well?

Personally, I tend to think that this is more related to shoe fit than the type of cleat. I recently bought some shoes that weren't working out for the same reasons as you've described. So, I went back to Sidi shoes (they just work for me) and now I'm golden.

johngwheeler

Yes the shoes a lightly used (I bought them from someone who'd only done about 50km in them, allegedly). There are very stiff, which might be part of the problem.

To be fair I have some foot discomfort with my SPD shoes (a different model of Shimano), but only after several hours.

Maybe it's more down to shoe style and my own feet (which are not that tough and have poor arch support). I might look at getting some orthotic insoles or changing the shoes ($$ :-( )

steinercat

I had same problems with SPD, then Speedplays. I also thought it was caused by narrow shoes, cleat alignment, and even wide feet.

Turns out, all I needed were custom orthotics. Problem solved.

My feet would be sore on outer/upper part of feet, after about 30 miles. Outside the pinky toes.

Condition was due to falling arches.

johngwheeler

Thanks - this could well be my case. I also have a 5mm leg length difference, which probably isn't helping matters. I actually have some orthotics for my work shoes / running shoes, but I don't think these will fit the Shimano shoes (at least not without cutting them down) because of the narrow heel area.

It sounds like I may need to get this looked at my a bike fitter who has good knowledge of shoe fit and is able to make the orthotics.

Dopefish905

Had same problem, tried everything, in the end I just needed wider shoes, can spend 8hrs in the saddle with no foot discomfort now.

Sojodave

I got numb feet and cured it with Specialized sole inserts and it solved the problem

hunterr41

specialized has orthotics, I use them in my shoes and like them. Check them out.

Campag4life

Truthfully, for healthy feet over many miles, pretty much everything has to be right. Speedplays only affect soft soled shoes because of the lollipop head of speedplays and people who ride road bikes seriously shouldn't be on soft soled shoes unless riding a large platform pedal which distributes psi across the whole forefoot.

I ride Speedplays and they are my favorite and I have ridden most other brand of pedals.

You need a shoe as mentioned that is wide enough...one of the most important things.

You need to support the underside of your foot with the proper orthotics...some have high arches and some have flat feet and even some with flat feet can benefit 'sometimes' with a bit of arch support.

You may need to shim the cleat for the correct angle to the bottom of your foot...in or out depending how your knees track.

If you do the above, you will be fine. Most don't and where they get into trouble.

Good luck.

Sy Reene

I'd make sure the correct curvature shims were used for your shoe surface. Yes, speedplay pedals have a small footprint (pun intended), but the pressure is supposed to distribute over the surface area of the cleat mount, which actually really isn't any smaller in area than other brands' cleat mounts.

johngwheeler

Thanks for all the responses.

I found that my one of my two sets of orthotics insoles will fit the Shimano RS7 shoes, so I'm going to give that a go. They also correct my leg length difference, so I'm hoping that my knee tracking will be more consistent (I notice the longer right leg tends to track inwards slightly).

I'll look at the Specialized insoles as well if the above doesn't work too well.

I may just need to go up a shoe size of course!

redlude97

The pedal makes no contact with the shoe, its either the 3 bolt adapter or 4 bolt, but either way speedplay has an equal or larger platform than SPD-SL or the like. Soft soled shoes are really only a problem with MTB style cleats and their relatively small platform.

JohnJ80

The foot beds that come in cycling shoes are generally pretty lousy. I too like the Specialized footbeds but I did order some of the icebug ones (icebug.com) that have better metatarsal support. That said, I've got 10's of thousands of miles on the Spec ones.

Generally, mtb shoes have soles that are not as stiff as road shoes. I highly doubt it's the pedals and do think it's the shoes and that correct orthotics will fix it.

J.

Chandne

you could use a Speedplay leg length shim. I think they are 5mm thick.

johngwheeler

Although not yet conclusive, I fitted a pair of orthotics for my work shoes and had no discomfort on a 3 hour ride. I had also moved the cleats forward 5mm, so this might have helped too. My right foot certainly felt a lot more supported. Without orthotics, at least when walking, it tends to pronate because my right leg is about 5mm longer than the left. I have a moderately sized bunion on my right big toe because of walking for years like this.

I don't think the walking shoe orthotics are really going to fix the leg length difference on the bike, because the height difference in the orthotics is mostly in the heel and arch parts of the foot, which are not in direct contact with the pedal.

I may try the Speedplay shims on the short leg to see if this makes things better.

But so far, so good. I'll need to go for a 5-6 hour ride to know whether this actually fixes the problem, but it's a good start!

Thanks for the suggestions.

hunterr41

I have also noticed if I pull straps too tight over toe area, it causes me foot pain. I have inexpensive specialize shoe with velcro straps.

johngwheeler

I went for another 2 hour ride, going fairly hard to put some power through the pedals.

The comfort with my orthotics, even though not cycling specific, is *much* better. I don't have any of the crippling numbness in the ball of my right foot now, and the arch comfort is a lot better (I have flat feet).

My only problem was my two small toes were rubbing a bit. I think the shoes may be marginally too small. I'll loosen off the toe strap, and may try a small bandage / padding around the small toe to reduce friction with the shoe.

I'm not sure if the cleat position (moved cleat forward 5mm) has made a difference or not. It has completely removed toe-overlap, which is one benefit. I'll give this another 200-300km trial and then go back 5mm to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks for all the input!

JohnJ80

Great news! Socks can also be an issue. Another place for experimentation.

Most important strap to hold you foot in place is across the instep followed by toes. It’s not as necessary to have the toe strap as tight - you can get away with a little slack there if your heel isn’t moving in the heel pocket and your foot is stable along the foot bed.

Sometimes pressure on outside of the foot can be solved with a small wedge. Bikefit.com has these. Make sure you rule out shoe fit issues first.

Finally, if your cadence is higher, you can put more power through he pedals with less power per stroke. This takes a lot of load of your feet. This can have a big impact on foot comfort presuming your shoes fit properly.

johngwheeler

Thanks for the hint on using higher cadence. I'm tending to do this anyway to save my knees!

Fiery

To alleviate numbness and hot spots, the standard advice is to move cleats back, not forward.

Fox Farm

to the OP, try writing to Speedplay and you may get to good advise for setup.

nycphotography

I get hot spots on the ball of my feet. Basically it is caused by a repetitive chafing motion on the ball of the foot. I had callouses, so it was basically the callous moving around independent of the foot under / above / behind it.

Last year it was really bad I ran the full diagnostic series...

1) Sanded my callouses so they wouldn't provide a hard pan that can be moved back and forth over my - problem persisted.
2) Replaced insoles - problem persisted.
3) new shoes - problem persisted, but improved.
4) new cleats - problem persisted, but improved more.
5) new pedals - problem solved.

In retrospect it was a combination of old / worn equipment:

1) my shoes were old and stretched allowing my foot to move around.
2) my cleats and pedals were worn, particularly the flats on the pedals, which was allowing the shoes to wobble on the pedal decks, causing a side to side chafing on the bottom of the foot.

johngwheeler

Yes, this is what I have read. However, I have a poor foot shape (flat arches & a bunion on the right big toe) so I'm going with whatever feels better! I like to give any changes a good trial period before drawing conclusions. I may well move the cleats back later, but will make my adjustments slowly.

79pmooney

Another consideration is the lasts of the shoes. (Lasts, the models of a foot the manufacturer uses to shape the shoe around.) You saying you get discomfort after two hours with the previous Shimano shoes, then again with these got my attention. Just maybe, Shimano shoes are only a so-so fit to your feet.

For me. Shimano shoes are an OK fit, not great. Every Specialized I have tried on has been a no go. The one Giro I own and others I have tried on are good. Lakes fit me really well.

Ben