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Cleat Shim Advice?
 

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

5/12/17 3:48 PM

Cleat Shim Advice?

You may remember reading my broke leg whining, in the other thread on gears.

I got some 0-1.5mm cleat shims and thinking on a starting point. I clearly pedal crooked miles, my broke leg closer to the top tube and even touching occasionally with the fatter tube carbon bikes.

I got 4 shims. I doubt 6mm to zero is needed. But thought having two for the left as a lift installed reversed to each other would be simpler than getting to a longer crank arm on the other side if it come to that.

Should I start with one 1.5 or two/3mm

So who has been here and done this?

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sanrensho
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 835
Location: North Vancouver

5/12/17 5:09 PM

Broke my femur some years ago and that leg is 1-2 cm shorter now, so I have some experience with cleat shims.

Have used a variety of setups including a forefoot in-shoe shim (not recommmended) + cleat shims. Now I ride with a cleat shim only, although I use fuller insole on that side as well. You will have to experiment to see what feels comfortable. The rule of thumb I have heard is to compensate for only half of the leg length discrepancy (LLC). 1 cm LLD = 5 mm shim, etc.

I use cleat wedges on both feet for knee alignment. On my shorter leg, I use a 3mm shim and extra cleat wedge (1.5mm), for an effective 4.5mm shim. It isn't perfect but it's good enough.

I suppose I could shim more, but I find that clipping in suffers as the shim gets taller. I will never go back to in-shoe shims again, as that really messed with shoe fit/room on one side.

I still mess around with fore-aft cleat adjustment on my short leg. Like I said, it isn't perfect on that side but I can ride OK.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

5/12/17 6:03 PM

Well with 4EEE width feet, I have a history of removing insoles on bike shoes and ski boots and using silk type socks. So nothing additional is going in there with my paws.

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sanrensho
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 835
Location: North Vancouver

5/12/17 7:12 PM

So to answer your question, start by figuring out your approximate LLD. As you probably know, there is no precise way to measure other than from x-rays.

Shim to half your LLD. If you have a laser or taking video, see if your knees are equally aligned while pedaling on the stationary trainer. Add yellow wedge shims as needed to correct.

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

5/12/17 8:49 PM

Well, thanks. I was thinking foot tilt more than length. So a measurement shows in fact a 1/4" shorter right leg.
So I go ahead with 3mm for a start, maybe with a 1.5mm tilt if I get to 4.5mm.

I have hit that same leg hard [to a level of trauma] 4 times starting in my teens. In my 30s on Moto CX dumps which one was semi serious [MRI] and a second less so.

Then of course the tib/fib non displaced fractures @ 50 years old.

All these activities seemed like such good ideas at the time too! ;)

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/13/17 11:11 AM


quote:
I was thinking foot tilt more than length.
I modified foot bed rather than adding shims.

Duct tape on one side of foot bed to create the tilt. Infinitely adjustable.

The idea actually came from successful ski boot fitting, done by professional boot fitter. Definitely happier knees as a result.

Too bad not all my shoes have removable foot bed

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Sparky
Joined: 08 Dec 2003
Posts: 19068
Location: PDX

5/13/17 11:26 AM

BTW, suggest gorilla tape over duct tape. There is a piece on the delsol over the holes where the trunk emblem once was for 3 years now. In rainy OR too. ;)

Adhesive far suppperior to duct tape...

It is my goto chainstay protector for carbon frames...

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April
Joined: 13 Dec 2003
Posts: 6593
Location: Westchester/NYC

5/13/17 12:42 PM

Actually, I use a different kind of material. Not sure what it's called. Leftover from ski boot modification. Much harder than tape.

Procedure is use tape as experiment. Once satisfied, put in the more permanent solution.

Tape has the problem it will eventually compress and lose the tilt angle. Adhesive not an issue.

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