What is the best position for my cycling cleats?

How should I fit my cleats on my Road Bike? This is a repeated question among the cyclist community and can ultimately be answered through your own personal experience of riding. Just like running there are people who ride with overpronation and those who are basically a neutral rider, but because of this you must compensate your riding setup. If you find yourself having trouble with your knees and riding is becoming a strain on your body, then I would try and point your cleats towards the outside of your cleat just a bit. This might relieve any pain or burden on those knee caps, which in the long run will keep you out on the bike for a longer time.

Another important tip to use when fitting your cleats on you Road Bike is the placement of the spindle. Most common cyclist place this spindle directly under the balls of your feet, but again depending on your own ride, personal preference comes into play. What most people will do just to get a ballpark of where there proper setup would be is go and get fitted. Your local bike shop should fit you for your own personal ride position on your bike at a low cost. Then once you get a standard position you can tweak it as your begin to ride more and more and feel different stuff. Now what’s really cool about going to the bike shop especially if you pronate or over-pronate, the shop can put an insert/wedge under your cleat to make your ride more personal.

Thirdly, I would recommend this easy and useful tip to find your cleat and riding position. Get on top of a table and sit on the edge having your feet dangle down. What you will notice is that when you legs hang down your feet are not directly resting parallel, and are more likely to face outward. Now, get on your bike and face your cleats a bit slanted to the outside, but remember depending on what goal your trying to achieve you either want to be on the ball of your foot, for comfort, or a bit forward to gain more power.

Good luck and I hope you find that perfect position for your knees to enjoy the ride.