Too Small Toe Clips = Sore Knees

Jon Forrest said:

I just bought a new bike (Performance Sirrus Comp). For various
reasons, I'm not interested in clipless peddles. The toe clips
that come with the Sirrus are too small for the shoe I wear,
which is a normal size 11 tennis shoe. The result of being too
small is that I find myself with knee pain that wasn't there
before on my old bike, which didn't have any toe clips at all.
I think what's happening is that the location on my foot
that I'm pushing with has moved from the middle of my foot,
on the old bike, up to the ball of my foot.

I bought a set of "Large" toe clips at the local Performance store
but it turns out that they're the same size as what came with the
new bike. What I need is a larger set of toe clips that let me put more
of my shoe in them so that the middle of the peddle is roughly
at the middle of my foot.

Looking at the web I see that there are a few places that
sell "Extra Large" toe clips. Has anybody used them to solve
the problem I described above? Is there such a thing as "Extra
Extra Large" toe clips?

I'm an 11 and XL mtb clips position my Blunnies perfectly. You might
also consider Power Grips--or even going without and picking up some
sticky platforms like the value price Kona Jackshit (these need
bearing service first thing).

http://www.amazon.com/Kona-Jack-Mountain-Platform-Pedals/dp/B000RSCS78

Quoth Jon Forrest:

Quoted message said:

I just bought a new bike (Performance Sirrus Comp). For various
reasons, I'm not interested in clipless peddles. The toe clips
that come with the Sirrus are too small for the shoe I wear,
which is a normal size 11 tennis shoe. The result of being too
small is that I find myself with knee pain that wasn't there
before on my old bike, which didn't have any toe clips at all.
I think what's happening is that the location on my foot
that I'm pushing with has moved from the middle of my foot,
on the old bike, up to the ball of my foot.

I bought a set of "Large" toe clips at the local Performance store
but it turns out that they're the same size as what came with the
new bike. What I need is a larger set of toe clips that let me put more
of my shoe in them so that the middle of the peddle is roughly
at the middle of my foot.

Looking at the web I see that there are a few places that
sell "Extra Large" toe clips. Has anybody used them to solve
the problem I described above? Is there such a thing as "Extra
Extra Large" toe clips?

When I used to use toke lips, I sometimes would have to space them out
from the pedals. Just a matter of using longer mounting bolts, with
washers betwixt the pedal and the clip.

Actually, instead of washers I most often used oversized nuts acting
as washers. The ubiquitous 1/4"- 20 nuts work dandy for this purpose.

The usual bolts are M5 (5 mm) but #10 - 32 is just about the same
size, if you are in an area where metric stuff is still considered
"strange and furrin."

Sheldon "Bigfoot" Brown
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| Time shouldn't just pass; things should happen. |
| --Harry Turtledove |
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Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Jon Forrest said:

I just bought a new bike (Performance Sirrus Comp). For various
reasons, I'm not interested in clipless peddles. The toe clips
that come with the Sirrus are too small for the shoe I wear,
which is a normal size 11 tennis shoe. The result of being too
small is that I find myself with knee pain that wasn't there
before on my old bike, which didn't have any toe clips at all.
I think what's happening is that the location on my foot
that I'm pushing with has moved from the middle of my foot,
on the old bike, up to the ball of my foot.

I bought a set of "Large" toe clips at the local Performance store
but it turns out that they're the same size as what came with the
new bike. What I need is a larger set of toe clips that let me put more
of my shoe in them so that the middle of the peddle is roughly
at the middle of my foot.

Looking at the web I see that there are a few places that
sell "Extra Large" toe clips. Has anybody used them to solve
the problem I described above? Is there such a thing as "Extra
Extra Large" toe clips?

Cordially,
Jon Forrest

MKS makes some XX-Large clips which when spaced out as Sheldon
describes just fit my size 15's with slim shoes. (Think bowling shoes,
not basketball) They should work fine for size 11 without any spacing
funnieness. The MKS XX large and Christophe XL and Ale XL all seem to
be the same size to me. The problem with spacing and large clips is
the pedals become more difficult to flip into as they flop back upside
down quicker with all that weight further from the spindle.

But since you should be pedaling with the ball of your foot and not
the middle, maybe the real problem is that your seat is too low, as it
is set to be comfortable with flat-footed pedaling?

Joseph

Quoted message said:

MKS makes some XX-Large clips which when spaced out as Sheldon
describes just fit my size 15's with slim shoes. (Think bowling shoes,
not basketball) They should work fine for size 11 without any spacing
funnieness. The MKS XX large and Christophe XL and Ale XL all seem to
be the same size to me. The problem with spacing and large clips is
the pedals become more difficult to flip into as they flop back upside
down quicker with all that weight further from the spindle.

From the various responses I received I'm going to first try
an XL toe clip set, and if that doesn't work, a Power Grip
set. Various people have had the same problem I described and
solved it with one or the other.

There's an interesting article at
http://bicycledesign.blogspot.com/2007/03/in-praise-of-powergrips.html
that's very positive about Power Grips.

Quoted message said:

But since you should be pedaling with the ball of your foot and not
the middle, maybe the real problem is that your seat is too low, as it
is set to be comfortable with flat-footed pedaling?

Interesting idea. I'll look into this. My intuition tells me that
if I pedaled on the place my current toe clips are forcing me I'd
soon blow out my knees. Of course, this could be due to the fact
that I've been peddling on a different position for ~20 years
and maybe I've been doing it wrong all this time.

I appreciate all the responses.

Cordially,
Jon Forrest