cyclefit result

Zebee Johnstone said:

Anyone have a line on shoes with really really wide fittings? Shoes built for people > with feet like tennis rackets?

Google 'custom made cycling shoes'. Have a chat with your local Italian
cobbler.

Donga

On 2006-09-01, Zebee Johnstone (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

I heartily recommend this service. I paid $165 for the hour it took,
someone on an upright bike would probably pay more as the job is much
more complex. But even if that's about as much as your bike costs, I
bet you'd end up being more comfortable and faster.

I should do something like that. It's weird how my left and right
cleated have to be adjusted so both feet are pointing to the right
(much more noticable when I fitted zero-float cleats), so as not to
get knee pain.

Quoted message said:

However, carpet tiles aren't the best solution.

I am using the sandals because I can't find shoes wide enough to fit
my feet, and adding 10mm of shim under the forefoot in the shoe isn't
going to make that any easier! Anyone have a line on shoes with
really really wide fittings? Shoes built for people with feet like
tennis rackets?

Another possiblity is to build up the pedal. I'm using SPD and MTB
shoes/cleats and Steve doesn't have shims for those. Anyone know of a
pedal that can be shimmed and be used with a shoe you can walk in?

The last possibility is to have a longer crank on the left side.
Sheldon Brown reckons this is a bad idea, anyone have any experience
with it?

Melbourne, but ring up and see if Simon at Abbotsford cycles can give
you advice:
http://www.onecer.net/abbotsfordcycles/contact.html

--
TimC
Perl 6 will give you the big knob. -- Larry Wall

Zebee Johnstone said:

The last possibility is to have a longer crank on the left side.
Sheldon Brown reckons this is a bad idea, anyone have any experience
with it?

Very bad idea! It may compensate for the leg length difference at one
position each rotation, but 180 degrees from that position it's making
the difference twice as bad. I'm not sure how you'd do it with clipless
pedals, but I've known of kids that are too short to reach unicycle
pedals put platforms on each side of the pedal (in a wood-pedal-wood
sandwich). That way it compensates for leg length all the way round.

For clipless you'd need to raise the clip platform somehow. This would
require some hacking about and would probably be easier with single
sided pedals. At least you could use your usual shoes without making it
even harder to find new shoes every few years/months/weeks/milliseconds
(depending on where you are on the sliding scale of shoe rapaciousness)

Graeme

On 2006-09-01, Graeme Dods (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

The last possibility is to have a longer crank on the left side.
Sheldon Brown reckons this is a bad idea, anyone have any experience
with it?

Very bad idea! It may compensate for the leg length difference at one
position each rotation, but 180 degrees from that position it's making
the difference twice as bad. I'm not sure how you'd do it with clipless
pedals, but I've known of kids that are too short to reach unicycle
pedals put platforms on each side of the pedal (in a wood-pedal-wood
sandwich). That way it compensates for leg length all the way round.

For clipless you'd need to raise the clip platform somehow. This would
require some hacking about and would probably be easier with single
sided pedals. At least you could use your usual shoes without making it
even harder to find new shoes every few years/months/weeks/milliseconds
(depending on where you are on the sliding scale of shoe rapaciousness)

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

--
TimC
The Sell Dervers are balanced behind another Sell Derver, and both
have their data protected from Badness by a Dedundant Array of
Inexpensive Risks -- Aquarion in ASR revealing the secrets of RAID

In aus.bicycle on 31 Aug 2006 18:21:39 -0700

Graeme Dods said:

For clipless you'd need to raise the clip platform somehow. This would
require some hacking about and would probably be easier with single
sided pedals. At least you could use your usual shoes without making it
even harder to find new shoes every few years/months/weeks/milliseconds
(depending on where you are on the sliding scale of shoe rapaciousness)

I already use single sided pedals, but looking at them I can't see it
would be easy to shim them.

Zebee

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:47:41 GMT

TimC said:

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

I don't know. I'm sure if it was that easy, then Steve would have
done it.

I think that because we are talking 10mm it's not that easy.

Zebee

In article <[email hidden]>,

Graeme Dods said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

The last possibility is to have a longer crank on the left side.
Sheldon Brown reckons this is a bad idea, anyone have any experience
with it?

Very bad idea! It may compensate for the leg length difference at one
position each rotation, but 180 degrees from that position it's making
the difference twice as bad. I'm not sure how you'd do it with clipless
pedals, but I've known of kids that are too short to reach unicycle
pedals put platforms on each side of the pedal (in a wood-pedal-wood
sandwich). That way it compensates for leg length all the way round.

For clipless you'd need to raise the clip platform somehow. This would
require some hacking about and would probably be easier with single
sided pedals. At least you could use your usual shoes without making it
even harder to find new shoes every few years/months/weeks/milliseconds
(depending on where you are on the sliding scale of shoe rapaciousness)

Knowing what I don't know about Shimano SPD (only recently started
wearing one), can't the OP just combine a suitable shim plate and a pair
of longer mounting screws? And just fit the shim plate under the regular
SPD cleats and screw them down tight.
--

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:47:41 GMT

TimC said:

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

I don't know. I'm sure if it was that easy, then Steve would have
done it.

I think that because we are talking 10mm it's not that easy.

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

Looks like you'll want custom shoes, with one a small 'platform'. That
would be my recommendation, anyway

Quoted message said:

Zebee

In aus.bicycle on 31 Aug 2006 18:21:39 -0700

Graeme Dods said:

Very bad idea! It may compensate for the leg length difference at one
position each rotation, but 180 degrees from that position it's making
the difference twice as bad. I'm not sure how you'd do it with clipless
pedals, but I've known of kids that are too short to reach unicycle
pedals put platforms on each side of the pedal (in a wood-pedal-wood
sandwich). That way it compensates for leg length all the way round.

Eh?

If they have their foot on one bit of wood, then the other bit of wood
is not doing a thing.

As for the longer crank, I can't see how that works either. If a
160mm crank is the right length for the long leg then how can it be
wrong 180 deg out?

The legs are more or less independent, so how on earth does 180 deg
get into it?

Zebee

In article <[email hidden]>,

Bleve said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:47:41 GMT

TimC said:

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

I don't know. I'm sure if it was that easy, then Steve would have
done it.

I think that because we are talking 10mm it's not that easy.

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

Looks like you'll want custom shoes, with one a small 'platform'. That
would be my recommendation, anyway

Sounds really tough!

I'd suggest the OP go back to an orthopedic surgeon and have get a femur
lengthening or shortening operation and solve it once for all. It'll be
better for the spine too in the long run. 😉
--

Bleve said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:47:41 GMT

TimC said:

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

I don't know. I'm sure if it was that easy, then Steve would have
done it.

I think that because we are talking 10mm it's not that easy.

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

Looks like you'll want custom shoes, with one a small 'platform'. That
would be my recommendation, anyway

Quoted message said:

Zebee

What about an orthotic? Seems to be working with the carpet tile,
orthotics are not cheap, but carpet tile is. Even 5mm seems like it
would be an assistance.
Still its good finding out the problem, removing some pain and riding
faster. Not bad for $165!
Much cheaper than a go faster wheelset!

Bleve said:

Zebee Johnstone said:

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 01:47:41 GMT

TimC said:

What's wrong with a shim under the cleat (a few peices of sheet metal
with appropriately drilled holes?), and long bolts?

I don't know. I'm sure if it was that easy, then Steve would have
done it.

I think that because we are talking 10mm it's not that easy.

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

Looks like you'll want custom shoes, with one a small 'platform'. That
would be my recommendation, anyway

If people are going to ride around in platform shoes then those purple
flares might come back into fashion too!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Zebee

In aus.bicycle on 31 Aug 2006 20:37:28 -0700

gumby said:

What about an orthotic? Seems to be working with the carpet tile,
orthotics are not cheap, but carpet tile is. Even 5mm seems like it
would be an assistance.
Still its good finding out the problem, removing some pain and riding
faster. Not bad for $165!
Much cheaper than a go faster wheelset!

I'm off to the podiatrist to get my current orthotics looked at so I
am going to talk to her about getting something I can glue to the
sandal.

Zebee

On 2006-09-01, gumby (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Still its good finding out the problem, removing some pain and riding
faster. Not bad for $165!
Much cheaper than a go faster wheelset!

Or speccie red paint 🙂

--
TimC
Hacking's just another word for nothing left to kludge.

Bleve said:

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

I'm thinking that a cobbler could put a surround over most of the sandal
to bring it up by ~10mm, then shim the cleat. Provided you leave a
similar gap around the cleat to what you'd have without the build up, it
should be OK. If you've been riding around OK without anything, a range of
9-11 mm should be OK, and easily doable. You might even find walking more
comfortable! There are loads of cobblers still floating about, why not
have a chat some time?

Final point: I think Bike Addiction still have some relatively cheap
Northwave Freeride shoes. They're reasonably wide and do a good impression
of normal shoes until you clip in. They're also fairly comfortable to ride
in, which is what kills a lot of that style of shoe. Might be worth giving
them a call.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
"When you need a helpline for breakfast cereals, it's time to start
thinking about tearing down civilisation and giving the ants a go"
- Chris King

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dave Hughes said:

Bleve said:

They'd poke out a mile and you wouldn't be able to walk on them.
Likewise, you can't build up SPD pedals.

I'm thinking that a cobbler could put a surround over most of the sandal
to bring it up by ~10mm, then shim the cleat. Provided you leave a
similar gap around the cleat to what you'd have without the build up, it
should be OK. If you've been riding around OK without anything, a range of
9-11 mm should be OK, and easily doable. You might even find walking more
comfortable! There are loads of cobblers still floating about, why not
have a chat some time?

Final point: I think Bike Addiction still have some relatively cheap
Northwave Freeride shoes. They're reasonably wide and do a good impression
of normal shoes until you clip in. They're also fairly comfortable to ride
in, which is what kills a lot of that style of shoe. Might be worth giving
them a call.

At least in the US, Shimano has a SPD compatible sandle. I am sure
that's a pretty wide fit.
--

"Zebee Johnstone" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Thanks to those who recommended Steve at Pedal Pushers
http://www.cyclefitcentre.com/

He did a series of tests to see how my body was put together, and the
answer appears to be "the traction worked".

When I was about 6yo I had a close encounter of the unpleasant kind
with a trampoline and broke my left thigh bone. No, I don't know how
I managed it, but manage it I did! So there I was at 6 years old in
traction for 7 weeks over Christmas. Colour me unimpressed!

Anyway, I always thought the left leg was short if either of them was,
but it appears the traction worked so in fact it's a bit over 10mm
longer than the right.
sandal.

How did Steve measure this? I have heard the only way to do it reliably is
to have a full length hip to toe X ray.

fb

In aus.bicycle on Fri, 01 Sep 2006 06:58:19 GMT

Fractal said:

How did Steve measure this? I have heard the only way to do it reliably is
to have a full length hip to toe X ray.

Stand flat footed with back to a frame that has wires from top to
bottom and site to side, with beads on the wires.

move the beads so they match various points on the body - crack of
backside, nape of neck, knee, so on.

Do the same front facing, and mark hip points etc.

The end result was that if I stoot normally the points of the hips
were skew, put a shim under the right foot and the hips were level.

Zebee

color]

Knowing what I don't know about Shimano SPD (only recently started
wearing one), can't the OP just combine a suitable shim plate and a pair
of longer mounting screws? And just fit the shim plate under the regular
SPD cleats and screw them down tight.
--[/QUOTE]

I have leg length discrepancy of 12mm (measured on x-ray). I have VIP cleats which have shims that account for @ 7-8mm of the length. I can't see why other cleats couldn't as well. I have sought advice from numerous people(chiro's, osteo's, bike-fit physios) All have said to avoid accounting for full discrepancy (thus the 8mm of 12). My legs, knees and lower back do not suffer from riding, my upper back does and this may ultimately be related to my leg length thing, but not in terms of riding...I think.

Pat