Positiong cleats on a cycling shoes is important to comfort, safety, and power transfer and output. Getting your cleats setup correctly comes just after getting your saddle position right, which is why a good bike fit addresses those aspects and more.
In the video below, Paul Swift Founder and Owner of CyclePoint and BikeFit and an 8-time U.S. National Track Cycling champion, explains some history about cleat fore-aft positioning and why he thinks you should set them further back today.
Paul refers to traditional advice of placing cleats so that the center of the pedal axle/spindle is inline with the ball of the foot / the first metatarsal head of the big toe. While this made sense for older shoes and cleat systems (wow — those classic leather shoes he pulls out!), modern cycling shoes, with their far more rigid soles, call for a further back cleat position that puts the pedal axle/spindle somewhere aft of the first metatarsal-phalangeal (MTP), perhaps balanced evenly between the first and fifth (pinky toe) MTP, and as far back as all the way to the fifth MTP.
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There's more to setting up cleats than just fore and aft positioning; there's also angle, side-to-side positioning, and if the cleats and/or pedal system have rotational float. Even so, do consider Paul's advice and sensible explanation. Give it a try and let us know how it goes for you.
If you're still having trouble dialing in your cleat position, consider getting a professional bike fit. More and more local bike shops have in-house bike fitters that can help.
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