Pain whilst pedaling

I came to riding road bikes and fixed gear from mountain biking.
As such I always used SPD's. When I got my latest road bike I changed to using Time RXS pedals with Specialized S-works shoes.
Right away I noticed that to pedal comfortably I was pushing my left heel out.
In the end I adjusted the cleat so that my toe was pointing in, with my heel outward- up to the 5 degree max that the cleats allowed.
This seemed to be fine, I was no longer pushing my heel out, so I thought no more of it.
Recently however I have started to get pain in my left hip/lower back, and it is definately the result of cycling.
So it looks as though I need to adjust something.
Now I would normally use guess work, but I have seen on these pages a place/thing called Cyclefit.
My question is would they give me advice on exactly how to set up my cleats/pedals, or are they intended on bike geometry/size rather than foot alignment?
Any advice from the LGFSS collective welcome!

I think Cyclefit would advise on the whole set-up, but they are quite expensive. I'd rather just experiment with small adjustments to cleats, saddle and bar positions, but then again, I'm a cheapskate...

i think they do stuff with cleats and pedals. they are in WC1, you can allways pop in and ask them, nice shop lots of bike porn on the walls

for what you pay, id expect cyclefit to look at everything (shoes and bike) + new stem/spacers/footbed/cleat/bar/etc. like platini^, id rather do my own minor adjustments. im too tight for that kind of treatment

How much would cyclefit charge?

Here's a Guardian article on fitting your bike, with a link to the Cyclefit site:

http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/wellbeing/story/0,,2287147,00.html

It's GBP175 - sheesh!

I'm sure some of the London-based guys would help you out for beers...

That's rather more than I have in the beer money fund!
Who can I bribe with beer to advise me?

have you tried using a saddle?

The pain you're getting sounds like a sciatica? I've had one for 3 years and it started with pain in my foot during spinning classes until it got really bad one day all along my leg and hip. The problem comes from my lower back, the nerve gets pinched. I am fine cycling on my commute I don't use clips (I only ride SS) but whenever I use spinning bikes at the gym I can feel it.

So yes get it checked out and also do some stretching exercises for your back. There are some excellent very simple yoga exercises to help with sciatica check the web, (but be careful some yoga exercises will make it worse).

If it's a foot position thing, Cyclefit also do custom footbeds for your shoes for a "mere" £70 that help keep your knee/ankle/hip in alignment at which point you should come back to a neutral cleat position.

I have a pair in my road shoes and am happy with them... stopped my fallen arch on one foot from causing me knee pain.

They're quite friendly... Pop in and have a chat about it, I don't think they'll try and do a hard sell for the complete bike fit.

I emailed cyclefit who confirmed that they would be more than happy to have a look at my "fit", but that the only option is the £175.

This may be an extremely fair price for what you receive- they are very well regarded.

I have not got that cash going spare though.

Apparently the S-Works shoes come with a number of different foot beds, does anyone have any experience of these shoes/changing the foot beds to resolve this sort of issue?

Finsbury Pete- you posted that just as I hit "submit"!

How long did it take to find out what sort of footbed was needed- and do you think I could achieve this through trial and error with the pack that Specialized sell for this shoe?

Specialized charge £25 for their pack of footbeds, hence the question.

Pain while pedalling:

How long did it take to find out what sort of footbed was needed- and do you think I could achieve this through trial and error with the pack that Specialized sell for this shoe?

Took about an hour... I went in the shop they took a mold of my feet and made the beds from that.

I never tried the Specialized footbeds as I knew my foot was a weird shape to start with. Can't way whether they'd work for you though.... A chiropracter or physio might be able to tell you, but they'd also charge money

Oh, you might also try Mosquito Bikes in Islington... They also do full bike fits for about 150 quid, but might be willing to just look at your feet for less. Roger is the guy there who does the fitting,
he works Mondays and Tuesdays and I forget which other days (not weekends though).

I've used superfeet footbeds for years, in walking shoes etc. much cheaper at £35 - I recommend them highly. But I dont think this is a footbed issue, more setup. Pain in hip usually means saddle too high...

When my leg is dead straight, sitting in the saddle, the heel of my (bare) foot is flat on the pedal when it is at 6 O'Clock- I always thought that this was a good indication of a correct saddle height?

When my leg is dead straight, sitting in the saddle, the heel of my (bare) foot is flat on the pedal when it is at 6 O'Clock- I always thought that this was a good indication of a correct saddle height?

You're right up to a point. Do it with your shoes on.

Platini- always used to do it with shoes on, friend of mine who used to race managed to convince me that shoe off was better.
My saddle would be higher if I kept my shoe on- point I was (failing!) to make was that I don't think it is saddle height.

Dammit, you should obviously make sure your general bike setup is good first, stuff like saddle height, position, tilt etc. But if you heel is sticking out naturally and you change te cleats to effectively force it back in, you could make things worse.

As a quick and simple test, sit down somewhere where you legs can dangle without touching the ground and see what way your toes point (out/in/straight). If they naturally point in, you really shouldn't force them back, as this will have a knock-on effect to your knees, and possibly upto your back. These things are way more connected then you might think ;-). You should adjust the cleats so that your foot points in it's natural direction.

Apart from the fact your heel was kicking out, was this causing any issues origianlly, like pain/discomfort?

When I originally switched to the Time RXS pedals I put the cleats in the "neutral" position, as I had always run my SPD's in this position.

I found that when I was cycling I was twisting and holding my foot heel outward whilst pedaling.
This put pressure on the muscles in my leg as I was holding my heel out against the self centring action of the pedals/cleats. It was not the most confortable that I had ever been by any means...
I moved the cleat to its maximum position of 5 degrees heel out/toe in and this solved the problem.
Or so I thought.
Now -as you point out- it seems to be affecting my hip, and to a degree my back.
The shoes that I wear (S-Works road) come with a footbed which angles your foot toward the outside "tread", which I am starting to suspect may be the problem. I think I am going to get the footbed pack that goes with the shoes and try some other footbeds, hopefully a little trial and error will sort this out.
I'd like to hear from anyone with these shoes that has had a similar experience?

With Time pedals, it matters which cleat you put on which shoe... One way round and the cleats are held further away from the cranks (and the other way, they're close to them).

Maybe you have yours the narrow way around, which is pulling your toes too far in and pushing your heel out?

I think I put them on the wide Q factor way around.

Maybe I should have bitten the bullet and gone for Speedplay Zero's...

Correction- I may have been a moron.
I've just had a look at the shoes and I may have intended to put them on wide Q factor way round, but I think I have, in reality, done the opposite.

From memory the little divot in the brass cleat body should be on the other side to the crank for wide Q factor?