Yes, rotating the cleat may impact the angle your knee is through the pedal circle. Generally, we align the cleat to put the knee in an alignment that leads to clean and pain-free motion. If the cleat is not aligned well, the knee can end up with tension inside or outside that leads to discomfort, pain and injury.
I generally don’t aim to “move the knee” with cleat position. I try to get the knee into a neutral alignment where motion is clean. You can sure try more rotation with “toe out” and see what happens. Just be attentive to your whole leg chain and revert or dial back the adjustment if something goes off.
I understand that concern, but our bodies are quite amazing and adapt well in many cases.
It’s good to take small steps, test, evaluate and adjust along the way. Try to avoid massive changes and make more incremental ones. See how it feels and if it makes anything like the desired change you intend. If you notice a large change in comfort or onset of pain, obviously consider a return to a prior setup or otherwise undo that change.
Sometimes I continue a progression like that until you “overshoot” a bit and then step back. It can help to learn the limits on the ends and then try to find a middle ground that achieves the goals.
Looking at the numbers, (from memory) the reach would be compensated from going from a 130mm stem to around an 110mm or so, and the stack would have stood me up a little, if anything a more comfortable position.
Realistically the 61 would likely have been too big, but I reckon I would fit a 58 just fine with an almost unnoticeable change.
I’m at the point in the year where my feet stop me from riding as much as I’d want to.
Mountain bike. Anything 2 hours and over, the balls of my feet hurt. I’ve got different shoes and custom insoles. Cleats are about 20-22mm behind the first met.
I can go back a little farther with the shoes I have.
Aimed at addressing what specifically (guided and provide by whom)?
Can’t likely hurt to try it and see what happens. If you slide them back more than a little bit, you may need to drop your saddle a tad too.
Outside questions:
What is your typical cadence and is this issue “new” for you in this use vs prior similar riding? If it happens to be on the lower side, it may be related to the overall force you apply to the foot.
Have you ever been better than this before, to maybe find some additional direction?
Depends on what you mean by issues. I have not really heard of or seen people have issues of pain or discomfort with large rear biased cleats. It may feel odd to be more centered over the pedal, and can seem like the foot loses power to some people once you get away from the forefoot. It decreases the impact of the 3rd joint motion at the ankle.
But like any change, take it in a small step if you are concerned, and certainly reset if you experience new or different pain vs the relief that is the aim.
Yeah, if you shift in any direction really and get pain, consider if that change is problematic and reset as needed. On occasion, the change may be desired and some other position (saddle height, fore-aft, etc.) may need adjustment.
The Hogg and “new neutral” centered between the 1st/5th met heads are just good starting points. As ever, people may need to shift forward or rearward from either of those to suit their particular needs.
Was interested because this past week I noticed something going on with my hips and saddle - my right sit bone was slightly ahead of my left sit bone. I’d notice something was not right, and then reposition on the saddle to square up.