I have on the road/gravel bike.
Pain is at the ball of the foot, hard to explain the sensation, but it forces me to stop. Once off the bike and out do the shoes, it goes away.
Two possibilities come to mind:
Assuming you run SPDs, it could be localized pressure from a smaller platform and less stiff shoe. So maybe a stiffer shoe, and also one of the ātrailā pedals like the XT 8120 could help (though their extra support is very shoe dependent).
Another theory which matches the loose forefoot but not so much that the pain disappears when youāre out of the shoes is that youāre āclawingā with your toes to find stability in the shoes. But Iād expect that discomfort to last longer.
Does your mountain bike have a modern steep seat tube angle?
Not sure I can get stiffer than the SWorks shoes or the Shimano XC902, maybe a Bont shoe.
Bike is the Epic Evo 7th gen.
OK, probably not shoes then. Did any of the fittings suggest a metatarsal pad?
No, never had that suggested.
Two things you could try:
First experiment with moving your cleat as far back on the shoe as you can. The oft touted advice to always place it under the ball of the foot doesnāt work well for everyone. I found a more rearward placement resolved a similar issue for me. See below videos.
Since your foot seems to not fill the shoe, you could place something firm under your insole to take up some of the spare volume. You could use underlayment for engineered floors or something like that.
Ok, canāt decide on bike size on the newest model Cannondale SuperSix Evo. Iām between a 56 and 58. Iām 188cm, 92cm inseam. Iāve been on Specialized Tarmacs all in 58, running around 25mm spacers with 120 stems. The 58 looked to be good, but I noticed I could get the 56 to work decently well because the SuperSix has a fairly high stack. The 56 SSE is only 6mm lower in stack than a 58 Tarmac SL7.
Hereās the 56 with 30mm of spacers and a 110mm stem.
The 110 stem puts the shifters just over 1cm shorter than my current setup. The 130 puts it around 6mm longer somehow. Do I looked too scrunched up with the 110mm stem? Too stretched out on the 130? Is the 56 too small for me? With a 58, I could just about slam the stem and was planning on running a 120mm stem.
Symptoms:
I have recently developed intolerable left foot, 5th metatarsal (outer balljoint) pain.
The pain is sensed at top and outer surface of the balljoint.
I feel the pain most greatly when paddling from 12 Oāclock to 9 Oāclock on left side.
I feel my left leg and foot is always trying to push laterally at 10:45pm direction from topdown view.
History:
I never had this issue before. It started to show after I got a new shoes or crank arm change with saddle high increase.
Previous bike fit I had:
3 mm shim on left foot.
9 degree float
nothing on right, but I always ran into issue of left leg rear knee pain if I move my saddle up, not right side cramp feeling.
I put an arch support that relieved the pain and sometimes I dont feel the pain, but sometimes it comes back especially when I climb or pushing hard.
I feel this more when I push my cleat all the way back.
I have a very easy ride today, and it is bad even when it is easy ride now.
Bikefit:
I have structural leg length discrepancy of 1 cm with left leg 10mm shorter than right. (5mm on femur and 5mm on tibia).
Slight pelvic tilt to right side up when standing due to the LLD.
I notice that my left outer balljoint is significantly bigger than right side, by looking up online, it may be the tailerās bunion.
8mm shim, 1 degree wedge, 2 degree heel wedge on left foot.
2 degree wedge, and 3 degree heel wedge on right foot.
Level 3 arch support on both feet. 4.5 degree float.
Moved cleat all the way back (about 6-7mm behind the center)
I saw 1 professional bike fitter, did not fix my issue.
My thoughts:
I think this is cause by my left leg and foot trying to push laterally every time when I pedal, but Im not sure what is causing this since I never have this issue before.
I feel my left side crouch has some chafing sensation between bibs and the skin, not sure if it causing me to shift my hips to the right which cause my left leg to do the motion.
From Steve Hogās book, I read that right hip drop may cause the lateral movement on left side but he did not indicates how to fix it.
In summary, the pain may be cause by the lateral movement of the left leg or something else. Maybe my shoe is indeed to small which caused tailerās bunion.
I ran out of ideal on how to fix this issue.
So to confirm, the pain came after:
- new shoes
- new crank arms (same length?)
- higher seat
Based on the single-sided chafing Iād say the first place to start is the seat height. Iād place a piece of tape on your seatpost 2cm higher as a reference mark, then drop the post to the tape. Ride the saddle low and see if that helps your foot, then raise the saddle until you start loading the outside of your foot.
Staggering your left cleat forwards slightly might also level you out more beyond the shims and is easy to undo.
If your old shoes still have cleats then itās worth trying them out again in case the problem really is the shoe.
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Hey @drwelby
Thanks for helping me organizing the information.
I checked my shoes and realized that my left foot 5th metatarsal is pressing hard against the top of the shoes. I felt the same sensation when I just standing with the shoe.
I believe that I have developed tailorās bunion with this shoe. I should have ask doctor when I find out that my left foot outer balljoint is much bigger than my right foot.
I brought this shoe as wide version, but it is still too narrow for me from what I can see now.
Funny thing is that, my older Giro shoe was a bit longer but a regular version, I never had this issue. The new shoes is Fizek, with a wide version. I think the material is like a very hard plastic which does not deform at all when applying force to it, that caused the longterm wear and tailerās bunion.
besides that, I think I still have some lateral movement on my left leg, I will also try to reduce the saddle height to see if that issue can be reduced.
Thank you.
I have to take a pass on this as I feel itās beyond my skills to offer much help here, sorry.
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Posted in another thread as well. Second guessing my size choice on the new Epic 8. Iām 188cm with long legs (92cm). I ride 58s in most road bikes. I will say that I donāt ride MTB as much as road, meaning I donāt think Iād be able to tell small differences in geo like I would on a road bike. You change my stem or bars by a cm I could probably feel it. So when I was looking to get a new XC bike I didnāt know exactly what size to get. Using the geo numbers compared to my Canyon Neuron, it looks like this:
I chose the Large based on a few things. One, on the road if I was ever between sizes I always sized down. And Iāve never once regretted the smaller size. Second, the reach on both L and XL is a good deal more than what I was riding. The Epic 8 is also stocked with a longer stem, making the XL 55mm longer. I know you can adjust the stem but that number stood out. They both have a longer wheelbase, the XL being around 5cm longer. So now Iām reading threads about people 5-6 inches shorter than me getting Larges. Did I make a big mistake and order a bike that is too small. What size would you have recommended for 188cm, 92cm inseam? Iām really having doubts.
Anyone familiar with TT fitting? would love some insight on my position. Goal is 12+ hour comfort. I think Iāve got that part as my fit is pretty comfortable at the moment for longer rides.
My first reaction is that your reach is pretty longā¦ā¦and I advocate for a longer reach for most riders, but I think yours may be too far out. This can lead to tension in your shoulders, neck and upper back (not ideal for your goal rides).
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The bottom 2 pictures are off angle and make it look worse than it is. That said, I am going to try bring it back a touch.
That was my reaction when I saw the top pictureā¦.didnāt even see the other two at first.
But fit is very personal. I have a longer reach than most, but I can hold it for a full IM, no problem. But even as someone who prefers a longer reach, yours seems pretty stretched out.
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Iād agree with @Power13 here and say that your reach seems a little excessive. On a positive note, you rotate your pelvis anteriorly very well, so perhaps you could improve both comfort and aerodynamics by lowering the stack and shortening the reach slightly. This would flatten out your back and take some load of the shoulders and neck.
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To be fair, that was my first reaction when I saw the pictures. Iām gonna move it back a bit and see how it goes! Any idea on what helmet might work here?
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Man, helmets are so personal, it hard to say. My gut reaction would be something with a longer tail since you have a pretty long distance from your head to your shoulders (partially due to your reach).
So maybe something like a Giro Aerohead, MET Drone or Kask Mistral? Those helmets tend to test well across the board, so while you may not end up with the āfastestā helmet, you will still likely have a āfastā helmet.
