Speedplay Frogs - what would happen if I modified them like... this?

[Rebecca19804]

I have now gone clipless, as of yesterday. It was all the discussions here on TE that led me to settle on Speedplay Frogs - so a big Thank You to all who have shared their experiences on all sorts of clipless pedals - you all helped make a very confusing maze of choices much clearer!

So my fitter set them up for me yesterday and I have to say - they are amazingly easy to use. It's not quite intuitive yet for my foot to aim at the cleat and get it engaged smoothly first time every time, but there's no pressure/weight/torque needed to do it and if I don't get the cleat "scooped" into the plate at the first attempt, I can carry on pedalling while having another go... and another... and another...!

Anyway - my one problem is with the position of my right foot. There is a small "rubber" stop on each pedal, placed just behind the metal plate and to the outside. You can just see it at the top of the photo on the Speedplay page - http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.frog. This stop keeps the heel from turning inward (i.e. toe out).

Now, my left foot is fine with this - and that's the problematic unstable leg (knee surgery last October, strong tendency to toe in and shift position a lot while pedalling without retention).

The right foot, however, which has always felt very stable and natural on the bike, feels now as if it's being forced to hold a position that is ever so slightly toed in from where it wants to be. The fitter (and his boss) and I have looked at my foot, knee and entire leg and see everything as moving in a perfectly straight plane. I have never (knowingly!) toed out. But I feel a constant urge to try and pull my heel inwards and nudge my toe outwards, by just the tiniest fraction. After a few minutes of cycling, I begin to feel as if there is a slight twist (for want of a better word) to the muscles in my thigh, especially as I push down from the top of the pedal stroke.

Neither of the fitters have much hands-on experience with tweaking Speedplays (they're more into Shimano and Time). The senior guy suggesting "cutting off some rubber" but we didn't have time to get into a detailed "how exactly would we do that?" discussion. I don't know if he was talking about cutting the pedals or the soles of my shoes? I'm willing to consider both of those possibilities but first want to tap into the TE knowledge bank!

So - has anyone here with Frogs ever tried modifying that rubber stop behind the plate? How would this affect the interface between cleat and plate? Does the stop play a role in how the cleat positions itself into the plate and/or how it STAYS there while pedaling? If you reckon modifying the stop won't impair function, then would you suggest that I first try shaving off a little of the inner surface of the stop? would it be okay if I removed it altogether somehow?

My shoes are Specialized Riata (MTB). If I were to do the surgery to them instead of to the pedals - is it the built up area alongside the cleat (to the inside?) that needs to be cut away slightly to allow my foot to shift a little more? Any suggestions on that? I'd need to know exactly where to do the cutting - don't want to just start hacking away at the bottoms of my shoes trial-and-error like! (Although I don't know why I'm more squeamish about cutting the shoes than I am about cutting the pedals - the pedals were far more expensive!)

For any non-Frog TE'ers who want to apply their minds to solving this riddle - it may help to know that, to disengage from Frog pedal, you tip your heel outwards and at the same time pull your foot backwards with a slight scraping motion. It's a very similar motion as when disengaging from a "toe cage" i.e. clips+straps - and Frogs aren't spring-loaded like SPDs, so there's no tension working against your effort.

OH! And the right side is my "step down when I stop" side. The left foot stays clipped in.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Meanwhile, I may put my platform pedal with clip + strap back on the right side of my bike.

Cheers

Rebecca

[DebW]

Have you tried to twist the cleat on your right shoe as much as possible to get a slight bit of toe-out? I've had to do this, as I naturally toe-out also. There is a little bit of twist play in the way the cleats attach to the shoe.

[ny biker]

Have you tried to twist the cleat on your right shoe as much as possible to get a slight bit of toe-out? I've had to do this, as I naturally toe-out also. There is a little bit of twist play in the way the cleats attach to the shoe.

I would try this first. With my old SPDs, the cleat on the right shoe had to be at a crazy angle to avoid knee pain. It's not so extreme now with the Speedplays that I have, but they did do cleat adjustments when they put the new pedals on my bike.

[Rebecca19804]

Thank you DebW and ny biker - that worked!! I was pretty conservative in how much change I made but took the bike out for a short spin afterwards and it's sooooo much better. I'll be riding about 30km tomorrow, which should be a good test.

I don't know why it didn't occur to me to ask the fitters if this was possible. It's not mentioned in Speedplay's leaflet in the box with the pedals, but surely the fitters should have thought to check?!!

Never mind - TE to the rescue again!!!!