Adjustment for differing leg length?

[cgolvin]

Asking for a friend…anyone out there with different leg lengths, curious what — if any — adjustments you have made in your setup.

thanks

[Dave]

Google search steve hogg on leg length discrepancy.

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bikefit/2011/07/more-about-leg-length-differences/

[wallymann]

my recollection is that you shim for 50% of the actual discrepancy.

[cgolvin]

my recollection is that you shim for 50% of the actual discrepancy.

Thanks…shim what?

[Dave]

Thanks…shim what?

Under the cleat.

[hobbanero]

cleat shims are the way. https://www.bikefit.com/c-1-cleat-wedges.aspx

Note that your friend should see a good physio first and get an evaluation. I get leg length discrepancies, but it is because of tightness in my psoas. It can lift my left leg up to an inch. With some hip exercises and massage, I can maintain even length. The only legit way to diagnose a leg length discrepancy is with imaging (eg. x-ray) to see that the bones are actually different.

[jischr]

My right leg is a bit over a cm shorter. I just set my saddle for the right leg. It's never been a problem for me.
Years back there was a guy on local charity centuries that had a 2 or 3 inch thick sole on his right shoe. Crank lengths were the same as I recall. He had a shimano spd road pedal on the left and I presume on the right. It looked home made but may not have been.

[ultraman6970]

U have many ways to fix the problem... so you have to pick the way you want to go... all depending on the amount to be corrected obviously.

1- suck it up... at some point will stop hurting (one guy that trained me broke his pelvis...3 cm less in one leg, he sucked it up and stop hurting at some point)

2 - some guys go shorter cranks.

3- shim the cleats... they sell those things, remember the more shims you put the further back the shoe goes aswell.

4 - move the cleats forward or backwards... so you can adjust the longer leg or the shorter leg... move the cleat backwards in the longer leg... or you can move the cleat forward in the shorter leg.

5 - saddle, some guys adjust the saddle height using the shorter leg... some guys measure the saddle height using an average between both legs so with one leg you get tad upper, with the other leg you get tad lower in the saddle height.

6 - Saddle with the rear adjustable, still in the market if you can find them. Saddle which can adjust the position of the bones, so you can get the left side or right side upper or lower... are expensive tho.

Hope this helps.

[Peter P.]

Get a copy of Dr. Andy Pruitt's book, Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists.

Inside are detailed instructions on how to measure for LLD and adjust for it.

This book should be in your toolbox.

[ldamelio]

Hi tech fitter with lasers, etc. and a three hour process told me to shim 1/3 of the discrepancy - 3 mm for my 9 mm shorter left leg. Tom Kellogg watched me pedal for about 30 seconds on a trainer and came to the same conclusion.

[Duende]

Speedplay sells pedals with different stack heights to address this problem. FYI.

[Tandem Rider]

It depends on where the length difference is at. Mine is the tibia, back in the day a coach put a shim for 1/2 the difference under the cleat, no more pain. I think if it was the femur, part of the solution was to move the cleat, but then my experience was 35 years ago.

[jghall]

I do shims. No issues.

[BobO]

I have a 20mm discrepancy in my legs. My approach is bolded below;

U have many ways to fix the problem... so you have to pick the way you want to go... all depending on the amount to be corrected obviously.

2 - some guys go shorter cranks. I tried mis-matched cranks for a while, felt wierd, settled on 172.7

3- shim the cleats... they sell those things, remember the more shims you put the further back the shoe goes as well.

4 - move the cleats forward or backwards... so you can adjust the longer leg or the shorter leg... move the cleat backwards in the longer leg... or you can move the cleat forward in the shorter leg.

5 - saddle, some guys adjust the saddle height using the shorter leg... some guys measure the saddle height using an average between both legs so with one leg you get tad upper, with the other leg you get tad lower in the saddle height.