switching shoes and knee pain

[Dave B]

I am curious if using different shoes with different levels of stiffness would cause any sort of knee discomfort?

I have two old paris of Sidis I use for all bikes. Both mountain shoes and I think one has a stiffer sole. I am curious if a less stiff sole on the road would cause any sort of issues with how the knee is used/abused during the ride.

If there is any sort of difference in the thickness it would likely not be much.

any thoughts

[Charles M]

if it lets your feet roll more (twist), or the tilt is different, or the cleat placement doesn't allow for the same fit,

yep...

[RPS]

any thoughtsFor me the problem has been changing from one type of shoe/cleat/pedal to another and not giving myself enough time to get used to it for the amount of mileage I intend to ride. The actual difference in shoe stiffness doesn’t seem to make much difference if I give myself a little time to adapt.

I can ride either old SPD with MTB soft-sole shoes or new Shimano road with stiff Sidi and not have a problem with either. However, if I go for months without riding my SPD (I use mostly on tandems and one old bike) going back can cause slight knee discomfort for a short time. To test I switched pedals on my normal bike and rode the SPD for an entire summer and they were fine after the transition, but when I went back to the Sidi and road pedals my knees got slightly sore again for a short period.

For me it comes down to getting acclimated to the shoes/cleats/pedal combination over 500 miles or so. After that I’m good to go. I try to ride both often but I can’t always get my wife out on the tandems.

[Dave B]

if it lets your feet roll more (twist), or the tilt is different, or the cleat placement doesn't allow for the same fit,

yep...


same pedal, same cleat, same shoe (sidi mtb shoe one with removable tread other one no)

Maybe it is just adjustment to riding more or harder or doing different types of riding.

[gdw]

Disregard. I should have read the first post a little more closely.

[Dave B]

yeah I hadn't thought of that. :beer:

Could be the culprit.

[avalonracing]

The human body is a strange thing. I've found that tiny changes can make for big issues and some big changes can be fine.