Look Keo Pedal Wear – More Static Bike Fit Information

The equipment of the cyclist often tells a story. Much valuable information can be found looking at the components. However, expensive hardware and software will not find it; you will need to actually use your eyes to look for it.

The popular Look Keo is one of the easier pedals to find uneven wear as the result of a common misalignment. Sometimes this wear can show up in just a few minutes of pedaling.

Where do you look and why?  For most, our feet do not meet flat or level with the pedal. However, in order to clip into the pedal the foot is forced to be flat (the cleat will not engage the pedal if it is tilted). Yes that is correct, your foot is forced to be level (parallel) with the pedal. How do we know? Look at your pedals and you will see the uneven wear. If the foot wanted to meet the pedal flat and level the wear would be even…not uneven.

If you are not yet convinced most people have a tilt at the forefoot (most of the time up toward the inside), this pedal wear may be what finally convinces you. So the “why” is because most people have what is called  forefoot Varus (see illustration on the left showing the tilt of the forefoot) . The inside of the foot is tilted up higher than the outside of the foot.

Look at the Keo pedal below. Notice inside the red circle that the pedal is worn more in this area. That is because the foot wants to be tilted in its natural position.

You can also see this on a Look Delta pedal. See the photo below.

Will the Look cleat adjustment pedal address this issue?

Nope, the expensive Keo Fit pedal only addresses cleat rotation or is supposed to address rotation but that is for another post.

What about the newer Keos with the wider platform? You will still find the same wear underneath the front area of the pedal up toward the inside.

So why the wider platform anyway? First Shimano introduced a wider platform and then Look followed. Some reports say the pedal was wearing on the outer edge…ummmmm I wonder why that was happening? Could it be that same forefoot tilt? What the narrow platform actually did was allow a little slop, so to speak. The foot could tilt or rock just a little. So when the platform was made wider foot pain increased. Since the shoe/cleat was forced to be even more flat/ flush with the pedal, the foot inside the shoe tried to tilt back to its natural position increasing the misalignment and foot pressure at the outside of the foot as illustrated below.

This pedal wear will also show up on other pedal  systems. Click hereto see the wear on traditional toe clip pedals. You can also read more about feet on our website if you click here