Motorcycle foot controls on cruisers - ergonomics do matter.

I can't sleep, so you're going to hear all about it.

If you recall from my blog entry a few weeks ago, I was dealing with a problem in my right foot which I assumed to be either a heel spur, plantar faciitis, or a heel bruise. The pain was so excruciating that I had to use crutches for a week and sit out four hockey games as well as the gym as I couldn't put any weight on that foot. Although that didn't stop me from riding the motorcycle, it did make navigating the store during high volumes of customer traffic a bit challenging at times.

When trying to investigate what started the pain in the first place, I narrowed it to one activity that I was performing when my foot became aggravated: I was riding a loaner cruiser from the motorcycle store (a 2006 Yamaha Royal Star Midnight Tour Deluxe to be exact) with forward controls.

Because of my height and inseam (5'5.5"/29.5 in.), forward controls (which, in non-motorcyclist speak, are defined as the footpegs/floorboards, shift, and brake lever placed so the legs are stretched in front of rider) can be difficult on bigger cruisers that are designed for taller people. In some test rides, I have been known to completely move my body from one side to the other to shift gears (left foot) and to apply the rear brake (right foot). In the case of the aforementioned loaner cruiser I was riding, I had to stretch a little bit to keep my foot on the bike's floorboards. That also contributed to some of the foot pain because the hyperextension of my leg to meet the controls forced the back of my motorcycle boot to press right into my Achilles tendon area. After a 60 mile round trip, I definitely felt that for a while. However, that wasn't what caused the most serious pain; it was the fact that I attempted to compensate for my lack of reach by straightening my entire right leg and resting my heel directly on the floorboard, probably aggravating my plantar fascia (the thick band of tissue that's connected to the heel) in the process.