Bicycle Mechanics - Help, bought new shoes... cant seem to get them into my cleat.

So I purchased some new shimano shoes and i cant seem to get the cleat to clip in. The person told me that my pedals were spd so I purchased the adapter but i cant seem to get the shoe cleat to snap into the pedal, weather i am on or off the bike.

This is my first time using cleats/shoes. I have biked a few years and finally decided to upgrade from toe clips.

I purchased the side/side motion spd cleats.

Attached are the images of my shoes/pedals.

http://www.akgaming.com/shoes.JPG
http://www.akgaming.com/shoes1.JPG
http://www.akgaming.com/pedal.JPG

Those Wellgo pedals are supposed to be compatible with the SH51 cleats. Your problem is that you're trying to make road shoes work with mountain bike cleats/pedals. If the shoes don't have a recessed cleat area, they can't be used with MTB/hybrid-type pedals.
Take the TR31s back and trade them for some Shimano SH-RT51s.

spd binder looks like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jFp6iuozL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

that looks like a WTB...

The bike is a hybrid road bike. It has the straight handles rather than the curls like a full blown road bike. However, it is a road bike, not a mountain. Are my pedals the incorrect type? Do I need to return the shoes/cleats?

Again, I am new. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

First make sure the tension screws are backed out fully. Put on the shoes, straddle the bike and try to click in while keeping the other foot firmly on the ground. If you can't, remove a pedal and take it and the shoes to the bike shop for assistance. Type of bike doesn't matter and SPDs on road shoes work fine (it is the only way my wife will ride clipless).

The shoes are Shimano SH-TR31's

The cleats are SM-SH51's if that helps

I have no idea what brand/type the binders are. Thats why I posted pictures. =)

Thanks again for all the help!

It's like the cleats are too long for the binders from what i can tell. No matter how far i twist the shoe or loosen the cleat I cant get it to fit into the binder.

How would trading the shoe for another shoe that accepts the same cleats fix my problem? It seems the binder is the problem from what I can tell... Can anyone let me know if the binder accepts spd type cleats?

Thanks!

Are you wearing the shoes when you try to click in?

Yes. A buddy of mine road his bike today and his shimano bindings look a bit different from mine. The forward side of my binding towards my toe seems narrower than his. He has the spd cleats as well.

I guess I will just make a special trip to the bike shop and see what they say. The bindings are about 4 years old.

Do you have an old set that worked?

It's like the cleats are too long for the binders from what i can tell. No matter how far i twist the shoe or loosen the cleat I cant get it to fit into the binder.

Make sure you are trying to 'clip in' in the proper way. 'Twisting in' will not work. SPD's work by stepping in to the binder mechanism- you kinda engage the toe (front) end of the cleat and then step straight down to clip in. Yes, do this with the shoe on your foot so you can apply enough pressure. Doing it with the shoe in your hand is A LOT harder. To 'unclip' you will need to twist out- turn your heel toward the outside, away from the bike.

The road shoe you have should work fine for this as someone else said. But........since you are new to clipless pedals and if you are able to do it, I would recommend exchanging the shoes for MTB shoes (Shimano are good). MTB shoes are designed with a recessed cleat area in the sole, so that the cleat will not protrude (or very little) from the bottom of the shoe, making it a lot more comfortable for walking.

Edit: I can't tell from the picture what kind of pedals you have, though. There are SOME pedals out there that are similar ('SPD type') to Shimano's SPD's, but take that particular brand's cleat only. IIRC there have been some Ritchey pedals like this.

The handlebars are Ritchey handlebars, so the bindings could possibly be the same thing. The bike is a Novara XR.

Edit: I can't tell from the picture what kind of pedals you have, though. There are SOME pedals out there that are similar ('SPD type') to Shimano's SPD's, but take that particular brand's cleat only. IIRC there have been some Ritchey pedals like this.

I have to agree. They don't look like any of my Shimano bindings and I have 4 different models.

Yes. A buddy of mine road his bike today and his shimano bindings look a bit different from mine. The forward side of my binding towards my toe seems narrower than his. He has the spd cleats as well.

Did you try using his pedals??? Or visa versa??

I took my bindings into a local bike shop and they had a tool to expand my bindings. Come to find out the spring seized on both pedals. They loosed them, I took my bike home, tried my shoes on and wala, they fit just like they were supposed to.

So just FYI for anyone else out there.

I road about .5 mile and the shoes are super comfortable so far. I cant wait to put some real miles on them this weekend.

On another note, how do you keep your bindings to stay in the upright position so you dont have to keep spinning them with your foot to get them up. They are heavy so they want to be on the bottom side of the pedal all the time. With my new shoes being white I dont want to scuff up my toe of my shoe when i clip/unclip at stop lights when I bike to work.

Is there any way to make them stay stationary so they are always on the top of the pedal so I can just clip in and go?

You may find it easier to clip out if you rotate the cleat slightly to point towards the big toe side of your shoe. You won't have to rotate your heel out as far to release.

I took my bindings into a local bike shop and they had a tool to expand my bindings. Come to find out the spring seized on both pedals. They loosed them, I took my bike home, tried my shoes on and wala, they fit just like they were supposed to.

So just FYI for anyone else out there.

I road about .5 mile and the shoes are super comfortable so far. I cant wait to put some real miles on them this weekend.

On another note, how do you keep your bindings to stay in the upright position so you dont have to keep spinning them with your foot to get them up. They are heavy so they want to be on the bottom side of the pedal all the time. With my new shoes being white I dont want to scuff up my toe of my shoe when i clip/unclip at stop lights when I bike to work.

Is there any way to make them stay stationary so they are always on the top of the pedal so I can just clip in and go?

I would suggest going to 2-sided SPD's. One of the best values would be the Shimano PD-M520, which should be obtainable for $30-$40 .

I've got some spd's that I could sell you for considerably less. PM me if you're interested. I abandoned spd's a long time ago. That's not a big criticism btw, I just decided to go back to clips and straps.

+1 on the double sided, the only issue is that you have to adjust tension for both sides, which can be annoying.

Curious: why did you buy a smooth soled road shoe if you intended to use a SPD type cleat?

I would still suggest trading the shoes for a MTB shoe with treads. There is little or no reason to use road-style shoes with a SPD type cleat. They're much harder to walk in, and they give very little or no advantage functionally. To me, the one and only reason to buy a smooth soled road shoe is if you intend to use a pedal/cleat that cannot be used on a treaded MTB type shoe. Of course there may (or may not) be a weight advantage to the smooth soled road shoe, but that isn't meaningful to a recreational rider at all.

Just my opinion.

There is little or no reason to use road-style shoes with a SPD type cleat.
Road shoes are typically much stiffer than MTB shoes so there is an advantage. My wife will only use SPDs but has MTB shoes and road shoes (both Shimano). She notices a big difference between the two especially on long rides.

Road shoes are typically much stiffer than MTB shoes so there is an advantage. My wife will only use SPDs but has MTB shoes and road shoes (both Shimano). She notices a big difference between the two especially on long rides.

Wow, really, now I'm curious. My SPD (mountain shoes, although I use them on a road bike) are crazy stiff, I'm not sure I could imagine them any stiffer.

Wow, really, now I'm curious. My SPD (mountain shoes, although I use them on a road bike) are crazy stiff, I'm not sure I could imagine them any stiffer.

I said typically. MTB shoes typically allow some flexing of the sole (some allow a lot, some very little) to make them more walkable. Road shoes typically have virtually no flex maximizing the power transfer.

you should lube the pivot points on your pedals every week or so - that will prevent the spring from seizing up like you had.

+1 for MTB shoes - much easier to walk in. Lot of trekking type ridier will actually fit their bikes out with MTB pedals so they can use the shoes.

Road shoes are typically much stiffer than MTB shoes so there is an advantage. My wife will only use SPDs but has MTB shoes and road shoes (both Shimano). She notices a big difference between the two especially on long rides.

I know that some people apparently experience that, but I don't think it's true with higher quality MTB shoes or for most recreational riders. I can only go by my own experience and those of quite a few other serious cyclists I know (including many long-haul touring cyclists). And that is that MTB shoes are perfectly comfortable and functional even for fairly high performance use.

From looking at the pedals, my guess was that OP would fall into the category that would be much better served by good quality, well fitting MTB shoes instead of those shoes. They are not only road shoes, but are a sub-species called triathon shoes, specifically specialized for quick transitions between legs of a triahlon. They will probably be perfectly OK for general use and OP may very well be perfectly happy with them, but I am curious why they were selected.

spd binder looks like this:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51jFp6iuozL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

that looks like a WTB...

This SPD mechanism looks quite different than the various SPD pedals that I have had (mostly Nashbar, Performance)

http://www.akgaming.com/shoes1.JPG
http://www.akgaming.com/pedal.JPG

That looks like the mechanism on various Nashbar/Performance SPD pedals I use/have used. My current cleat is a 98A, which is supposed to be compatible with 51H pedals. I use mountain/touring shoes with recessed cleats, though.

Well, I have put 100 miles on the shoes and absolutely love them! Besides needing to adjust the tensioner because they are still a pain to click into they work awesome. They unclick just fine, they are just a little stiff, and the single sided spd binding doesnt help any.

I am always getting crap from my riding buddy about getting some double sided bindings.

Road shoes are typically much stiffer than MTB shoes so there is an advantage. My wife will only use SPDs but has MTB shoes and road shoes (both Shimano). She notices a big difference between the two especially on long rides.

Really?

I have both and I honestly cannot tell the difference. I think the "power transfer" stuff is pure marketing BS.