General Cycling Discussion - Are Wellgo SPD's shimano cleat compatible?

Anyone use Wellgo SPD pedals? Are they compatible with standard shimano SPD cleats?
Also, are they any good in terms of quality? I can get a titanium wellgo spd for pretty cheap.

They look similar and you can get them in the pedals, but often the release is tough, I have heard, from people that tipped over when they couldn't pop out. Also have heard tales of the cleats popping out when pulling up. Lots of people mix and match on the spin bikes tho.

I use Welgo's on my commuter, and if its wet I wear my older MTB shoes with the old Shimano cleats. No problems, but I do keep the Welgo's pretty backed off for commuting.

There are so many different kinds of plain old SPD which one would think are standard. But they often say not compatible with Shimano. I think you've got to try your combination to see if it works.

I've successfully used the Shimano SH-M51 cleat on Wellgo made pedals that were Shimano PD-M737/M747 knockoffs. These should also work with any pedal that are clones of the Shimano PD-M5xx series pedals. Beyond, that I can't really tell you as cleat and pedal designs vary. My knockoff pedals were produced by Wellgo for K2 and were high-end for the time. They had magnesium bodies, Shimano-like guts and titanium spindles. I also had another set of Wellgo pedals that took the Wellgo M7 cleats. They supposedly were not compatible with Shimano cleats. I have never tried to use the Shimano cleats with them.

Also, are they any good in terms of quality? I can get a titanium wellgo spd for pretty cheap.

Yes, they are very good quality. I have used a pair(double entry version, Nashbar) for many years without a problem. While back, holiday season last year, Supergo(at the store only) had them on sale for $50.-(Titanium spindle, single entry version, 210g pair) I was very tempted but I didn't buy them.

The quality of the Wellgo-made K2 Mag-T pedals I had were pretty good. They only sufferred from the common drawback to all PD-M737 based designs in that they performed horribly in muddy conditions. That and they shared a lot of the same attributes as other SPD-type pedals which I didn't like. it depends on what you're going to use them for. If it's fair-weather and/or dry conditions and you don't require any float then they're as good or better than their Shimano counterparts.

Yes, they are very good quality. I have used a pair(double entry version, Nashbar) for many years without a problem. While back, holiday season last year, Supergo(at the store only) had them on sale for $50.-(Titanium spindle, single entry version, 210g pair) I was very tempted but I didn't buy them.

I picked up a pair on that sale. Second set of Welgo's for me, first time I have had the one sided entry. Am about 500 miles into the new pair, no issues. I like the fact that there is just one mech on each peddle to maintain. I viewed lighter wt is a nice to have, not a reason to buy though.

i like my wellgos, and they r compatible with my spd cleats. and in fact they're a little looser, which i like too.

sd

Ah, thanks for the info guys. Anyway I passed by the LBS (too lazy, ironically, to buy online, no patience) and they had some wellgo's for like 60 bucks. Another lbs had the shimano M540's for just about the same so I got those, plus the silver matches my litespeed. :)
What I don't get is why the shimano M959's are $180 when the M540's are $99 and the M520's are $50 retail and the only difference is like 50 grams.

What I don't get is why the shimano M959's are $180 when the M540's are $99 and the M520's are $50 retail and the only difference is like 50 grams.

The PD-M959 has better treatment/material of the wear surfaces such as the binding claws. It probably also has better seals and bearings. I'm really not sure what the differences are between the PD-M520 and the PD-M540 though. Perhaps the pedal body is made to higher standards or something. The rest of the parts list between the two pedals are actually the same with exception of the spindle lockrings. However, let's not forget that if Shimano thinks they can get away with charging more simply because the thing has a higher number associated with it and people actually will pay then no other reasoning needs to be applied.

you can get the 959's for 120.00 or less right now with a little effort. I debated on getting them or these
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail.htm?stylepkey=13436&detailName=Xpedo%20Mountain%20Force%20SL/CR%20Pedals&style_id=240%20XPESC4&dept_id=&deptName=&sub_id=&subName=&lprice=49.98&hprice=49.98
I desided to try these a good price right now and I hate spedning so much on pedals.

they are compatible without problems. I have wellgo on my road bike and shimano on my nashbar(spd) type on my mountain bike

Again... just to reiterate for those coming in late. Wellgo M7 style pedals only take Wellgo M7 cleats and M7 cleats will not work on Shimano SPD pedals. The same is true for Wellgo 800-series pedals and cleats. The M7 and 800-series pedals are not Shimano-knockoffs like many of the other Wellgo pedals.

I ride (soon to be rode) on the same Wellgo R1 pedals for 6.5 years. This season the pedals and clears started to squeak a lot whenever I was pushing hard. I figured the cleats were wearing out and decided to replace them. I opted to try Shimano SPD SL cleats with my Wellgo pedals. They are definitely not compatible...or I should say, I can click in and ride, BUT the cleats are loose and rattle around in the pedal. There is too much vertical travel.

Here is a short video demonstrating the poor fit between Shimano cleats and Wellgo pedals:
https://vimeo.com/53322906

I decided it was time to update my pedals and opted for a new pair of Shimano 105s, which will arrive next week… I will report back here if any real performance improvement is noticed. Otherwise, I may send the 105s back and get the old HUGE cleats that originally came with my Wellgo pedals, since they did last a loooong time.

There seem to be a few different pedals and cleats with similar names, so it's hard to know which pedal and which cleats are really compatible. I could have kept riding the Wellgos with the Shimano cleats, but the rattling and loose fit was too much for me (see video), I was definitely loosing power to the pedal when spinning. The LBS could have probably helped out more when I bought the pedals...but they didn't know the real answer… should have gone to the non-marketing driven LBS.

Catrike ships Wellgo two-sided (platform/SPD) pedals on all their trikes currently. Not sure what specific model. Convenient, to be sure, and they work well enough with standard SPD cleats, but I don't think they're that great in terms of quality. I've had cheap Nashbar pedals that rotated more smoothly than the Wellgos on my wife's new Trail.

Note that this is a Zombie Thread. (Seven years asleep.)
My experience with the plain cage Wellgo pedals that many RANS or other bikes ship with is that the bearings need adjustment out-of-the-box. Tend to come too tight.

I opted to try Shimano SPD SL cleats with my Wellgo pedals. They are definitely not compatible..

FYI, this ancient thread that you've resurrected is about Shimano SPD cleat compatibility, not SPD SL cleats. Apples and oranges.