Wellgo + Shimano = trouble?
 

I bought Wellgo SPD pedals for my new bike because I thought they were compatible with the Shimano cleats I already have on two bikes and two pairs of shoes/sandals. They were cheaper, and lighter and they seemed like a good deal. So I just put on the pedals and kept the cleats to use as spare.

But the new pedals really don't seem to click in that well with my existing Shimano-cleated shoes, and when they do click in, there's far less "float", so I end up with a sore knee that I never get on the other bikes.

Was I making a mistake, and are these two brands actually not trully compatible at all? I'm now debating whether to take the Wellgos back and pony up the extra cash for heavier Shimano pedals. I don't want to switch out the cleats to the Wellgo cleats because I use the same shoes on all three bikes, so I'd presumably only end up with problems on the other two bikes.

Any clues?

My experience has been that Wellgo SPD pedals that come with Wellgo 98A cleats are completely compatible with Shimano SH-51 SPD cleats. And Shimano pedals that use SH-51 cleats are completely compatible with Wellgo 98A cleats. In other words, Wellgo 98A cleats and Shimano SH-51 cleats are completely interchangeable. Not all Wellgo pedals use 98A cleats, but if the Wellgo pedals are specified specifically as "SPD" pedals, they should come with 98A cleats and also be compatible with SH-51 cleats. Beyond that, I'm not sure-

That was my understanding too, but the reality isn't quite working like that.

So your Shimano cleats are SH-51's, and the new Wellgo pedals came with 98A's, and the SH-51's aren't working with the new pedals? If that's the case, it's not the experience I've had with them, they've been completely interchangeable for me. Could it be the old cleats are worn quite a lot, and aren't matching with the new pedals for that reason? I've definitely run into that problem before, as well as having new cleats with old pedals that didn't work well, either-

That's a possibility, although the cleats are only a year old. The Wellgo says it's WNS -- Wellgo New System, it doesn't say 98A anywhere. Cleats are regular Shimano.

And they do work, just not very well. It's as though I have to click in twice, I do 3-4 pedal strokes before there's a second click, and sometimes the shoe doesn't want to click in at all.

I was using some Wellgos for a while. They seemed to work fine, but I was using the same cleats that came with my Shimano pedals. I only switched back because they were one-sided SPD pedals and they didn't quite support my Shimano sandals properly. Is the tension level adjusted the same? That would obviously make a difference. Are your shoes being supported evenly from side to side.

"98A" should be clearly engraved on the Wellgo cleats that came with your new Wellgo pedals if they're compatible with Shimano cleats. If they're not 98A cleats, you have Wellgo pedals and cleats that are similar to Shimano SPD's, but they're not Shimano-compatible.

My shoes with the Wellgo cleats work with my Shimano A520 pedals, but not as smoothly as the shoes with shimano cleats for engagement or release

One of my good friends is a Shimano insider, having worked in the company for 20 years. Wellgo manufacturers almost all of Shimano's pedals, save a few of the very high-end models. That doesn't mean they're not quality, however. If you're experiencing problems, I'd check the cleat wear, as well as the pedal retention screw. I wouldn't blame it on 'brand incompatibility', though.

I just checked the Wellgo website, of the Wellgo branded mtb clipless pedals shown, there appears to be only one that doesn't use the Wellgo 98A/Shimano 51 cleat: the pedal is the WAM M-7. All the others specically say they're 98A/SH-51 compatible. Wellgo does, of course, make pedals that are branded by different companies, and some of them aren't Shimano cleat-compatible. Some of the Wellgo-built Performance and Nashbar pedals, for example, aren't compatible with Shimano cleats-