Setting up SPD pedals and cleats
 

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Shimano SM-SH51 cleats on Louis Garneau shoes
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State Bicycle Company SBC-AR1 pedal

I bought a State 4130 Road bike last year with their pedals that are clipless on one side, platform on the other. I also got a used pair of Louis Garneau shoes with SPD cleats.
My prior experience has only been with Speedplay Frogs and platform pedals.
I can get the left shoe to clip in with some difficulty. It angles my foot too far inward. I obviously need to adjust the cleat.
I can't get the right shoe to clip in at all.
I think I set the release tension full loose on both pedals. The adjustment screw isn't supposed to turn very far in either direction, is it? I expected it to turn more.
Is that the only adjustment on the pedal?
Are there supposed to be any spacers or shims under the cleats? I didn't find any spacers.
Do you have any tips for getting the shoes to clip in reliably?

Usually only that one screw on each SPD pedal to adjust. If you haven't ever used SPD, then your feeling of them being too tight is likely common for noobs. I too thoought the same thing when I was new to them and had the adjustment as loose as it can go.

A few more rides and you'll be a pro. Well sort of! <grin>

As to whether your shoe is angled wrong, that's all in the adjustment of the cleat on the shoe. When you turn the shoe upside down to adjust the cleat, remember it needs to turn opposite of how you are seeing it from your view from the saddle.

Been riding SPD for 30 years, I tend to setup my cleats with about 10 deg, rotation clockwise to your setup so as to hit the release point with less turn of the foot.

The State pedals are probably made by Wellgo, and if so, they may well be "SPD compatible," but best used with Wellgo's 98A cleat, not a genuine Shimano SPD cleat. Bitd, the 98A was known as a "B fit" for genuine Shimano pedals, and vice versa.

Shims for SPD's can be as simple as small washers. Those can be metal or plastic, depending on the thickness needed to effect a workable solution.

The idea being you're moving the shoe-mounted cleat away from the shoe sole, making the pedal cleat less apt to find resistance from a show sole that's too close.

SPD's can take some getting used to. Matching the shoe cleat to the pedal cleat is important, as has been previously suggested by well biked .

I installed a set of SPDs last week, and the cleats came with "spacers", which are to be installed as necessary, if your shoes don't allow you to clip in easily. It sounds like you have a shoe to pedal interface issue that needs to be addressed. Add shims, or shave down the shoe.

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If the platform pedals left indentations on the soles of the shoes you used with them, use those indentations as a guide for getting the cleats angled properly.

Do you have an indoor trainer or access to one? If so, work out the cleat angle and front-rear cleat position with the bike mounted on the trainer. That way, you can perform and re-perform all the adjustments necessary, including getting the shoes to clip into and release from the pedals correctly (i.e., with the tension high enough to prevent accidental release but low enough for fairly easy entry and release), without endangering life and limb.

I didn’t even know 2bolt SPDs allowed any adjustment of orientation. Mine have always seemed to only allow fore/aft adjustment.

Is that done by just forcing the cleat a bit while tightening it?

See 5:00 and on in the video.

Shaving the sole is preferable from a biomechanical PoV, but shimming can allow you to establish good cleat orientation before you start carving. Just be mindful to fully tighten the cleat after adjusting it, or it can twist when you try to unclip, makiing escape impossible.

Yes. It doesn't take much force when new. But after the cleats have made a impression on the sole of the shoe it might take some force to hold it in that new position while you tighten the screws.

The stack tolerance created by all the pieces parts that hold the cleat on the shoe will allow about a 3 to maybe 5 degrees of arc that the cleat can be pointed either side of straight ahead. Maybe more. But I don't know if all brands of SPD like shoes/cleats are like the Shimano SPD cleats I use.

I didn't see any pedals on Wellgo's website that looked identical, but it's worth seeing if my LBS has any 98A cleats.

The trainer was a good idea. I haven't used it in years. I dragged it off the shelf and it was SO dusty! It turns out it doesn't fit the quick release on this bike, though. I looked up instructions for the Blackburn mag Trakstand and learned that it apparently came with it's own skewer so you wouldn't damage your outdoor skewers. I got it used and no skewers were included. I ended up just pushing the bars up against a lally column to hold the bike still.

I adjusted the cleats and was able to get both shoes to clip in, but the right side is definitely harder. Maybe they'll loosen up with use. I need to remember to lube the clips and cleats!
The cleat adjustment seems fine in my basement. I still have to go for a ride.

Before you go for a ride, find someplace with softish ground & maybe turf under your feet. Ride around on that a little bit, practice getting into & out of those SPD's. You'll be glad you did.

Here are some things I have learned.

Since the cleat does not let you rotate your feet, it's important to adjust it well. The longitude of your foot should be perpendicular to the pedal spindle. Use a T-square or equivalent to sight the bolt holes with the longitude of your shoe.

I injured my feet permanently by setting my cleats too far forward. My podiatrist said to move my cleats back. It feels weird because I'm used to putting the "balls" of my feet over the spindle, and now I have the arch there. It's easier to position my feet properly when using cleats but I can't do that most of the time so I keep reminding myself to move my feet forward. Moving the feet forward may require lowering the saddle slightly. It can also create (or worsen) toe overlap with the front wheel. Fortunately for me, toe overlap is not a deal breaker for me.

I set my pedal tension to minimum. My feet have not come out accidentally while pedaling hard, though your mileage may vary.

Not convinced they have to be perpendicular. Everyone’s legs and feet are different. And I think most people, including every pro I’ve seen on TV in close up shots, have them under the balls of their feet without injury..

"Longitude" refers exclusively to Earth's east-to-west geographical positions.

Which longitudinal arch (the correct term) are you referring to? Your feet have two: the medial and the lateral.

If you're talking about cleat rotation (not clear from your wording), that should be adjusted with reference to the natural angle of your foot That's the angle of your footprints when you walk in sand or on a floor when your feet are wet.

When I bought my first pair of cycling shoes, I told the cobbler to nail the cleats on such that my feet would be pointing straight (parallel to the center line of the bike). He smiled and said, "OK, but you'll be back in a week."

I was back in 2 days with knee pain. He pulled the cleats off and told me to ride the shoes without cleats for a week and come back when the shoes had indents from the pedal cage.

Which I did. He nailed the cleats back on, matching the cleat slots to the angles of the indents.

I'm a little dubious about the permanent injury to your feet being the consequence of positioning the cleat too far forward. Maybe the damage resulted from having the cleats at the wrong rotational angle, not from the front-rear positioning

Which is simply a matter of taste. After all, "move your cleats back" became a mantra/fashion only recently, after a hundred years of cleats mostly being positioned further forward. (Note that when walking or running, you push off with the ball of your foot rather than flat-footed.)

What do you think of the front-rear positioning shown in the video?

The problem with that is you can hit a soft patch and decelerate unexpectedly, without time to release from the appropriate pedal. I was riding on grass a while back and found the ground near a river was a lot softer (no surprise really). I was stuck in too high a gear, pedaling very hard at low cadence and convinced I wouldn't have time to unclip before I fell (no big deal really, it was soft after all, but damp and muddy, and there were witnesses). I made it back to drier ground, just.

Good advice. However, even after you get used to the clipless pedals you *can* have mishaps.

Several years ago, I was coming home from a 50-mile trail ride. I approached a street crossing and, rather than un-clip, I reached for a stop sign a few feet back from the edge of the street. And missed! I went over, harming neither myself nor the bike. But at that exact moment, along came a sporty convertible with an attractive young woman driving. She saw me keel over, stopped and asked if I was OK. Well, I was... but I have never forgotten that humiliation. Probably for the best, because now I am *very* careful to clip out one foot if I'm even *thinking* of stopping. Learn from my FAIL. :o

It probably would have been OK to just say "the long axis" of the foot.

I've seen references to cleats too far forward being a potential cause of "hot foot". Road Bike Rider, IIRC. I have found setting the cleats rear-ward to help; they're still pretty close to the balls of my feet though. Not sure about "permanent injury", though everyone's different, and feet can be finicky critters.

I think "longitudinal to your shoe" would have been correct.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/longitudinal
I'm sure I've read articles in car magazines about longitudinally-mounted engines, for what that's worth.

Yeah. A month ago I was out with my new Assiomas, got bogged down thirty feet from a hill crest, fell over on asphalt. My bad.

I would have preferred falling onto softer ground but, like a dunce, I thought I had it down pat getting out of 'em.

Indeed you can!

My practice also.

I was on a seldom travelled road when I fell over ~ 5 miles from home; bruised my left hip & scuffed left elbow & knee, left back 'drop-out' (is that what it's called when there are through axles?) on my Tarmac's CF frame, and of course my ego. Otherwise minimal damage.

"Clipless" doesn't mean 100% safe! One needs to know the pitfalls and be prepared for Not Coming Loose when and as necessary.

I also grab street furniture to stop, if I want to make a quick getaway without failure-to-clip-in drama, but it can be a tense moment. More recently I started using different pedals* on several bikes, which provide reasonable grip even when not clipped in - I'm probably unclipping just-in-case more often than before, because I don't really have to clip in to have reasonable control.


* Crank Brothers Mallet Enduro - I love these. I started on Crank Brothers Candy (the cheap plastic ones) that have a small and not very grippy platform, because they are close to a road pedal with the Eggbeater retention system (good float). Those work fine apart from my occasional inabiility to clip in or out, because of my dodgy knee.

You can call it a "frame end" but not everyone is going to understand that.

This. The angle of the cleat on the shoe can make it hard to clip in and too easy to release.

Years ago, I had an adjustment done at a shop that had a FitKit “Rotational Adjustment Device”. This showed that my right foot is angled outward or “duck-footed” far more than my left. Since then I’ve set up my cleats to accommodate this. It must work- my knees feel fine.

When adjusting SPD cleats for angle, I find that holding the cleat with locking pliers (aka Vice-Grips) allows for fine adjustment of the angle and holds the adjustment while tightening the bolts.