JD Dixon

Has anyone come across a cleat mounting tool that can install road or mt. bike cleats to a shoe and make adjustments for float? Currently trying to make one and see if it works, but just trying to see what's out there on the market already. JD

reptilezs

float is built into the pedal design

JD Dixon

But you would still want the float to be centered so that if you have 6 degrees of float that would be for heel kicking in towards the chain stay and out when you try to release.

HillRider

Not necessarily. If your feet naturally turn outward or inward you want to set your cleats up to allow the float centered on your comfortable foot position. My feet turn outward when I walk so I set my cleats up so that their inward rotation is as far as possible without having my heels hit the crankarms.

BTW, when I saw your thread title, my first thought was; Yes I have a cleat mounting tool. It's a 4 mm hex wrench.

wesmamyke

Ergon I think makes a weird little template thing for cleat positioning...

link: https://www.amazon.com/Ergon-Shimano-.../dp/B003RLDQJG

Something like that?

JD Dixon

I like that, but the tool I'm working on will mount any cleat to any shoe, and hopefully any new ones coming out. The only problem I saw with this is keeping it in place while trying to install the cleat. But I am currently designing something that would hold a retaining cup that the cleat locks into, the arm will flip on a post and do the other shoe in the same position, or it can be altered for people that do ride with their heel out or in on the pedal stroke.

fietsbob

SPD stuff mounts with an Allen hex wrench.

time bandit

lol

Jeff Wills

Cleat position is rarely identical side-to-side... people aren't 100% bilaterally symmetrical. For that reason, cleat adjustment is best done on each leg individually. The Fit Kit RAD device works well for this: https://bikefitkit.com/fit_kit/rad_kit.php .

HillRider

That's a pretty ambitious plan considering the huge variety of cleat designs and shoe sole configurations. Do you expect this tool to work on both road and MTB cleats and shoes?

blamp28

Not trying to be a wet blanket but exactly what are you trying to accomplish? This almost seems like a solution in search of a problem. Cleats are pretty simple to mount and adjust to accommodate individual physiology and preference. In order for this tool to have a market appeal, it will have to address a specific need and retail at a price level where it saves users time and therefore money. It takes just minutes to mount a set of cleats and as stated by other posters, properly adjusted, they are often not identical left to right. I might be missing something here and if so please enlighten me.

HillRider

One technique to speed cleat replacement, assuming the old worn ones are set properly for you, trace around the old cleat with a magic marker of give the shoe sole a quick spray of rattle can white paint. When you remove the old cleat, there will be a tracing of it's position or a "shadow" in the paint showing where it was. Install the new cleats to match the defined old position.

Jeff Wills

Instead of spray paint, I use Liquid Paper or White-Out. Shows up real nice on a dark-colored sole.

HillRider

Hmmm, I thought the word processor obsoleted that stuff years ago.

I have also used a white touch up paint "pen" sold in auto parts stores to outline the old cleats.

Jeff Wills

I guess I'm showing my age. :-) I can still remember helping my sister teach my dad DOS-based Wordstar.

HillRider

Me too. Our first experience with a word processor was also with Wordstar using it on a borrowed computer for my daughter to type a highschool term paper.

Aside:
Q: How can you tell a blond secretary?
A. Look for White-Out on her computer screen.

JD Dixon

The tool would use a template for mt. and / or road bike cleats. You position is the same for both styles and any different pedal. Your left and right foot do go through the pedal stroke differently, so the tool sets up independently for either shoe. Once you have your numbers, it will be consistent from now to eternity. So new shoes can have any new cleat mounted in the exact same position time after time. No need to reset up, measure, try it out and adjust.

fietsbob

well good luck with that .
considering all pedals when engaged cover the screws to install and adjust the cleat ,
the whole thing is an un pedal taking up the space in which the real pedal does not exist in ...
like dark matter fills in all the space between the stars.

Jeff Wills

That only works if the old shoe's sole is identical to the new shoe's sole. In my experience, that's rarely the case, even if you're simply replacing a shoe with the identical manufacturer and model shoe. Year-to-year design variations mean that cleat position needs to be adjusted on the new shoe no matter what the old adjustment was.