Shimano, why have you gone so cheap...
 

and included only one set of bolts with my new SPD SL pedals which are way too short to accomodate most shoes on the market? After all these years of faithfullness, I feel betrayed!

1. How many bolts do you need? (I've never needed a spare.)
2. What is too short? The pedals? Or the bolts? Huh?

I don't understand the problem...the bolts on all my shimano pedals were plenty long for all my shoes.

OP - do you have carnacs?

botto- I do not have Carnacs even though I have read that this problem is recurrent with Carnac shoes. I have Chain shoes. But I have read it is also an issue with Sidi. Quite honestly, the bolts which are provided with SPD SL are way shorter than others I have had with other Shimano pedals. Are current Shimano shoes that thin soled?

FlashBazbo -
I think that some look pedals for instance come with two length of bolts included in the box to accomodate all different kinds of shoes.

My complaint is to be taken quite humorously...but still...

Long enough for my shoes.

And, the next question which arises . . . if the bolts are too short, why do you want more of them?

Never mind.

Ok, maybe I was not clear enough. As I was trying to explain in my previous post, some manufacturers include two different sets of bolts short ones and longer ones. So I think providing a second set of longer bolts in the package would avoid this kind of issues.

I understand. Maybe they're just trying to keep people from punching holes through the soles of Shimano-branded shoes with bolts that are too long. (That's my guess, anyway.)

not just current. i was using the same screws that came with my lemonds in 1992 up to 2004.

u gotta reach your hand into the shoe, pull up the removable sole, until you can push the plate down with your fingers, should shorten the distance enough for the screws to find purchase and then drag the plates the rest of the way down... seriously, get your hand in the shoe, and push on that plate real hard, and then put the screws in at the same time..

i know your problem, happens with some DMT shoes as well. the bolts provided for the SPD-SL cleats are sometimes too short. if this is the case, what you can do is go to a speedplay dealer and ask for the longer silver screws that are provided with their pedals. speedplays ship with 2 sets of screws for the baseplate/shim, a set of standard black screws and a set of longer silver ones. most of the time the silver ones are not needed so they are kept as spares. it will definitely fit the shimano cleat and rectangle washers.

Ok guys, problem solved. I used longer bolts and tightened the cleats so it had for effect to push the plate as close as possible to the sole, as njwbert suggested. But I would not have been able to do it only by hand. Then I was able to replace theses bolts with the short ones Shimano provided. So after all, maybe it was more of a shoe problem...

Shimano do make longer bolts for spd-sl cleats than those they supply with the cleats. I believe they are in the region of 10mm and 13.5mm lengths. They are available from Shimano - your bike shop can order them from shimano.

The shimano part numbers are: 10mm Y-42U 98070 and 13.5mm Y-42U 98060