Cleat float. What do I need to know?
 

Tried using the search function, but nothing yielded the answers I'm looking for, nor did google/wikipedia.

From what I understand, cleat float is the ease or difficulty of clipping out of the pedals? Different degrees of float give different feels in and out of the pedal? Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm sure I am.

I'm looking at getting a pair of Look Keo classics, shimano shoes, and obviously look cleats. But, which float/color would be best for a beginner? I'd like to be able to clip in and out easily and promptly.

Different settings of float give your foot a "locked in place" feel as opposed to a little bit of shim when moving your ankle. Float is a personal preference, you can experiment with the settings (usually 3) and figure out what you are comfortable with. I wouldn't suggest the highest setting (ankles locked) as they tend to cause knee problems, something in the middle should be good. But like I said, test it out and determine what you're comfortable with.

Thanks, I've heard the grey and red cleats have the least amount of float between the ones that Look makes, so I may get red to start and see how that goes.

Float is the ability of the cleat (and the shoe it's attached to) to move or rotate laterally without clipping out of the pedal. There are various kinds of float, too - lateral as well as rotational. higher float generally means more - your foot will roate or move more before being constrained. The original clipless pedals did not have float - your foot was locked in to one position.

The red cleats have the MOST float of the Look Keo cleats (9 degrees), the grey ones are in the middle (4.5 degrees) and black cleats have no float (0 degrees, or fixed). For Look pedals, the float is primarily rotational - at least until the cleats start to wear down!

In a perfect world, you'd find a minimum amount of float you need for your peddling style, and if you had more it wouldn't matter. In the real world, though, very few of us are pushing straight down on the pedals, and lots of cyclists don't like the sliding on ice feeling you can get with lots of float.

As a practical matter certain Speedplays have the most float of commonly available cycling pedals, wtih the added benefit of being able to adjust the amount of float without changing cleats.

FWIW I use Look Keo Sprints with red cleats, sometimes grey ones. Both work fine for me, but tyring the ones with no float was a problem for my knees.

JB

When using Shimano SPD-SL pedals however, red tips mean no float while yellow cleats have 6 degrees of float.

A lot of people choose pedals or cleats with lots of float because they their bike fit is terrible. Float masks many fit problems. If your bike is fit correctly and you have a reasonable pedaling style and you don't have serious physical abnormalities (or prior injuries), then you should need little or no float.

You will only need little to no float if your feet are exactly perpendicular to the pedal throughout the stroke. If one/both of your feet toe in or out even slightly, you need some pedal float. My right foot has quite a bit of toe out. I use the Speedplay X-5 pedals - 25 degrees of float. It takes a while to get used to that feeling, but I have not had any knee pain since using them.

Also, if you have any leg length discrepancy or varus deformity of the knees (bow legged), you're probably going to want some float, as the foot will tend to pronate when at the bottom. Most people have some kind of asymmetry. I had some ileotibial band issues, which I took care of mainly by making sure I stretched it a couple times a day, and before/after each ride. I use the Look Red cleats on one of my pairs of shoes, and the Gray cleats on another pair, and don't notice an appreciable difference. The Look pedals that I have(CX6 and Keo Plus), have a separate setscrew adjustment for how easy or hard it is to clip out.

BZZZZZZZ! Wrong, but thanks for playing. Surest way to mess up a new rider is get them fixed cleats with no float, 6 months later they quit riding because their knees hurt. I would start with the red look, then when the time comes for your next pair, if they feel lose go to gray. But stay away from black if you like your knees.