OK, so as I am having my cleats repositioned today by a fitter, I mentioned to her how I think it is simply ridiculous that there are so many gadgets and electronics filtering into the sport. However, something so simply like a little device that would copy cleat position in your shoes to replace the old one for new ones and assure you get the exact same position does not exist that I know of. She said she never thought about it, but it is odd there is no such a thing.

I remember seeing something made by Mavic that was some sort of clamp you place on the shoes and position a piece over the cleats that would be replicated with the new one. Can't find it now when I did a search though. Over the years, I had been doing it by trial and error, but I guess as I am getting older I am getting less patient and also becoming more "aware" of small changes in cleat position.

Does anyone know of this or any other device that works well for this?? Does anything like this exist?

Look Keos actually have something like that, but it's not compatible with all shoes

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mitsuku...n/photostream/

To replace cleats I just trace around the outside of the old cleat with a silver sharpie. It seems to work well for me. Putting new cleats on new shoes, however, is a hassle. As for tools to help with cleat alignment, I saw that this thing exists, but haven't tried it yet. I might give it a shot though: https://www.ergon-bike.com/us/en/prod...imano-look-keo

Yep. I've been doing that (but with White-Out instead of a Sharpie) since 1992. Also, some Look Delta compatible cleats used to come with little spikes in them to make indents on the shoe sole. Didn't work too well, though, hence the White-Out.

Mavic makes a device, but as I recall it's over a hundred dollars, probably not something the home use person would want. If your cleats are set, you can measure from the center of the bottom two screws to the bottom of the insert triangle. We give fitting customers those two dimensions and you are good to go. Of course, with Looks you have the option of screwing in the center section of the cleat to your shoe so when you remove the cleat that plastic piece stays on the shoe and you only put the new cleat over that piece. But yo uhave to have shoes that will take the center fit screw.
Mavic's cleat machine only really works if all your shoes are the same. It makes it easy if you have three or four pairs of the same shoes.
Like most of this stuff, it's priced for a shop using it over and over.
Look cleats still come with the sticky template that can be laid over the old cleat position to help with setup, but the bottom screw measurement really is a better method. With the center fit plastic insert, you are good to go for replacement cleats.

The Mavic device holds the shoe (you lock it in) and then there's a piece on top to indicate the cleat positition. Take that she out and out the next shoe in and set the cleat up. But it's really designed for fitters to use, but if you can find one it's available. It's just expensive.

Yeah, you have to have a shoe that has that tiny insert piece in the middle of the triangle. But if you do it's a quick and easy way to (after getting the initial setup) to get replacements correctly installed.

Yep, I've been using the "white out method" as well. The problem with it is that with cleats like TIME where the edges are not flushed with the sole of the shoe all around, you get so many gaps where the white out gets that after you take out the old cleat it is not very clear where the true edge was. I think it is what happened recently with my old cleats and why they got replaced not in the same spot.

I'm thinking of something that you can use across shoe brands and cleat brands making it very easy to translate to new cleats and new shoes all around. I may do my own ghetto version of this if I can come up with something quick and easy.

Thanks for the suggestions.

My new Look Keos cleats came with stickers to put on over the old cleats. But I find tracing much easier.

LOOK Keo FIT technology:

https://www.lookcycle.com/en/all/look...o-keo-fit.html

As for replacing old cleats with new ones, all Keo cleats come with a "memory pad" built into the cleat.

The Fit Kit Rad system works. https://bikefitkit.com/bicycle_riders...ike_pedals.php

Not sure how many shops have them these days.

I had it done years ago when I used Look pedals without float.

Not so essential on Speedplays, which aren't as sensitive to the rotation.

Fore and aft, and side to side you can adjust by noting the relationship of the ball of your foot to the pedal axle from the old shoe/cleat to the new.

I knew there was another reason why I like MTB pedals and shoes. Replacing cleats isn't a problem with the SPD cleats as they have tiny teeth on the bottom side that digs into the sole of the shoe. Replacing them is just a matter of matching the teeth to the impressions left on the shoe. Replacing the shoe is also easy. I have a pair of Specialized MTB Pro shoes that I will most likely replace with another pair when they wear out. They have horizontal and vertical alignment marks on them so you can align your cleats to the same position as they were on you old shoes. I don't understand why road shoes and cleats don't have that feature, considering they cost more.

Yep, those were used when I got fitted last about a year ago and had the cleats positioned. As far as I understand it, those things are not as useful as they used to be as most pedal systems comes with float and these things are designed for cleats with no float.

There are a few KEO or LOOK specific tools, but I use TIME pedals. I was kind of looking for something that would translate easily across most, if not all, pedal and shoe brands. I have some ideas in mind based on a combination of what I have seen in the links above.

They're definitely more valuable with no float, because float takes out some of the need to be rotationally precise.

However, I would think you could still use it with a pedal with adjustable float by putting the float to Zero, setting the base position, and then dialing back in the amount of float you wanted, after you had the cleat set.

The joys of my Speedplay X2 pedals...Installing new cleats is a breeze...Don't have to worry about cleat rotation or fore/aft (I use the adapter plate)...

Only concern is side/side position and that's pretty easy to get by eye...

Back when I used Keos and Time pedals I would just put some masking tape down on the sole and trace the shape of the cleat with a sharpy...The masking tape made it easier to see the sharpy markings...

They do. Some have very precise cleat alignment grids. Take these Bonts for example:

https://www.google.com/imgres?q=Bont+...1t:429,r:0,s:0

This. $25 to do it yourself or see if the LBS has one. My LBS aligns using this tool and it works great. I buy my cleats from them and the alignment is free.

Hi dgasmd,

I still think the Fit Kit RAD is the best system for setting up a "neutral" cleat position. It seems like very few fitters want to invest in RAD since with floating cleats, precise alignment seems to be less important. My problem is that I use black (non-floating) Kéo cleats.

I bought the Ergon tool (on eBay) and it worked very well when I put new cleats on some new shoes that were the same make and model as my old shoes. The real test will be when I put cleats on a different pair of shoes, which I'll be doing shortly with some Bont-a-one shoes that I bought for racing. I think that I can effectively mark some points on my foot on the surface of the shoe to get the cleats in the proper location.

Hope this helps.

The Mavic tool mentioned is fairly nice. I checked it out at the 2010 Interbike. Mavic wasn't there this year. Really only works if you are going to a new setup on the same make and model of shoe.

Different shoes fit differently so a device would really need to cue itself off of fixed reference points within the system. Unfortunately all of those fixed reference points are attached to your body and "inside" of the shoe.

When finding a starting position for myself when changing makes and models of shoes I will put the new shoe on and then mark the outsole where the ball of my foot is. Then I draw a line across the bottom to the intersection of that same joint on my little toe. I actually scratch that into most of my shoes so I simply measure from that line to different points on the cleat to "triangulate" the position and viola.....repeatable positioning that disregards completely the makeup or design of the shoe and is only described by the relationship of your body's orientation to the cleat.

This can change though if the shoe has some natural canting worked into the design, etc. That is why I mention this is my "starting point". I am very glad I now have a fitter on hand that can get me set up on new rigs in a minute.

what works for me...
I have a pr of older campy road pedals with clips - what I rode for quite a few decades. toeclips sized, shimmed and positioned well for me.
I put them on the bike when setting up new shoes and cleats.
I place some duct take on the ball of foot area of the shoe and mark a line at the center of Ball of Foot.
This will go directly over the pedal spindle - I like it that way...
sometimes that means I have to 'shim' the toeclip area where the shoe toe inserts, before I ride...

I lay a section of duct tape on the shoe sole where the rear pedal platform makes contact.
I put some tailor's chalk on top of the rear section of the pedal platform - to help the 'marking' process.
I ride for about 4 - 5 miles with the toestraps pulled in but still loose around the foot/shoe, allowing rotation.
My foot naturally orients to it's best rotational alignment during the ride.
Come back - take off shoe - pedal cage has left a 'line/mark' - that becomes the mark to which I rotationally align the cleat in parallel (I trim duct tape back to line before installing cleat...)
fore-aft is done by the ball of foot mark on the shoe to pedal spindle, rotation is aligned with the pedal cage mark.

I saw one of those on ebay a few years back and was tempted. That's not really meant for duplicate a cleat position from one shoe to another so much as it is for finding the right position in the first place, but if it does it once, it can do it again and again.

I have different angles of cleats, L side vs R side, so I put my shoes on a copier and photocopied them. Now, for cleat changing, new shoes, etc, I got a visual of placement and angles to at least start from. Fine tuning is still done by feel.