When do you change your cleats?
10-16-20, 07:04 PM
#26
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I've been using Frogs on my roadie for years as I prefer the large degree of float...easy on the knees. I usually swap out cleats about once a year or so.
However with Speedplay acquired by Wahoo, it's not clear they will be making this line of products any longer. I can't find the cleats anywhere and calls to the manufacturer yielded a "well, we don't know yet what we are doing" answer. I'm guessing they are done. So, no idea what to do next if I'm sticking with my MTB shoes.
However with Speedplay acquired by Wahoo, it's not clear they will be making this line of products any longer. I can't find the cleats anywhere and calls to the manufacturer yielded a "well, we don't know yet what we are doing" answer. I'm guessing they are done. So, no idea what to do next if I'm sticking with my MTB shoes.
10-16-20, 09:11 PM
#27
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I thought I answered this days ago but apparently I did not. To the topic - when do I replace cleats: I treat cleats like handlebars and stems; items to be replaced before they fail because if they do, I could get seriously hurt. Good thing is that cleats, unlike those bars and stems, are cheap, not hard to find and easy to replace (if I didn't wait too long).
I ride LOOK Delta compatible pedals and (black no-float) cleats on my good bike, SPD on my around town and gravel bike and traditional slotted cleats on all my fix gears. The criteria above has different implications for the three types. The plastic LOOK (of Wellgo - I don't care) cleats get replaced often, I sometimes ride hard on that bike and sometimes very fast. Traditional slotted cleats are very forgiving. Yes, pullouts are a bear if I am going up a wall on a fix gear, but the strap means I don't hurt myself. And I get feedback the first block of any ride as to how warn the cleats are. With the Exustar track cleats that use the LOOK standard bolt pattern, changing them out is easy. SPDs get changed every two or three years just because.
Related but slightly off-topic - I use traditional pedals, toeclips, straps and slotted cleats to prevent pulling my foot off when either pulling for all I am worth up hill or spinning like an eggbeater downhill. Both are the supreme test of cleat retention and doing either, it can be far from obvious what I am doing with my foot twisting-wise and I certainly not going to look! Un-cleating happens, even with barely worn cleats and decent straps. But (and this is the huge "but") when I uncleat in a toeclipped and strapped pedal, my foot is still on the pedal. I do not get hit with that pedal at 200 RPM. I don't slam my knee against the bar with all the muscle in my leg. That peace of mind makes all the hassles of toeclips and straps pulled tight completely worthwhile. Even with the all too regular "oops I forgot" fall-overs that always happen at zero speed.
Ben.
I ride LOOK Delta compatible pedals and (black no-float) cleats on my good bike, SPD on my around town and gravel bike and traditional slotted cleats on all my fix gears. The criteria above has different implications for the three types. The plastic LOOK (of Wellgo - I don't care) cleats get replaced often, I sometimes ride hard on that bike and sometimes very fast. Traditional slotted cleats are very forgiving. Yes, pullouts are a bear if I am going up a wall on a fix gear, but the strap means I don't hurt myself. And I get feedback the first block of any ride as to how warn the cleats are. With the Exustar track cleats that use the LOOK standard bolt pattern, changing them out is easy. SPDs get changed every two or three years just because.
Related but slightly off-topic - I use traditional pedals, toeclips, straps and slotted cleats to prevent pulling my foot off when either pulling for all I am worth up hill or spinning like an eggbeater downhill. Both are the supreme test of cleat retention and doing either, it can be far from obvious what I am doing with my foot twisting-wise and I certainly not going to look! Un-cleating happens, even with barely worn cleats and decent straps. But (and this is the huge "but") when I uncleat in a toeclipped and strapped pedal, my foot is still on the pedal. I do not get hit with that pedal at 200 RPM. I don't slam my knee against the bar with all the muscle in my leg. That peace of mind makes all the hassles of toeclips and straps pulled tight completely worthwhile. Even with the all too regular "oops I forgot" fall-overs that always happen at zero speed.
Ben.
10-17-20, 12:02 PM
#28
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Pretty much all my rides start and end with 5 miles of garbage riding each way in and out of SF. With all the stopping the right cleat wears much faster than the left one. Well, with 3-hole road shoes at least. For longer rides, where I wear Sidi Dominator 10 shoes with SPD cleats there is no wear to speak of.
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