I've was a clipless rider during my mtb days, and even used them on the road for a while (mtb spd) until this year when I switched over to non-clipless pedals. I liked the freedom of being able to run a variety of shoes, but always kinda missed the clipped in feel. Just recently I threw my 540's back on and noticed how much closer my feet were to the crank arms when using non clipless pedals (RO-25's). I found that with non clipless my foot would be about 1~2mm away from the crank arm and when I put my 540's back on I was quite a bit further away - approx. 10~15mm (without actually measuring). I have to say that I much prefer the former, being as close as I can be to the crank arms.

So, still wanting to get back into clipless and also looking to get a more road oriented pedal, how much side to side play is there with Look style cleats? I'm looking at either some Looks, or 105's but I really want to be able to get my shoe right up next to the crank arms. I know with some mtb spd cleats, the oval mount will allow some side to side adjustment, but even with them I don't think I could get right up next to the crank arms. Thanks.

I like to have my feet close to the cranks, too.

How far your feet are from the center of the bike will be a mix of crankset, shoes (hole placement), pedals, and cleat position.

There is about 1cm of lateral adjustment in standard cleats. Unfortunately, because of the factors listed above, you will simply have to try your combination out to know for sure.

Road pedal systems will allow you more lateral adjustment than MTB pedal systems. Plus road systems allow you to adjust the angle of your foot, too. Most (if not all) 2-bolt MTB systems don't allow for this.

You'll be fine with a set of road pedals and cleats.

What?

I take it you've never had a loose SPD cleat. Not as much as a three bolt road cleat if you're crazy pidgeon toed or something, I guess, but plenty in my experience for just about everyone. Back in the days of shoe anchors with just two threaded holes (nowadays, it's 4) you could get damn near 45 degrees in both directions there was so much slop. I had an old pair of specialized shoes where the cleat just wouldn't bite as soon as a drop of water got on them, so I'd have to wrench my foot to a crazy angle to get out.

There is also a side to side adjustment on two bolt cleats (crank brothers' cheaper cleats are a notable exception), it's just that this movement is the first thing to gum up.

I think you are interpreting slop in the pedal system as float.

All of the MTB pedal systems that I've used (SPD, TIME, Eggbeaters) have only one angle (or lack thereof) with no float. There was play in them. But that play was a return-to-center type of spring action. So, if you are pigeon-toed you'd have to push against that return-to-center cleat to have your feet (and ultimately your knee) where it wants to be.

By the way, I currently ride Shimano SPD-SL zero-float cleats. My feet are in the right position and are fixed. I believe that float is for people who don't know where their foot should be

No, I didn't realize you were talking about float, thought you were talking about adjusting the cleat on the shoe.

i've used my Look Deltas with 4 different shoes and always managed to get my shoe to actually touch the cranks, actually had to back it off a smidge.

You guys are talking about angle of attack, side to side movement...

I use SPD cleats. When I bolt to cleat to my shoe I can adjust it:

Fore and aft
side to side
angle. I can bolt the cleat down so that when engaged my toe is pointing in towards the bike or bolt it so my toe points away from the bike.

Once the cleat is bolted tight and the cleat is engaged in the pedal I get about 3-6mm of float. Not slop. The multirelease cleat is a bit different.

Thanks for the info., all. I'll look (no punn intended) into the Deltas...

Edit - I looked on the Look site and it shows the Delta only in cleats. Would the Keo's be similar in as much side to side adjustment as the Deltas? Thanks.

Yes, my Shimano spd's also have some side to side adjustability, but not enough for me to get my shoe as close to the crank arm as I like - at least not with the Time shoes that I currently have.