Setting up SPD-SL pedals and shoes

rodgers73

I'm about to tackle this. I was told in the shop (Evans) that there is a notch on the cleat that I am supposed to line up with the ball of my foot - how accurate do I need to be?

Also, I am assuming that the cleat needs to be parallel to the shoe and not angled off either left or right. How precise do I need to be here? Are we talking agony for me if its off by a few degrees??

Finally, how much damage would the cleats cause to, say, a tiled surface? I dont want to get in trouble at work by scratching up their lobby flooring but neither do I want to walk across the car park in my socks if I dont have to!

Cheers

Tom

Zendog1

The cleats need to be angled if that's the way your feet are naturally. Feet will soon let you know if they are being forced into an "unnatural position. Take an allen key on the next ride and adjust until comportable.

You are walking on plastic - it won't damage tile floors.

velvetytoast

I found its more comfortable to get the line a little more towards my toes, but only by a few mm.

If you are trying to align the heel in / out then sit on a table and let your feet dangle down - do they point heels in, heels out or straight? You want to try to line up so the foot isn't forced away from this position too much otherwise it will start to hurt. (If you use cleats with 9 degree float you probably don't need to bother much though)

After that it's down to tweaking so +1 on the allen key

oaky

It took me ages to get my cleats in a comfortable position. Eventually I loosened them off, put the bike on the turbo and rode for a bit. Once I was happy with my position on the pedals I got my wife to tighten the cleats up through the pedals. Have had no problems since.

topdude

I was told in the shop (Evans) that there is a notch on the cleat that I am supposed to line up with the ball of my foot - how accurate do I need to be?

I found it difficult to find the best fore - aft position initially. Thought it was right but found i was riding on my toes and getting uncomfortable. Started experimenting and now have the cleats further back.

Agree with Velvetytoast above regarding angle of the cleats.

MattC59

rodgers73 wrote:

Finally, how much damage would the cleats cause to, say, a tiled surface? I dont want to get in trouble at work by scratching up their lobby flooring but neither do I want to walk across the car park in my socks if I dont have to!

You won't damage the floors, but you might end up on your arse !! Be careful, cleats on hard floors can be somewhat slippery !!!

Pretre

MattC59 wrote:

You won't damage the floors, but you might end up on your ars* !! Be careful, cleats on hard floors can be somewhat slippery !!!

+1 & also highly embarrassing falling on your ars* in front of your colleagues (not to mention painful!)

rodgers73

I've set mine quite far back and they felt good today - got some good speed on hills that I didnt have using toe clips. One issue is that my big toes were a bit numb by the time I got to work - is this is a sign of a bad set up??

dmch2

I had slightly numb toes in one foot the first few rides but it seems fine now. I think I just used to tense my foot up. I tried doing the vecro slightly tighter to hold my foot more in place and doing a few more rides and it seems fine now. I didn't notice at all on my last ride.

garrynolan

Try these - Shimano M086 MTB shoes; recessed cleats, cool bronze colour, look like road shoes and easy to walk on.

rodgers73

Too late I'm already £70 lighter after buying some Specialised shoes