Rattle from shoe/cleat while pedalling

flurblefish

Anyone got any ideas what might be causing a rattling noise from my left shoe?

I'm using Specialized Expert MTB shoes on PD520 pedals with SH51 cleats. I seem to get a rattling type noise when the crank's moving between the 1 and 9 o'clock positions. The rattle seems worst when I'm climbing and almost disappears when I'm just spinning along.

I figure the noise must be coming from the shoe/cleat itself (since I get it on more than one bike) but the cleat is secure and the cleat bolts are tight, so I can't think what could be causing the rattle. Any ideas?

nicklouse

moving up and down in the cleat. wear in the shoe-pedal contact allowing more movement that normal.

flurblefish

Thanks Nick.

I've just had a close look at both shoes and noticed there is a patch of wear on the left shoe just in front of the cleat, that's not there on the right shoe. The wear can't be much more than 0.5mm and is probably less (it looks like the clear coat on top of the carbon on the left shoe has worn through).

Can you think of a fix to stop the rattle? I'm wondering if a layer or two of clear nail varnish (or similar) over the wear patch would be enough to remove the play.

flurblefish

Or were you talking about wear on the cleat itself, so the fix would be to replace the cleat?

Oh, and I've just remembered, the spring tension on my left pedals may be a half/complete turn less than on the right side. Could increasing the spring tension also help to reduce the rattle?

This rattling's driving me up the wall.

ThePriory1978

The tension wont do anything apart from make the pedals more difficult to release.

SPD Shoes, the cheaper Shimano pedals and especially cleats dont last forever. If you've been using them for a while something might need replacing.

Start with replacing the cleats. Thousands of SH51 cleats on the Bay for £8.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?_from=R40&_trks ... Categories

Taking a cheeky test ride from a shop wearing your SPD shoes on a brand new bike fitted with SPDs will determine if the rattles coming from your cleats and shoes or your pedals. Just a thought.

Deputy Dawg

flurblefish wrote:

Thanks Nick.

I've just had a close look at both shoes and noticed there is a patch of wear on the left shoe just in front of the cleat, that's not there on the right shoe. The wear can't be much more than 0.5mm and is probably less (it looks like the clear coat on top of the carbon on the left shoe has worn through).

Can you think of a fix to stop the rattle? I'm wondering if a layer or two of clear nail varnish (or similar) over the wear patch would be enough to remove the play.

You could try making a shim out of a coke can looking a little bit like this.

flurblefish

How on earth did you find those DD? They look well blingy....if only they did them in multiple colours

Catfish

I get the same problem when using my Shimano mw80's on my m520's yet not on my dhb m1's.
You can see a wear mark on both the cleat and the pedal, bit annoying because the mw80's are 3 times the price of the dhb's.
I tried contacting shimano through the web site twice and got no responce.

kerry-man

I just bought a pair of specialised expert mtb shoes.
Right out of the box when i turn the shoes over in my hands the metal cleat plate inside the sole of the left shoe rattles around and moves quite freely whereas the one in the right sole doesnt seem to move at all.

having the plate rattling around so freely inside the sole doesn't seem right!
Is it normal, will they be ok once ive bolted a cleat onto them?
anyone else have a problem like this?

andrewjoseph

kerry-man wrote:

I just bought a pair of specialised expert mtb shoes.
Right out of the box when i turn the shoes over in my hands the metal cleat plate inside the sole of the left shoe rattles around and moves quite freely whereas the one in the right sole doesnt seem to move at all.

having the plate rattling around so freely inside the sole doesn't seem right!
Is it normal, will they be ok once ive bolted a cleat onto them?
anyone else have a problem like this?

they won't rattle once you put the cleats on. the plate is compressed against the inner sole.