Road cleat life when commuting

keyser__soze

I bit the bullet and bought a pair of road shoes and SPD-SL pedals recently and while I really appreciate the feel of connectedness and the stiffness of the sole of the shoes, I'm a little concerned about how quickly the cleats appear to be wearing.

I did a 100 mile sportive at the weekend with minimal walking and have probably worn the shoes/cleats on five days of commuting, doing about 30 miles across town so lots of unclipping/touching-down/reclipping. I have a small walk (no more than 50 yards) at one end of the commute, half of it across concrete and the rest on polished tiles/carpet. The yellow bits on the rear of my left cleat already appears to be almost half-way worn down to the wear line!

Is this to be expected? The combination of quick wear and awkwardness to clip in/out relative to my SPDs when pulling away from traffic lights (more practice probably required) is making me think I should go back to SPDs on both bikes for the commute and perhaps buy a stiffer-soled pair of MTB shoes.

garnett

Keyser, I'm wondering about switching from SPDs to SPD-SLs and to be honest your post has me recoiling from the idea.

I've been deliberating over changing pedals so I can get stiffer road shoes, but your post and the fact I like being able to walk normally on the shoes off the bike, means I thik I'll do what you say at the end of your post - buy stiffer mtb shoes.

lastant

I commute in with Look Keos* and think I've got through perhaps three packs of cleats since starting with them back in January 2010.

That does perhaps sound like a lot but I have, probably predictably, noticed the wear has gone down as I've got used to having cleats. Whereas before I'd perhaps drag them a bit when stopping and pushing off, I'm far less likely to now...which means less wear!

Also worth pointing out it's often only the left foot that needs changing as that's the one that gets put down at stops.

* - I did suggest perhaps SPD's were better for me when buying the bike, but the salesman in Geoffrey Butler cycles offered the advice of: 'you don't buy a bike like this and put SPD's on it...you do it properly'...

mkirby

I have shimanoe cleats and change them once a year or when i start to slip of the peddles when i clip in.

To save them when walking long periods get a bit of velcro wide enough to cover the cleat and wrap it around your shoe. Gives a little protection and stops you doing bamby impressions on slippy floors.

rubertoe

I use SPD-SL's on my road bike -

They do wear out pretty quickly - i had mine for a year or so - but that did include a 2 mile walk home towards the end of their life due to a puncture which was a major contributing factor of the wear

The left cleat (my touch down foot) wore quicker than the right and it was completly shot by the time i replaced it - (the front was worn completely through) however - i used them like this for about a month without any real issue of engaging or release - so i wouldnt worry about it too much.

prawny

I was wondering if something like these would give most of the beifits of road pedals (larger contact area) with less of the drawbacks?

Obviously they weigh more but a decent compromise? I've got some cheap ones in the garage I might stick em at the weekend and see what happens

jonginge

Got Time RSX cleats. Been commuting in them for a couple of years and just changed the left one a couple of months back...

notsoblue

prawny wrote:

I was wondering if something like these would give most of the beifits of road pedals (larger contact area) with less of the drawbacks?

Obviously they weigh more but a decent compromise? I've got some cheap ones in the garage I might stick em at the weekend and see what happens

I'm pretty sure the contact area will still be the same as with a simple doublesided SPD.

+1 to the concern about wear. Having just changed to road cleats myself they do seem to wear quite quickly.

essex-commuter

mkirby wrote:

To save them when walking long periods get a bit of velcro wide enough to cover the cleat and wrap it around your shoe. Gives a little protection and stops you doing bamby impressions on slippy floors.

They also sell 'cafe covers' for these.

craker

Yup, got on my bike this morning and couldn't engage my LH shoe. I knew the cleats were on the way out and have a new set on my other shoes. Changed me shoes & spent the commute wondering whether SPDs might be a better option in terms of durability. Thats 18 months on and off for me.

I haven't got any SPD shoes to commute in though. And what do you do when its wet (like this morning)? Overshoes take much more of a beating if you're treading directly on them.

BTW why do your SPD-SL cleats wear when you walk on them? That shoudn't affect the surface the binds to the mechansim should it?

The Running Man

Look make Keo cleat covers that retail at about £6 or £7. Cleats can cost about £20 so they are well worth the money!!

lastant

The Running Man wrote:

Look make Keo cleat covers that retail at about £6 or £7. Cleats can cost about £20 so they are well worth the money!!

Yep, I will pick up some of these if I'm touring again in future. My problem is / was the stopping and starting of the commute - having not used cleats before, I found myself rubbing / dragging them on the floor and wearing them too quickly.

As I mentioned, I've got much better at not doing that now!

cjcp

I switched to SPDs nearly two years ago. I'll wear out the shoes before the cleats.

essex-commuter

I have a 3 minute or so walk from my bike to the showers so it's spuds on the commuter and SL's on the race bike.

meanredspider

Just stick with SPDs for commuting. Various road shoes either come the fitments for SPDs already (Shimano being the obvious example) or others have SPD adaptors (Sidi for instance). I tried Look Keos (because my bike came with the pedals) but abandoned them after a week. Harder to clip into, cleats made of cheese, and no noticeable (on a commute at least) advantage.

estampida

Steel SPD cleats are the way forward

when I raced XC a set would last 1 year, with plenty of offroad muddy clipping in and out, the commute should not really wear them down

keep the tension low as your not in the tdf, and keep them lubed up so they slide in and out, well no grinding action anyway

as for fit, the bigger the platform of the spd pedal the safer it feels due to the sole of the shoe resting on the platform, its not really related to the contact of the shoe bolts unless you run tiny pedals.

never seen any speedpay spds in use, but time atac pedals could be worth a look

jds_1981

My last pair of SPD clips only lasted about half a year. I guess I have to unclip a lot on my commute. The wear pattern indicates it is the clipping in & out that causes the wear.

Wrath Rob

JonGinge wrote:

Got Time RSX cleats. Been commuting in them for a couple of years and just changed the left one a couple of months back...

This. I've done almost 3 years in mine and they're still going strong. I don't really walk in them, so the only wear is setting off.

By contrast, my Time iClic cleats that are on my Sunday bike have been pony. The first set broke due to a design flaw after about 4 rides. The new ones haven't broken but the left one now needs replacing. Its mostly been used for Sunday rides so minimal touching down and significantly easier than commuting. Not good at all.

keyser__soze

prawny, I've got a pair of the Ultegra A600 'road' SPD pedals on my commuter and they feel better than the M520s I tried.

Will probably go back to SPDs and swap the pedals round on the best bike for weekend/sportive use. Only takes a minute to swap them and I'm far more confident clipping in/out of the SPDs. Now to find some stiff carbon-soled mtb shoes on clearance somewhere as the M076s are very noodly compared with my road shoes.

prawny

Yeah I could definitely feel the cage when my old 424s were on my MTB. Will give them a whirl at the weekend and report my findings.

Mark Bom

I only use SL's but my commute is fairly constant and I don't have to start and stop lots.

I've got a short walk at the end but I leave a pair of knackered old flip flop/sandals where I park the bike and slip these on for the walk. No-one would want to nick them and I wouldn't care if they did! Saves a little wear and tear on the cleats though.

Also, swap the left and right cleat over now and then to even up the wear.

keyser__soze

Mark Bom wrote:

Also, swap the left and right cleat over now and then to even up the wear.

Good idea!