Cleat wear...

PhildB

Got my first set of SPD shoes and pedals... - walking around on concrete, despite the recessed cleat, I am still hearing the cleat grinding on the concrete floor when it's not even (which is most of the time) - is this anything to worry about, - ie, is this still going to seriously shorten the lifespan of the cleat?

prawny

Not really, it's the ends that wear rather than the bit you walk on. I don't think I've ever replaced a set of mtb cleats, the pedals normally die first

Chunkers1980

The cleats are made of tool grade steel and last for years.

ilovedirt

Aye they'll be fine. Like prawny said, I've had to replace the pedals before the cleats.

PhildB

Cheers.

Are road shoe cleats made of different material then, as i've read people complain that their cleats have died quite quickly?

cooldad

Road cleats stick out the bottom of the shoes, not in recesses like SPDs, so if you walk on them they wear.

peter413

All the road cleats I've seen seem to be made of plastic and, as Cooldad says, stick out from the shoe so if you're walking anywhere you're walking directly on the cleat. Me and a mate walked back from the shops one time after a road ride and they were using SPD-SL's (roadie clips) and you could see that the cleats hadn't liked this little walk :shock: I was obviously fine since I was using SPD's.

Don't worry about wearing out the cleats for SPD's though, I've done plenty of walking and trailbuilding wearing my SPD shoes and the cleats are fine. They're not exactly expensive if you do somehow manage to wear them out prematurely though. That's assuming you are using SPD's and not other clipless pedals though, Time's do wear out after a year or two I found and they cost a little more for new cleats. No experience with others but I'd assume Crank Brother's is similar since they both use brass cleats IIRC.

poah

depends on the make of cleat - my time cleats have worn out in the past

ilovedirt

Last time I tried to get my cleats off my shoes, I physically couldn't. Might as well just keep them on there until the shoes wear out.

The Rookie

My Shimano steel cleats are 4 years old, used for over 4000miles on my commuter, that's 600 times walking at either end of the commute plus usage on my MTB.

Crank brothers are brass and can wear out in 6 weeks.

pilch

I have replaced shimano cleats due to wear, I tend to use multi release though, having said that they probably last a year or so, definately notice a difference when you fit new ones.