Jim, that's a really great intro you put on the video. I've had cheap shoes and $400 shoes from most brands and nearly every cleat nut needed a lot of care to get it started and not strip it, as if they're poor quality. The bolts have always been fine. I hold the cleat in place with my one hand while tightening the bolts with the other so I can feel if the cleat starts to wander off as I tighten the bolts. The cleat sometimes tries to rotate clockwise in the same direction as I'm turning the bolts or it tries to scoot forward or backward if the shoe sole's profile doesn't match the same "curve" as the cleat's mating profile. Those rectangular washers can rotate in the cleat's recess until the corners of the washer hits the sides of the recess, dig in and then the cleat wants to rotate. I really appreciate shoe companies that put good reference marks on their shoe sole.
Thanks so much, UnivegaSS, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the intro and I appreciate you watching and especially sharing your clipless cleat setup tips. You raised a really great point about cleats that don't match the profile of the shoe. Sometimes it can be so bad you have to shim the cleat or recommend different shoes to the person you're fitting. If you actually bend a road cleat out of its original shape forcing it down onto a curved shoe, it can make it hard or even almost impossible to get into the clipless pedals, too. (As you know this isn't an issue with SPD walkable cleats). You're right about reference marks on shoes, too. Having those speeds up repositioning cleats during initial installation and it helps you if one foot needs a different angle than the other. I had surgeries on my right knee so that side is a little fussy and just a little different than my left foot. Having the marks on the shoes lets me flip both shoes upside down and compare my left and right cleat to fine-tune my right, just a little bit different. One thing to watch, though is that I've seen some shoes where the stencil they used for the marks got placed a little different on one shoe. When that happens, you can't rely on the marks. But, you'd probably notice as long as you compare the left to the right shoe. Fun stuff! Thanks a lot for sharing your cleat whisperer expertise!!
Again a great video Jim, thanks for sharing the knowledge. An easy way transferring the 'ball' position on the foot is to draw a small line on the side of the bare foot straight above the ball with a marker. Then stick a small cable end cap on the mark with tape and put on you shoe. You will be able to feel the position of the cable end cap throught the leather so you can transfer that position to the outside of the shoe and then mark that position on the sole for further adjustment.
Thanks for watching, Nico, I appreciate it! And thanks so much for sharing your great tip on transferring the "ball" position - that's a good one!! Thank you!
You're right, Locks, and that's why I wanted to make this video to help people get their clipless pedals working the way they should. Thanks a lot for watching and the great comment, appreciate it!
Jim, great video idea and presentation. You've inspired me to revisit how my cleats are positioned vs. crank arm clearances/angles, and how good my fitter was at getting the ball of my foot over the axle. As you mentioned, I got additional value out of a fitting session - shims were added between cleat and shoe for one of my feet to accommodate its natural angle.
Thanks for watching and the great comment, Chuck, happy you enjoyed the show! It sounds like you've got an excellent bike fitter and it was smart to see them and get setup professionally. Good move!
Thanks Jim, great tutorial. I did a cross country ride a few years ago and soon began to feel knee pain. Finally dawned on me to loosen my pedal release and the pain went away. I'm going to check cleat position now and see how close I am with your method.
Thanks for watching and commenting, Mel. Yes, loosening the pedals can help for sure. I suffer from knee pain, too, and it helps me a lot. If one knee is more likely to hurt than the other, you may need your cleats at two different angles. I can explain more if needed, just let me know. Thanks again!
Thanks for the informative video Jim. You’ve got a real knack for explaining things, I’ll be sure to follow these steps for setting up my cleats as mine work fine for shorter rides but I’m noticing pain on lengthier runs.
Thanks a lot for watching and commenting, David. I hope my cleat tips help you dial them in and stop the pain. Two general "rules" that might help you are that if the pain is in the feet or achilles/calf of the leg area, then try moving the cleats toward the back/heel on the shoe. But if the pain is in the knee, it's probably the angle of the cleat that needs to change. Usually the reason a knee will hurt is that a cleat is basically blocked and keeping your foot from moving where it needs to to not stress your knee. If you go for an easy ride and try to feel what's going on, you should be able to feel that the foot on the painful side wants to move a little - swing heel in or heel out. If you can feel this you should be able to tell which way you need to move the cleat to create room for the foot to move in the direction it was blocked. Basically the foot can't be locked in the wrong position for your biomechanics. Hope these tips helps you get rid of any pain.
Normally 2 bolt road shoes allow a cleat position further back. Problem is, the tire/shoe clearance gets worse. Take an M540 axle, and remove the cage of an M545 off(not by hack sawing) Glue a nickel onto the hole left on the outside where the spring assembly used to be. Looks cool.You've gained 5mm of Q factor. Now you have pedal/wheel clearance which works out really well riding fixed. 2 sided pedals are usually easier to get into. 2 bolts are more sure footed walking.
Cleat bolts can be too long on Look cleats especially. Then they poke through the sole, causing hot spots in the foot. This is a big deal because it can damage nerves and cause “Morton toe” symptoms. Getting the correct length of bolts is often problematic. So what’s to be done?
@@jc10747 yes that’s true Jason and I explain the issue of long bolts in the video. You can shorten the bolts (cut or file them) or buy ones the right length. They’re usually 5mm bolts. You can buy them online, at bike shops and good hardware stores. If the cleats require special bolts, the pedal maker should sell different lengths too. Hope this helps.
@@roberthansen1431 no worries, Robert. I can explain the decision to use the pop sound effect if you or anyone else is interested. After working on this video for two weeks and reviewing the rough cut, I had this bad feeling that what had been a simple script to write had turned into a complicated, confusing video. I decided that I needed some device to alert viewers to the important parts that could easily be missed if someone wasn't paying full attention or if they only watched part of the video. My concern with cleats is that if you install them wrong you might actually hurt yourself. So I was trying to help ensure people saw the important stuff. But, I can certainly see how the pops are a distraction, too and I do appreciate you telling me that. Thank you again and thanks for watching my videos.
★ WATCH this video next to learn how to remove and install bike pedals even ones really stuck on ua-cam.com/video/M9rvqKjJZSw/v-deo.html
Jim, that's a really great intro you put on the video.
I've had cheap shoes and $400 shoes from most brands and nearly every cleat nut needed a lot of care to get it started and not strip it, as if they're poor quality. The bolts have always been fine.
I hold the cleat in place with my one hand while tightening the bolts with the other so I can feel if the cleat starts to wander off as I tighten the bolts. The cleat sometimes tries to rotate clockwise in the same direction as I'm turning the bolts or it tries to scoot forward or backward if the shoe sole's profile doesn't match the same "curve" as the cleat's mating profile. Those rectangular washers can rotate in the cleat's recess until the corners of the washer hits the sides of the recess, dig in and then the cleat wants to rotate.
I really appreciate shoe companies that put good reference marks on their shoe sole.
Thanks so much, UnivegaSS, I'm happy to hear you enjoyed the intro and I appreciate you watching and especially sharing your clipless cleat setup tips. You raised a really great point about cleats that don't match the profile of the shoe. Sometimes it can be so bad you have to shim the cleat or recommend different shoes to the person you're fitting. If you actually bend a road cleat out of its original shape forcing it down onto a curved shoe, it can make it hard or even almost impossible to get into the clipless pedals, too. (As you know this isn't an issue with SPD walkable cleats).
You're right about reference marks on shoes, too. Having those speeds up repositioning cleats during initial installation and it helps you if one foot needs a different angle than the other. I had surgeries on my right knee so that side is a little fussy and just a little different than my left foot. Having the marks on the shoes lets me flip both shoes upside down and compare my left and right cleat to fine-tune my right, just a little bit different. One thing to watch, though is that I've seen some shoes where the stencil they used for the marks got placed a little different on one shoe. When that happens, you can't rely on the marks. But, you'd probably notice as long as you compare the left to the right shoe. Fun stuff! Thanks a lot for sharing your cleat whisperer expertise!!
Again a great video Jim, thanks for sharing the knowledge. An easy way transferring the 'ball' position on the foot is to draw a small line on the side of the bare foot straight above the ball with a marker. Then stick a small cable end cap on the mark with tape and put on you shoe. You will be able to feel the position of the cable end cap throught the leather so you can transfer that position to the outside of the shoe and then mark that position on the sole for further adjustment.
Thanks for watching, Nico, I appreciate it! And thanks so much for sharing your great tip on transferring the "ball" position - that's a good one!! Thank you!
This is a great video because this is a very important part and it can make a huge difference!. Thanks thanks.. Keep it up Jim!
You're right, Locks, and that's why I wanted to make this video to help people get their clipless pedals working the way they should. Thanks a lot for watching and the great comment, appreciate it!
Very informative, and helpful to a totally green newbie.
Happy to hear it Robert. Thanks for watching and commenting, appreciate it!
Jim, great video idea and presentation. You've inspired me to revisit how my cleats are positioned vs. crank arm clearances/angles, and how good my fitter was at getting the ball of my foot over the axle. As you mentioned, I got additional value out of a fitting session - shims were added between cleat and shoe for one of my feet to accommodate its natural angle.
Thanks for watching and the great comment, Chuck, happy you enjoyed the show! It sounds like you've got an excellent bike fitter and it was smart to see them and get setup professionally. Good move!
Thanks Jim, great tutorial. I did a cross country ride a few years ago and soon began to feel knee pain. Finally dawned on me to loosen my pedal release and the pain went away. I'm going to check cleat position now and see how close I am with your method.
Thanks for watching and commenting, Mel. Yes, loosening the pedals can help for sure. I suffer from knee pain, too, and it helps me a lot. If one knee is more likely to hurt than the other, you may need your cleats at two different angles. I can explain more if needed, just let me know. Thanks again!
Thanks for the informative video Jim. You’ve got a real knack for explaining things, I’ll be sure to follow these steps for setting up my cleats as mine work fine for shorter rides but I’m noticing pain on lengthier runs.
Thanks a lot for watching and commenting, David. I hope my cleat tips help you dial them in and stop the pain. Two general "rules" that might help you are that if the pain is in the feet or achilles/calf of the leg area, then try moving the cleats toward the back/heel on the shoe. But if the pain is in the knee, it's probably the angle of the cleat that needs to change.
Usually the reason a knee will hurt is that a cleat is basically blocked and keeping your foot from moving where it needs to to not stress your knee. If you go for an easy ride and try to feel what's going on, you should be able to feel that the foot on the painful side wants to move a little - swing heel in or heel out.
If you can feel this you should be able to tell which way you need to move the cleat to create room for the foot to move in the direction it was blocked. Basically the foot can't be locked in the wrong position for your biomechanics. Hope these tips helps you get rid of any pain.
Normally 2 bolt road shoes allow a cleat position further back. Problem is, the tire/shoe clearance gets worse. Take an M540 axle, and remove the cage of an M545 off(not by hack sawing) Glue a nickel onto the hole left on the outside where the spring assembly used to be. Looks cool.You've gained 5mm of Q factor. Now you have pedal/wheel clearance which works out really well riding fixed. 2 sided pedals are usually easier to get into. 2 bolts are more sure footed walking.
Hey, thanks for watching, David and even more thanks for sharing your awesome tips, really appreciate it! Very helpful. ❤👍
Cleat bolts can be too long on Look cleats especially. Then they poke through the sole, causing hot spots in the foot. This is a big deal because it can damage nerves and cause “Morton toe” symptoms. Getting the correct length of bolts is often problematic. So what’s to be done?
@@jc10747 yes that’s true Jason and I explain the issue of long bolts in the video. You can shorten the bolts (cut or file them) or buy ones the right length. They’re usually 5mm bolts. You can buy them online, at bike shops and good hardware stores. If the cleats require special bolts, the pedal maker should sell different lengths too. Hope this helps.
Thank you ! next time leave out the pop!
Thanks for watching and the feedback, Robert!
@@JimLangley1 Sorry for the grumpy side of myself. The pop noise is distracting to me.
@@roberthansen1431 no worries, Robert. I can explain the decision to use the pop sound effect if you or anyone else is interested. After working on this video for two weeks and reviewing the rough cut, I had this bad feeling that what had been a simple script to write had turned into a complicated, confusing video. I decided that I needed some device to alert viewers to the important parts that could easily be missed if someone wasn't paying full attention or if they only watched part of the video. My concern with cleats is that if you install them wrong you might actually hurt yourself. So I was trying to help ensure people saw the important stuff. But, I can certainly see how the pops are a distraction, too and I do appreciate you telling me that. Thank you again and thanks for watching my videos.