MTBF for SPD-SL cleats?

Quoted message said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months?

Eeek, can you post pictures of them?

Have you been having problems with unplanned unclips, or were the cleats
damaged from being walked on etc?

If they're shimano ones (rather than copies) then I'm sure they'd want to
know, so send a letter off along with photos of the cleats. You should get
a new pair out of it at the very least.

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

Don't walk in these or other road cleats...not made for that.

Quoted message said:

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

Thanks,

Duncan.

in message <[email hidden]>, Duncan

Smith (') said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

Do you have cleat covers? If not, you should get them, and always wear them
when in those shoes and off the bike. As others have said, road shoes are
not meant to be walked on.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If any council in the country has anything to say to cyclists
;; about cycle paths, it should be: "We are terribly, terribly sorry."
- Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 13th Sept 2006

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off
at the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and
almost into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

Steel cleats of that size would be very heavy, and lighter (softer) metal
cleats wouldn't last much longer than plastic ones, so the cost wouldn't be
justified.

~PB

Pete Biggs said:

Steel cleats of that size would be very heavy, and lighter (softer) metal
cleats wouldn't last much longer than plastic ones, so the cost wouldn't be
justified.

Surely a job for the Titanium Weenies! ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Duncan Smith" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

I have Time ATACs. They have a metal cleat (LBS told me what it was, very
wear resistant apparently). I'd not want plastic cleats, particularly on an
MTB...

Doki said:

I have Time ATACs. They have a metal cleat (LBS told me what it was,
very wear resistant apparently).

in a not particularly wear resistant sort of way... ;-/

My one beef with ATACs is the cleats do seem to wear down pretty fast,
and I seem to replace them every couple of years. OTOH, even fairly
extreme wear doesn't seem to lead to them prematurely releasing.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Doki said:

I have Time ATACs. They have a metal cleat (LBS told me what it was, very
wear resistant apparently).

in a not particularly wear resistant sort of way... ;-/

My one beef with ATACs is the cleats do seem to wear down pretty fast, and
I seem to replace them every couple of years. OTOH, even fairly extreme
wear doesn't seem to lead to them prematurely releasing.

It might have been that the cleats wear rather than the pedals. It was a
while ago now...

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

Thanks,

Duncan.

There was something wrong with those cleats. They were perhaps damaged
while mounting or had some manufacturing defect. Do your shoes have a
much different contour than the cleats? Are you super heavy? Was it
-15C and you were jogging on concrete first?

I have been using SPD-SL for a while and I am well over 200lbs and I am
more worried about snapping a pedal spindle than breaking a cleat.

Don't worry about carrying spares. Make sure it was a fluke (not you
stressing them unnaturally somehow) and replace them.

Joseph

in message <[email hidden]>, Peter Clinch

(') said:

Doki said:

I have Time ATACs. They have a metal cleat (LBS told me what it was,
very wear resistant apparently).

in a not particularly wear resistant sort of way... ;-/

My one beef with ATACs is the cleats do seem to wear down pretty fast,
and I seem to replace them every couple of years.

Mine wear faster than that - but I'm still very satisfied with them. Of
course cleats are consumables, but it isn't rocket science to have a look
at the bottom of your shoes before you put them on.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; Want to know what SCO stands for?
;; http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030605

["Followup-To:" header set to uk.rec.cycling.]

Peter Clinch said:

Doki said:

I have Time ATACs. They have a metal cleat (LBS told me what it was,
very wear resistant apparently).

in a not particularly wear resistant sort of way... ;-/

My one beef with ATACs is the cleats do seem to wear down pretty fast,
and I seem to replace them every couple of years. OTOH, even fairly
extreme wear doesn't seem to lead to them prematurely releasing.

Mine wear faster than that. I reckon I get about 18 months commuting
out of a set. I get longer on the tricycle, presumably because you
only need to clip once per journey, and don't put them down on the
ground much.

However, as noted it does indeed take extreme wear to get them to
release prematurely.

My oldest set of ATAC pedals is visibly worn on the engagement wire
bit - I reckon I've lost about 20% of the section of metal. I can't
remember how many years old they are though - when did ATACs come
out? I recall that when I bought them they were a super new system...

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

On Dec 19, 2:50 pm, Mark Thompson

pleasegivegenerously@warmmail*_turn_up_the_heat_to_reply*.com said:

Quoted message said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

Quoted message said:

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months?Eeek, can you post pictures of them?

http://picasaweb.google.com/DSmith1974/SPDSLs

Quoted message said:

Have you been having problems with unplanned unclips, or were the cleats
damaged from being walked on etc?

No problems really, the float range was getting a little wider, but no
unplanned clips. I figured the tension adjuster on the pedal maybe
needed another quarter turn (but never got round to it).

Quoted message said:

If they're shimano ones (rather than copies) then I'm sure they'd want to
know, so send a letter off along with photos of the cleats. You should get
a new pair out of it at the very least.

Thanks, though from reading further on in the thread, I must concede
that I'd contributed towards the failure.

Ah! No. Didn't know they existed to be honest. I was walking around
them a little - from bike to changing room, etc. and a jogged a paces
on occasion - shan't any more!

I'll order some Kool Kovers http://www.koolkovers.us/koolkovers.html
and keep them hooked under the saddle.

Thanks,

Duncan.

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Duncan

Smith (') said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

Quoted message said:

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Quoted message said:

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?Do you have cleat covers? If not, you should get them, and always wear them

when in those shoes and off the bike. As others have said, road shoes are
not meant to be walked on.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke)http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
;; If any council in the country has anything to say to cyclists
;; about cycle paths, it should be: "We are terribly, terribly sorry."
- Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 13th Sept 2006

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

Maybe there's an after-market plate made of metal or something?

Thanks,

Duncan.

I suspect the cleat was improperly installed. It may be that the toe
bolt was over tightened, or the curvature of the shoe is incompatible
with the cleat. It really should not have broken otherwise.

It is a nearly identicle design to the Look cleat (shimano stole it
from Look, like they steal most of their ideas), and I have known
riders to be using the plastic three hole Look style cleat for over ten
years with no breakage issues.That inlcudes walking around in them.
However, you sould repalce them yearly.

If it was overtightened it would create a stress point at the bolt and
could shear the tip off. Unless you've been jogging in concete, walking
around in them since september wouldn't have worn them to the point
where they would break. Is the curvature of the sole compatible with
the cleat? If not, the bolt at the toe could be creating undue stress
on the cleat, or the tip may be misaligned causing premature wear,
depending on the whether the radius of the sole is greater or smaller
that the cleat.

A number of years ago I had the old look MTB pedals, and I actually
broke the _shoe_ at the sole where the back two bolts attach. The cleat
survived.

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),

You should have stayed with the SPDs. I used LOOK pedals and cleats for
years before switching to SPD. I found no difference in performance,
but in terms of walking ease and cleat life, SPD wins hands down.

Art Harris

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),
and on my lunchtime ride today one of the cleats snapped/sheared off at
the toe while powering up a hill - knocking me off balance and almost
into an oncoming car.

The cleats are only made of plastic. Is the mean time between failure
only a few months? Okay, I can squeeze a spare cleat into the
saddle-bag (just-about), but now I'll always have an un-easy feeling
when climbing hills.

I've never seen or heard of this happening to any road cleat, and you
can imagine the stress that pros sprinting or attacking on hills put
on them.

Most likely you over-tightened the toe bolt, stressing the surrounding
plastic - 5Nm of torque is plenty IME. You should also check that the cleat
sits flat against your shoe, so it's not deformed when bolted on.

Another possibility is that you badly scratched that part of the cleat by
walking over something sharp. Be careful about what you walk on, and
ideally use cleat covers when you're off the bike.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Don't walk in these or other road cleats...not made for that.

Wow, how useless and impotent is that? I mean, these are intended to
be worn on the bottoms of the feet, right?

I guess the makers assume you'll be pulling your ballet slippers out of
your jersey pockets whenever you need to stop for a whiz.

Chalo

Art Harris said:

Duncan Smith said:

I got my first set of SPD-SLs this September (used to ride with SPD),

You should have stayed with the SPDs. I used LOOK pedals and cleats for
years before switching to SPD. I found no difference in performance,
but in terms of walking ease and cleat life, SPD wins hands down.

Art Harris

Recessed into a MTB sole with a metal cleat..no surprise that they are
easier to walk in, last longer...but put SPD on a road shoe, walk
around a lot...not easy to walk in, wear out...Road cycling shoes and
poedals/cleats are not made to walk in. If yer going to ride, then
walk, then ride home, recessed on MTB are the way to go. If you are
going to ride only..road shoes and pedals are whay I rec.

In article <[email hidden]>

Chalo said:

Qui si parla Campagnolo said:

Don't walk in these or other road cleats...not made for that.

Wow, how useless and impotent is that? I mean, these are intended to
be worn on the bottoms of the feet, right?

I guess the makers assume you'll be pulling your ballet slippers out of
your jersey pockets whenever you need to stop for a whiz.

Real cyclists don't stop for that. :-)