Look Keo cleats - made of cheese?

[Globalti]

I find that the cleats wear on their underneaths where they are in contact with the pedals and quite soon begin to click irritatingly on the pedals. You can make the clicking noise stop by angling your foot on the pedals to change the direction of the pedalling stresses. I reckon this happens within 500 miles of fitting new cleats. This is not the same as the damage that gets caused to the walking points by walking on rough ground. Recently I bought some good quality Keo pedals that have a metal plate as the contact point and this seems to have accelerated the cleat wear.

Anybody else think that grey plastic is actually finest fromage?

 

[derrick]

Never had a problem with them, and i do a lot of mileage with them.

 

[fossyant]

Right. There is an issue with most plastic cleats. Over time you get a build up of alloy deposits on the contact points of the cleat - the grey/black stuff you see. Over time these get polished and cause noise. The simple way is to rub them over with sand paper to remove the deposits. This effect is worsened after a wet ride, so may need cleaning more often. I find Mr Sheen is good to spray on the cleats after removing the black stuff.

It's the same with alloy steerers and the compression washer - you get black deposit build ups which cause clacking and clicking. I have to do my fixed bike about once a year.

 

[RussellZero]

Use cleat covers - they extend the life by masses, well worth it - I have a gravel drive and that seems to kill cleats fairly quickly if you dont use covers.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/look-keo-cl...m_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360183832

 

[accountantpete]

Don't you use the rubber studs in the middle of the cleat that are designed to stop this wear?

 

[Globalti]

There's an oval rubber bung in the middle of the cleat but I thought that was to be used as a position marker for when you replace the cleats. Actually yesterday I was beginning to muse that it might be the compression of that bung that was allowing the cleat to move on the pedal and click.

The cleat itself comes in two versions, with and without the grey rubber inserts for walking.

 

[accountantpete]

There's an oval rubber bung in the middle of the cleat but I thought that was to be used as a position marker for when you replace the cleats. Actually yesterday I was beginning to muse that it might be the compression of that bung that was allowing the cleat to move on the pedal and click.

The cleat itself comes in two versions, with and without the grey rubber inserts for walking.

The oval bung is to stop wear/prevent squeaking - the bit of plastic on the other side is for marking the position.

I have had no problems in 000's of miles with my Look Keo Carbons/Keo cleats - it must be the pedals rather than the cleats.

 

[Hacienda71]

I had a pair of Look Classics which started squeeking a little, that was after about 10k miles and was resolved after a bit of a clean and grease on the contact points with the cleat.

 

[youngoldbloke]

The rubber bung ('pad')* also allows access to the bolt in the 4th hole (or the very short self tapping screw I use) needed to fix the U shaped 'bit of plastic' adjustment memory to the sole of your shoe after you have finally positioned the cleat.
* "Play adjusting pad to be inserted between the cleat and the pedal, and essential for correct operation."(Keo instruction manual)