Worn cleats

[Tin Pot]

How can you tell when your cleats need replaced? Finding it more difficult now to clip in although clipping out is easy. I walk a little in my cleats so not sure if they just need replaced. How long do they normally last?

I think mine could do with replacing - 2-3000km on them iirc:

 

[Dec66]

I think mine could do with replacing - 2-3000km on them iirc:
View attachment 122595

Is that 2-3000km of jogging on them?

 

[Racing roadkill]

I've read where "proper" cyclists take the fewest possible steps in their cycling shoes. Such as they ride right up to the car, door or cafe and take fewer than six steps off their bike. As close to your destination as possible so you maximize your ride and time on the bike. Or were they kidding? Do you know riders like that?

Oh no, I know people that will ride into the pub / cafe, in order to not have to walk about.

 

[Blue Hills]

And SL are nothing like the metal MTB SPDs that many favour. They have a three-point fixing rather than two, and stand proud of the sole of the shoe. The MTB type can be recessed into the sole of the shoe. The mountain bike type are metal and shaped a bit like an arrow head: the SL road type are plastic and quite soft.

Yes, that's why i use mtb cleats - no duck walk for me.

 

[Ajax Bay]

@Tin Pot 's posted images nicely demonstrate my point:

may well find that one cleat wears down faster than the other - normally the one you tend to unclip first at a stop

But the vast majority of people will replace their cleats 100s of km before they get to that state. When there's a bit of black showing through on any of the three yellow bits, replace. If you're completely skint, swap them over at the very least, when they're approaching that point. I assume that @Tin Pot carries his philosophy across to his rubber, and waits till he's had a good few p***tures in his Gatorskins before replacing it, despite there being cuts all around the tread, some deep.

 

[Globalti]

Serious question: I have always used Look Keo pedals and cleats but I've been less than impressed when the RH pedal has unscrewed itself from the cartridge and cleats have worn and started creaking after only a few hundred miles. I got new pedals from Look but I'm thinking about changing to Shimano road pedals next time. Has anybody got experience of both and which would they recommend?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Serious question: I have always used Look Keo pedals and cleats but I've been less than impressed when the RH pedal has unscrewed itself from the cartridge and cleats have worn and started creaking after only a few hundred miles. I got new pedals from Look but I'm thinking about changing to Shimano road pedals next time. Has anybody got experience of both and which would they recommend?

i actually prefer look deltas to the keos. i've only got keos on the best bike because they go with the colour scheme

 

[User6179]

@Tin Pot 's posted images nicely demonstrate my point:

But the vast majority of people will replace their cleats 100s of km before they get to that state. When there's a bit of black showing through on any of the three yellow bits, replace. If you're completely skint, swap them over at the very least, when they're approaching that point. I assume that @Tin Pot carries his philosophy across to his rubber, and waits till he's had a good few p***tures in his Gatorskins before replacing it, despite there being cuts all around the tread, some deep.

The yellow bits are not wear indicators , they just keep the important part of the cleats of the ground , you could remove them without any issues as long as you didn't walk in them , the bit that wears is the bit between the yellow bits at the back of the cleat.

So I wouldn't go by the yellow parts for wear , you could get another 1000 miles out the cleats with the yellow parts missing .

What usually happens to me is the bit at back between the yellow part wears down till it is only a few mm thick then I stand on a small stone or something and it deforms so you cant clip in, I take out my multi tool and force the plastic back into shape then change them when I get home .

 

[Ajax Bay]

The yellow bits are not wear indicators , they just keep the important part of the cleats of the ground , you could remove them without any issues as long as you didn't walk in them , the bit that wears is the bit between the yellow bits at the back of the cleat.

Even if (as you assert) they are not designated 'wear indicators', effectively the yellow bits are useful for just that: indicating wear.

But one does walk a bit in cleats so well worth having some yellow there to "keep the important part of the cleats of [sic] the ground". So when the yellow's worn through somewhere, change them (with the left/right tweak mentioned earlier), before the important rear clip-in ridge is at greater risk of suffering damage/deformation. Unless you want to run them right into the ground and 'get another 1000 miles out of them' (which for my part I doubt is valid).
When do you change your tyres? When you can actually see the threads through the tread? Not if you're sensible and want to avoid sitting by the road struggling with a tight tyre/rim fit.

 

[User6179]

Even if (as you assert) they are not designated 'wear indicators', effectively the yellow bits are useful for just that: indicating wear.

But one does walk a bit in cleats so well worth having some yellow there to "keep the important part of the cleats of [sic] the ground". So when the yellow's worn through somewhere, change them (with the left/right tweak mentioned earlier), before the important rear clip-in ridge is at greater risk of suffering damage/deformation. Unless you want to run them right into the ground and 'get another 1000 miles out of them' (which for my part I doubt is valid).
When do you change your tyres? When you can actually see the threads through the tread? Not if you're sensible and want to avoid sitting by the road struggling with a tight tyre/rim fit.

The yellow parts dont contact the pedal when cycling only when walking , if the yellow parts are worn and the lip on the cleat is worn at the same time it is just coincidence as one is worn through walking and the other through clipping in and out .
I change my tyres when I can see the tube :-D