Attaching SPD cleats

[latelatebloomer]

Hi, everyone, and Happy New Year. Haven't been on the forum much recently and miss it, but I'm trying to finish 2 books and let me tell you, the only more crazy-ambitious idea than me riding a century this year is this silly idea I had than I could write a novel. I hear the laughter from Mt. Olympus even now! However, I have been going to the gym and spinning my little heart out, doing my best to lighten up the bod for for the road when spring returns.
Santa came a little late this year, in the shape of me finally buying mtb shoes with the idea of getting used to clipless in spin class and getting clipless pedals either for my hybrid or possibly my first (second hand) road bike in April. So! I pick up my shoes from the little LBS and kind fellow realizes that I don't know that the shoes don't come with cleats, and that I'm not getting pedals (didn't know that the cleats come with the pedals, apparently there is just no end to what I do not know. again.) So he throws in a little baggie with some slightly used SPD cleats.
Now I'm sitting at my kitchen table with the components and realizing there are a LOT of ways to do it wrong. Can LLB's smart sisters tell her how to install them correctly, or should I hand this job over to someone experienced? I can't afford to damage anything.
I'm like a little kid - I keep going to look at the shoes and petting them. I probably paid too much, but this LBS has fixed my bike several times at no charge even though I didn't buy my bike there, and I felt like I should give him my shoe business. They're Diadora Piccantes, and they're so comfy, at least to walk in, that I want to wear them everywhere. Now I have to go pet them again.:

[Trekhawk]

Hey mate - Im sure someone here can give you some advice on installing those cleats but if not just ask the nice man at the bike shop. Its not a big job so Im sure he wouldnt mind.

Now stop petting those shoes and get back to your writers garret.

[mtkitchn]

I'm glad you asked this question, because I have a related one (don't mean to hijack your thread).
I installed cleats on some new bike shoes I got on ebay (look type, I think). Anyway, it seems there is another bracket for a different type cleat on the bottom of the shoe, and it rattles around while I'm riding and walking. How do you stop that rattle? Glue? Or did I install my cleats wrong?

Here's a link to a thread about speedplay cleats:
http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/reviews/speed0.shtml

And a link to the type cleats that I have:
http://www.nashbar.com/tech/pdf_files/VENTOUXR.PDF

Not sure if this will help you or not, but the second link is about all the info that came with my pedals and cleats!

[bikerz]

Hey LLB (sorry no help from me on the cleats, but...)

Hurray for you writing a novel!!! Your handle made me think of British author Penelope Fitzgerald, one of my favorite authors. She didn't start writing until she was in her 60s, then wrote one excellent book after another. Here's what her Houghton-Mifflin blurb says:

Penelope Fitzgerald wrote many books small in size but enormous in popular and critical acclaim over the past two decades. Over 300,000 copies of her novels are in print, and profiles of her life appeared in both The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. In 1979, her novel OFFSHORE won Britain's Booker Prize, and in 1998 she won the National Book Critics Circle Prize for THE BLUE FLOWER.

Though Fitzgerald embarked on her literary career when she was in her 60's, her career was praised as "the best argument.. for a publishing debut made late in life" (New York Times Book Review). She told the New York Times Magazine, "In all that time, I could have written books and I didn’t. I think you can write at any time of your life."

Dinitia Smith, in her New York Times Obituary of May 3, 2000, quoted Penelope Fitzgerald from 1998 as saying, "I have remained true to my deepest convictions, I mean to the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as comedy, for otherwise how can we manage to bear it?"

So like TrekHawk says - Back to the garret! (but you can wear the comfy bike shoes, I guess!)

[latelatebloomer]

Thanks for turning me on to Fitzgerald, BikerZ - I definitely have to give her books a try. Houghton Mifflin is my publisher, too - children's book department, though.
Regarding the shoes, I'll either take them back to the shop, or more likely, to the gym. I guess I'm still the same kid who wore her new cowboy boots with her pajamas all Christmas morning.

[alpinerabbit]

My local storeowner, who knows I did not buy my bike there, nor my shoes, sold me SPD cleats separately, installed them and even marked the position of my look cleats to re-install come summer.....

[kiwi girl]

latelatebloomer

here is a link to a shimano pedal pamphlet - it has information about attaching cleats

http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/co...pd_m515_si.pdf

mtkitchn

If you look at the pamphlet too - one possibility is that your shoes already came with the cleat nut for spd type cleats under the sock liner - lift the sock liner (insole) out and have a look. If there is a cleat nut it should just lift out. If that isn't what it is then I am out of ideas

[latelatebloomer]

Thanks, everyone. I did download the flyer, and decided to wait (so hard for me to do when it comes to new toys!) for my favorite spin instructor. Glad I did, 'cause he installed the cleats, gave me a little primer before class, kept an eye on me and spent a 1/2 hour re-adjusting until he was satisfied. No one else, no matter how helpful, would have been so detail-oriented.

Now I have to get used to the feeling of my effort/weight being born on a smaller area of my foot. As I wrote to Trekhawk, I'm no Cinderella! But this "next step" is very exciting.

Also, I looked in the mirror today...and I think I'm beginning to have a waist!

[LauraPaura]

I have a question related to this...
I have heard that the position of the cleat affects the muscles that are used when cycling. Does this make any sense

So when the cleat is for example in the front of the shoe (I mean of course in the slot that is made for it..) riding would effect more on the front of the thigh and so on. Does anyone know if this is true and if so what are the different positions and their effects?

Oh dear I hope someone can at least understand what I´m trying to say..

[DeniseGoldberg]

I have a question related to this...
I have heard that the position of the cleat affects the muscles that are used when cycling. Does this make any sense

So when the cleat is for example in the front of the shoe (I mean of course in the slot that is made for it..) riding would effect more on the front of the thigh and so on. Does anyone know if this is true and if so what are the different positions and their effects?

Oh dear I hope someone can at least understand what I´m trying to say..

The position of the cleat should be relative to your knees and not relative to the muscles that you are working. If you move the cleat forward or backward from your ideal position, I believe that you are opening yourself up to injuries.

I'm sure someone who is more experienced with bike fitting can supply more details.

--- Denise

[SadieKate]

I believe ultra distance cyclists will often place the cleat more to the back of the shoe. There is a loss of power but it is more comfortable for the long distances they ride.

Improper cleat angle is probably more to blame for injuries.

http://www.ultracycling.com/equipmen...f_contact.html

[LauraPaura]

Thank you very much for that link, I'll need to study it carefully. Too bad that it's not outdoor cycling season here in Finland so I have to wait three four more months to be able to test it out

Except for the place of the cleat which I will test in the next spinning class. I've actually been wondering if I should have the cleat further back..