Customer Reviews

Shimano SPD-SL Cleat Sets

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are the only cleats I have owned, so I don't have anything to compare them to, BUT I have had them for 3 years. I have not replaced them. I bought them as a beginner cyclist and have used them since. My cleats are a bit worn, but they still work just fine. I've probably ridden 3000 miles on these cleats, and competed in 14 triathlons in these cleats (which involves walking/running in them). So, my cleats have taken quite a beating and are still working just fine. Yes, other cleats may be easier to walk in and may hold up better, but they may not be the best cleats for riding on the road. SPD cleats are not the best road cleat nor are they easy to walk in on slippery surfaces. I like the SPD-SL cleats because they have rubber parts that stick out and contact the ground when you walk. They aren't the easiest to walk in, but if you want to walk in your bike shoes, you might consider MTB shoes instead. Personally, I ride my bike in my bike shoes and occasionally have to walk in them a few feet. I have the floating cleats, but they also come in a fixed version which are red, instead of yellow. The only downside to these cleats is that they are a tad hard to unclip. Even with the tension as loose as it will go, I find it a bit tough, but I'm now used to it and don't give it a second thought when I unclip. Sometimes they can be a bit hard to clip into, but I think that is more user error than the cleats themselves. ;) Overall, I would highly recommend these cleats and pedals for road riding.

Used my last cleats for 4-5 years before I replaced them. I like the SPD-SL much more than the SPD I used to ride. The float is nice to have over the fixed version to prevent knee pain. Get Kool Kovers to prolong life.

Previously I used SPD cleats on a road bike, which appeared to be a disaster. The platform is too small, difficult to engage, impossible to walk even a few steps and so on. They are designed for mountain bicycles and should be used properly.
Next I tried Look like cleats and pedals ( not the original Look ) which was much better but the shape of the cleat was slightly different than Shimano SPD-SL, and caused slipping during clipping on. Once slipped it was impossible to push the pedal with unengaded cleat, which caused a lot of swearing from drivers that I was sharing the road with.
Shimano SPD-SL is a winner. Much easier to engage, stay put. If you miss you still can do one or two pedal rotations going out of the way of the following cars.
One word of causion. They suit very well to Shimano shoes, but I had some difficulties fitting them to Canondale shoes, which required different screws. I did about 2500 miles with these cleats, and they still work as on the day one. Please note that I ride on routes with a lot of traffic signals, which requires constant clipping/unclipping.
I just bought another set to use with a new pair of shoes.
The landlord in the office building is very sensitive to bicyclists who can scratch marble floors with their cleats. Not a problem with these ones as they haver rubbery edges.

The Shimano Ultegra clipless pedal system (which includes the Shimano SPD-SL Cleat Sets) is is my first set of clipless pedals so I don't have anything to compare them to but they work fine and I got comfortable with them quickly.

The cleats are great but you wear them out quickly if you walk on them. If you plan on doing hiking in your bike shoes get covers! They'll pay themselves back quickly. If you don't walk in these they last a really long time. I've been a Shimano user for 6 years and I'm not switching any time soon and I like the float too. Not too much, not too little.

Cleat mounts with included screws and washers. Must be torqued adequately to keep from moving during release. NO movement when cleat engages pedal. Just like the old clips - which is what I was looking for. Less heel movement to release from pedal (smaller angle to rotate heel thru).

These are the standard Shimano cleats that wear out and you unbolt the old ones and replace them with these. The only issue is the screws that hold them on. They come with short screws and mine need a longer screw ... I think they come with 8mm screws and I need a 10 mm for my Sidi shoes. Ultimately I found some out of a bike shop in LA (Jensen) -- $4 for screws $4 for shipping... Or if you are a true sport you can get the Titanium screws for $10 each! My old cleats were held on with a collection of hardware from various sources ... screws need to be tightened every so often. But enough about screws ...

I had these cleats for about 4 months. Now they need to be replaced.

I am really disappointed at the quality of the engineering design because the ultegra cleats do quickly wear down compared to SPDs or even Look series pedals. The color contact portions grind off rather fast. The clip in gets duller and duller as the color contact points wear down. The issue is also the fact the plastics are not cast out of the same material, there is a delamination of the two plastic layers, further complicating the durability of the cleat.

My SPD cleats lasted 10 years without an issue. As matter of fact, they still work. When I switched to Ultegras, they worn down so badly, I have to buy a new pair just 4 months in.

They are working great. I had a bit of a time as the pedal held the mounts very tightly. The system is easy and clipping in is instinctive.

Road cycling cleats are engineered to wear out over time. And, SPD-SL cleats have several very handy indicators built into them to tell you when you need to replace them. As my initial set of SPD-SL cleats neared their end I picked up these replacements to have on hand. They are a spot on match to the cleats that came with my pedals and are of excellent quality in my opinion.

SPD-SL cleats are nice in that they have built in pods to help with walking. I had previously tried LOOK cleats/pedals and found them to be a walking hazard on smooth surfaces. Not to mention they easily got dirty which affected the smooth float of the cleats. SPD-SL fixes some of these issues by keeping the smooth surface of the cleat elevated away from walking surfaces. If you walk through mud you're still going to get them dirty, but smooth surfaces or black top won't pose much of a problem anymore.

As I mentioned earlier SPD-SL cleats have built in indicators for when they need to be replaced. The one I recall off the top of my head is several marking lines along the two little pods in the back. As you walk on these those pods will slowly (or not so slowly) wear down. When you get to the last line it's time to replace them as much more wear and you'll be scraping the smooth surface of the cleat on the ground.

The yellow cleats allow some side to side float so that your foot is not locked into a single position. I find that this is ideal for me as it is gentler on my knees. The serious racers out there will probably prefer the red cleats which have no float and so you do not lose energy in side to side motion.

At my current rate of use it looks like I'll be going through about one set of cleats every year to year and a half. This seems to hold pretty true to how long it takes me to wear out a chain/rear cassette.

All in all I'm very happy with my switch to SPD-SL. I do recommend though extending the life of your cleats by purchasing some "cleat covers." These are cleat specific covers which fit over the cleat and protect them while you are walking. I used a set with these cleats at last year's MS150 as I walked on dirt, grass, mud, etc... They kept most of the crud off of my cleats providing a better riding experience as I hit the trail again.