How to install and adjust cycling cleats

This is the ultimate guide on how to set up new cleats for road cycling shoes, including Shimano, Speedplay and other systems.

There’s nothing more important than your feet when cycling. That may sound like a grandiose claim, but you generate hundreds of thousands of pedal strokes in any given ride. And how do you deliver your effort? Through your feet, of course.

I can say, with utmost certainty, that cleats can influence positively and negatively the following: feet, ankles, knees, hips, the lower back and everything in between.

Experienced fitters will tell you this is not the end of the list, and I agree, but that should be sufficient for you to take notice.

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Pedalling dynamics – a brief explainer

Your foot experiences movement in all three planes when cycling, despite its fixed trajectory. In addition, the complex motion of the knee has to be taken in to consideration.

The knee joint comprises four bones: the femur, tibia, fibula (technically speaking) and patella. It’s also an organized chaos of connective tissues, cartilage, menisci, fluid sacs, and then some – it’s complex.

As such, its motion is also equally complex. It is not a simple hinge. Rather it engages in a choreographed arrangement of gliding, translating, pivoting and rotating.

Although explaining the dynamics of the knee is too complex for this article, what is important to know is that it is complicated and there’s plenty of room for error.

• Why do my knees hurt? Cycling knee plain explained, and how to treat it. 

“I like my current cleat placement” – how to replicate cleat fit on new shoes

If you already have your preferred shoe and pedal/cleat setup going that’s great. If you don’t have symptoms telling you otherwise, by all means, don’t fix what’s not broken.

Re-creating a placement using an existing shoe is simple with a Sharpie-style marker.

Trace the outside of your cleat on the bottom of your sole and you’ve got your template. Some folks just pick an edge or two, but my experience is that covering the entire cleat surface prevents any uncertainty.

Some companies offer template stickers that go over the existing cleat, but I’ve not had the most luck getting it just right.

The marker method is pretty much foolproof, unless you’re finicky about marking the bottom of your shoes (that no one will ever see… ever).

One thing to note when replacing bike cleats: they aren’t going to behave exactly like your old cleats.

Accept this and make adjustments accordingly. If you have a huge event coming up, the night before is not a good time to replace your cleats. Allow a few easy rides to get things sorted – 100 to 150 miles should be sufficient if all other things stay in the same.

The (three) axis of power

Mounting cleats to cycling shoes requires attention to all three axis/planes: fore/aft (sagittal), float (transverse), and angular (frontal).

For clarity, fore/aft refers to how close to the heel or toe the center-line of the cleat is located.

Float refers to the movement of the shoe once it’s engaged in the pedal body – the ‘heel-in’ and ‘heel-out’ motion – and the static orientation that allows it.

Last but not least is the angular position of the shoe compared to the pedal axle (aka ‘cant’, or ‘roll’, or ‘varus/valgus’).

To the front or back? How far forward or back should I fit my cleats?

The fore/aft position of your cleat is potentially the easiest to set.

In my experience, it is the least likely of the three to lead to any injuries if it isn’t just right on the first try.

The most common methodology today is to set cleats in the area of the metatarsal-phalangeal joint (MPJ) of the third toe, based on a guesstimate.

Have a look at the image above that shows the MPJ of the 1st and 5th toes. Put your shoe on and find these two bony landmarks and put a small mark to indicate their location. Somewhere between the marks is the location to centre your cleat fore/aft as a starting position.

From there, it’s been my experience that, for riders who engage in solo or long efforts – think triathlon, breakaway specialists or just-riding-my-damn-bike – moving things more to the heel is better.

For riders waiting for that burst of sprinting power in the last 200 metres, moving things towards the toe allows for a bit more springing ‘snap’.

There are other ideas to consider. The evolution of this methodology was never based on research and has only been validated by research as an artefact of its use.

I’m willing to argue that there is room for improvement in this realm and some progressive shoe manufacturers feel the same as they continue to move their cleat mounting holes towards the heel.

If you are craving a more rearward position, with most pedal and cleat systems there is no option. However, Speedplay offers a fore/aft extender plate that adds an extra 14mm of rearward placement possibility, and relatively speaking, that is a lot.

Save your knees – How much float should my cleats have?

Float is the next consideration, and this can be very tricky.

Before we even begin mounting cleats, are you aware that not all pedals are created equal when it comes to float? Some offer none and others as much as 30 degrees. Most people feel comfortable in the 6- to 9-degree range.

My key suggestion for setting cleats rotationally is to evaluate in a standing position first.

March in place a few steps and then once standing still, view the alignment of the kneecap and feet. Do they point in the same direction? Then look exclusively to the feet – are they pointed straight ahead or to one direction?

Another test: get into a seated position with your feet hanging off the edge of an assessment table or even a bedside.

Sit upright with the feet at 90 degrees to the tibia, then roll forward at the hip, do the feet rotate in or out?

Based on what is seen, set cleats to mirror the position of the feet or to facilitate the movement of the second test. Do some pedalling and see how it looks and feels. Do the pedalling feet look like the standing feet? What about the knees, do they have the same alignment they had when standing?

Medial or lateral knee discomfort as a very dull ache is a pretty good indicator you’ve not got it just right, yet.

Pretty much every system is capable of the adjustments above, with accessories. Unfortunately, only one pedal system available today (to my knowledge) is capable of managing these planes independently. The keyword is ‘independent’.

Speedplay Zero pedals allow float to be determined once on the bike. This doesn’t affect your already determined fore/aft position (or stance width), which could be compromised in a three-hole system.

Between you and your shoe

Fore/aft and float are simple in comparison to varus/valgus, roll, cant, or whatever name you give it.

If your ankle complex is not vertically stacked, you may benefit from varus/valgus wedging.

If your ankle is not vertically stacked, it is very likely that your entire foot has an angular component, and it will not sit flat on the pedal body. Due to the restrictions of the fixed trajectory, you’d be only loading one side of your foot, and this can be problematic.

Trying to decide whether you require varus/valgus wedging is no easy task. I highly recommend professional advice, but the rationale behind cleat wedging is fairly straightforward.

Again, this is an opportunity to complicate things for yourself, and it’s incredibly difficult to assess your ankle complex alone. With varus/valgus cleat wedging I strongly encourage you to seek feedback from a qualified professional.

It’s also important to mention that cleat wedging is not the same as forefoot wedging – this is a cleat setup article, so we will not address forefoot wedging today.

How to determine stance width

‘Stance width’ is the term used to describe the distance between your feet when engaged in the pedals.

When assessing the knees and feet that I described earlier, did you naturally stand with your feet wide apart or close together? When you pedal, do you feel like your feet are underneath your knees?

There really is no method for determining stance width. To some extent it’s just trial and error. Pressure mapping can add a bit of science, but that’s a fairly uncommon piece of tech for anyone to have access to.

If you suffer from IT Band issues, increasing stance width can be a useful adjustment.

If you move your knees outward at the top of your pedal stroke, moving cleats out can be helpful.

If your stance width is wide (lots of space between your shoes and the crank arms) and your knees dive inward, try a narrower stance. Note that this isn’t a catchall solution and there could be several other things going on.

Aside from fore/aft, float and canting, stance width is often overlooked, or a victim of the other three adjustments.

• Stance width: what it is and why you should care

However, if you’ve maxed out cleat adjustment, several companies purposefully offer different axle lengths to help (Speedplay, Keywin, Shimano and a few others).

Are your legs not symmetrical?

There’s one last thing to consider: you are not symmetrical.

There is a vertical component to evaluate as well, and it will require knowledge of your structural and functional anatomy to manage.

Perhaps you don’t sit squarely on your saddle or perhaps you have two different length legs (functionally or structurally). There are vertical stack spacers available to help accommodate this.

While I strongly recommend professional advice, this won’t negatively influence you nearly as much as wedging if you’ve made a poor decision. At least not in terms of a physical manifestation of pain, but that’s not saying it doesn’t influence you, because it will.

If you think you’re over-reaching on one side but the other side is better, try adding a spacer. If it feels smoother or more natural, go with it. If your body ends up telling you it’s no better than before, you’ll make an adjustment at the knee (or ankle) without even knowing, but remove the spacer if you don’t need it.

You’ll very likely need new bolts to accommodate your stack spacer, which aren’t expensive, and when it’s the right move are well worth the money.

Setting up mountain bike cleats

So far all content has been three-hole (road) focused. All the same information applies to off-road (two-bolt systems) in regards to fore/aft, float, and stance width procedures.

However, creating varus/valgus is pretty challenging on mountain bikes because the cleat contact is so minimal and the shoe/pedal contact creates stability of the system.

Furthermore, off-road riding is much more dynamic and most riders don’t find they even notice it, and subsequently don’t need it like they might on the road. Try it if you like, the wedges do exist.

Since I’ve pointed it out before, Speedplay again stands alone. It offers off-road pedals (the Syzr) that do in fact offer cleat-based canting.

Maybe it’s not important for mountain biking, but with the increasing popularity of gravel road riding and the use of mountain bike shoes, I see the feature-benefit for sure.

Check your cleats for wear

Cleats are a wear item, regardless of brand. The same can be said for pedals, with some holding up better than others.

Be mindful and check cleats once a month to look for signs of wear so you don’t find yourself in a pinch the night before your big event.

I have one request for you: keep a journal of how you’ve decided to go about messing with your cleats (or any other position metric for that matter). The above is powerful information and should be leveraged in a responsible way.

Making changes and not documenting what you’ve done leaves you armed with only the ‘ignorant shrug’ as a tool of communication and it’s scientifically proven 100 per cent ineffective, 100 per cent of the time.

This article was last updated in March 2020