Cleat Failure

Shimano Cleats

On my "best bike" - what was the Focus and now the Scott - I use Shimano PD-R540 pedals and cleats. These pedals are pretty cheap but the same design and style as all the other Shimano pedals. I fitted the first set of pedals in 2010 when I got the Focus and have continued to use them since then. As these are fitted to my "best bike" and it only gets ridden in better weather they get used from about March until October (or if good weather November), they don't have too hard a life. Also as they are ridden on a "leisure" rides they don't really get walked on much, unlike the SPD pedals and cleats I use on my Giant for commuting. However during the summer this year I noticed that the cleats were getting pretty worn. I certainly didn't think that they were completely worn but did accept that a new pair would be needed at some time. I therefore started to look on-line to see if there were any reasonable offers. If I was honest the price of cleats is outrageous for a little bit of plastic. Various searches showed that the cleats typically retailed at around £17-18 and a set of pedals and cleats could be got for £22-25. A chance internet surf showed PD-R540 pedals on offer for £20 from Wiggle. At this price it seems absurd to spend £17 when for £3 more one can get a set of pedals as well. So I bought a set and put the pedals in store for future use. In fact despite a few signs of scrapes etc the original pedals are in excellent mechanical condition.

Anyway the real reason for this post was that when I swapped the cleats I found that one of them was actually cracked:

Split Cleat -split just about visible

I had not noticed this until I removed the cleat. I was a bit puzzled why but realised that this cleat had one of the square washers missing:

The "square washer"

Even further thought and I recalled that on one ride  a year or so ago I had heard a tinkle noise as I clipped in. I stopped and realised that the front bolt had come out of the shoe but amazingly found it straight away and screwed it back in, carried on and clearly forgot completely about it for the next year or so. I guess what happened was that the the bolt clamped on the plastic of the cleat and as a result caused a high stress region and this is why the cleat cracked. Its a credit to the strength of the material used that it lasted ~5000 miles before cracking and was still functioning OK - perhaps this is a reason that they cost 80% of the price of a pedal and cleat set!

In terms of the cleat wear - here are a couple of shots how well I made the original set last:

Not that much wear

I have kept the original set as emergency spares - I won't use the split one but the other will suffice for  while as an interim spare