It’s time to replace my cleats but they’re too worn to come out with an allen key. I’ve heard people suggest drilling them out. Any ideas on how to go about this? Is it just safer to take them into a bike shop and ask them to have a go?

Sharp bit & low speed.

Just need a decent (cobalt) drill and a steady hand – the ones I did the stubs still wouldn’t come out of the plate so a new plate was needed in the shoe.

Start with a small drill and get progressively larger – you are only drilling the head off not thru the whole shaft

Use the best HSS bits you can, start with a small pilot hole and then go up in 1/2 mm sizes until the bold head comes off. you should then be able to remove the remains from the shoe very easily as the heat generated will have loosened them up in the thread.

You’ll probly find that once youv’e drilled the head off, the actual thready bit may be quite loose & when you’ve took the cleat off you can get to the threads with pliers. Use a 1/4″ bit. I tend to use a fast speed but gentle pressure.

Risk with high speed is temperature building up and melting plastic or not realising your bit is blunt and you are not cutting but just heating it up.

Sadly my experience has been that new shoes are the best route… I have had no success with the last two sets…but to be fair the shoes were knackered. Good luck !!

Or – before you get the drill out, try an ‘impact driver’ with a 4mm Allen bit in it. Refreshingly low-tech, but it’s worked for me in the past.

You know those funny telescopic screwdrivers you push on and the bit spins? It’s like one of those, only with a 1/4 turn of movement – and you don’t push, you hit it with a hammer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Perimeter-Hand-Impact-Driver-Set/dp/B0041SFTNK

Oh, and grease your bolts next time! 🙂

thanks guys. That’s this evening’s entertainment sorted…

copaslip the bolts – will do much more to prevent seizing than grease

Use a small disc grinder or dremel to cut the cleat in 2.

Then use pliers / mole grips to turn the shredded bold.

In my old engineering days the rule of thumb was the smaller the drill the faster rotational speed.

When you do put the new ones in do not forget the Copperease so you can get them out later.

Keep some water nearby if your bit is not good enough or your skills a bit of you will build up heat cooling the cleat down will make sure you don’t melt your shoe

I stuck my shoes in a vice an hack sawed a slot across the bolts. Good spray off WD/GT before hand, nice big screw driver and never had a problem.

Use a Centre drill (1/4″),if you can borrow one from somebody.

They usually take out the head so no need for another drill.

before you start with the drill
Get a block of wood in the vice so you feed it in the shoe and support the back of the cleats, And try hammering a torq’s bit in, around about the same size as the 4mm allen just a little bit bigger. will normally grip, but you can always go up a size until it does.
Normall works for me.

Sharp bit, low speed, bit of cooking oil poured in to dissipate the heat.

Tip #1 Take shoes off

Tip #345 If you can get an allen key in the hole, try tightening the bolt first to break the rust seal, then soak it with penetrating oil, leave for a bit and then try and unscrew the bolt.

Before you try anything give the cleats a damn good twatting with a hammer, it may just loosen the grip of the rust and if not at least it’ll make you feel better 😀

I never mess around with the start small work up malarky, just use a nice sharp 6mm bit slow speed lots of pressure and stop as soon as the screw head turns then use some good Mole grips to get the remains of the thread out.

Lanolin works well on the threads.

If you have the dremel then cut a slot across the head of the screw and use a screwdriver.

What he just said, sometimes helps to use a hefty screwdriver with a hex bolster on it and a spanner on that. This technique has never failed me and I’ve got some pretty hideously mangled bolts out.

I use whatever drill bit looks about the right size, I clamp the shoe, put the drill in reverse (so its working to unscrew the bolt) and apply light pressure. Ps I’ve even used small old masonry bits to do this, messy but effective.

This works for me every time, it ain’t pretty but it does the job. Light dab of grease when putting the new bolts in and then a good coating of melted candle wax in and around the cleat and bolt. You can melt this out when you need to. It seems to stop the whole thing seizing up completely or it might just be something I’ve always done for no real benefit.

Erm drill bits dont cut in reverse though, so you would just mangle the drill bit and the bolt head surely?

Depends on the shoe.

If you can get in the shoe to remove the backing plate, Dremel the bolts off, blow lamp on the plate and remove the remains of the bolts with mole grips. New cleats in with a quick dab of copper slip.

If however, the backing plate is located in the bottom of the shoe, drill the bolt out as close as you can to the threads and then tap them out. Bit of a faf but when your trying to save the shoe its slow and steady.

Yonks ago a guy at work ground the bolt heads off for me, didn’t notice the melted sole til later 😯 fortunately only a bit manky, managed to refit some new ones. Not had any seize since.

Oh I did manage to over tighten and deform the backing plate on my Celsius shoes, broke my heart cutting the goretex insole open to fit a new plate.