I Have a pair of shimano shoes with spd-sl cleats on.
Ive got some new shoes that i want to put spd cleats on.
How do i set up the new cleats so the alignment and position is exactly the same? They are for my gnarmac / gravel bike so i can switch between road mode and offroad…

Anyone?

Ergon do a nice cleat alignment tool. The road cleats are large enough and usually have decent markings to work out how they are aligned relative to the shoe but MTB cleats are much more tricky, hence when the tool comes in. Best you can do is have one for each cleat type and try to match both although it will be pricey so I reckon just an SPD version should be enough to help.

It gets more complicated though as the two pedals will have slightly different Q-Factors, cleats plus shoes will have different stack heights, different ranges of lateral adjustment, 3 bolt shoes and cleats typically restrict rearward cleat position compared to 4 bolt shoes…. etc, etc. I think you’ll have to tinker a little but I do find the Ergon tools useful.

Does the ergon one work for time MTB and road cleats ? Not listed as an option when selecting at Wiggle.

Trial and error? Is probably going to be quicker than precisely measuring. If you’re unable to perceive a difference that way then they don’t need adjusting. Hooray.

Anyway, do you really want road SPDs on a Gnarmac bike? I wouldn’t / didn’t.

The ergon tools are poor in practice. I have a full suite of them in the fit studio but don’t use them as they have a flaw in the q factor measurement.

Best advice is to eyeball it. Spd have wide float compared to spd-sl, its the road system that needs an accurate bike fit

Sit on a table with legs dangling, give them a wiggle and shake then relax – see where your toes point – adjust cleats so they point forwards where your feet are resting.

The ergon tools are poor in practice. I have a full suite of them in the fit studio but don’t use them as they have a flaw in the q factor measurement.

Come on 🙂 It isn’t rocket surgery to work around varying Q-Factors

DickBarton – Member

Sit on a table with legs dangling, give them a wiggle and shake then relax – see where your toes point – adjust cleats so they point forwards where your feet are resting.

Pretty much exactly what I have done since 1979 with all manner of shoe pedal interface options, never had any knee pains during cycling & I’m more a rugby player build (2nd row Clifton RFC)

Don’t forget to allow for the fact that your feet will sit differently in the shoes as well.

This from Art’s Cyclery shoes how to do it with road shoes; MTB cleats can be done similarly. Per @ghostlymachine above – differences in where you feet sit in the shoe should be kept in mind, but the linked method is based on finding the ball of your foot.

Thanks for all the suggestions.. im thinking that cleat alignment tool will be quite useful. Its sort of complicated by having a slight leg length discrepancy and a shimmed cleat on one of my road shoes. Ive also just changed down to some 165mm cranks (yes im a short arse). It took a bike fit and a few tweeks to get my spd-sls set up right so didnt really want to go back and have to pay again to get some more cleats set up right…

💡 I might try using 2 different bikes to set up the cleats first to replicate the cleat position and keep switching between the two until they feel the same.. although spds feel a bit different to spd-sls

The best way to do it:

WHY BIKEFITTERS SHOULDN’T CHEW THEIR NAILS

And also this

POWER TO THE PEDAL – CLEAT POSITION