As above, how much life should I reasonably expect to get from Shimano cleats? At present I am riding about 70 miles every ten days on them (mainly commuting) and it doesn’t seem long before my shoes are squeaking on the pedals and the cleats need replacing.

About 3 months for you. Depends how much slop/play/noise you accept though.

I like a bit of slop. Had mine for around 2 years now, riding approx 3 times per week

Mtb cleats last much longer in my experience.

Do your road cleats have wear indicators?

Seem to replace them every year to two. Same shoes/cleats get used on road commuter and mtb.

I replace when they start releasing unpredictably, not when I get a bit of a squeak – always put the squeak down to bits of shoe rubbing bits of pedal in particular weather/dirt conditions, as it never seems to happen on the MTB (running MTB pedals on both).

If you’re using road cleats, they will wear down quite fast if you walk about in them (which you don’t really want to do anyway as you’ll look like pingu and fall over a lot).

Longer than the shoes seem to!!

MTB shoes and cleats, the cleats have outlasted the shoes (~6 years).

as above only recently retired a set that were new with a pair of MP66s prob 2009?

Std SPD ones: Left about 5000 miles, Right 10000+

SPD-SL – about 2500mi
SPD – about 1000mi, although thats on MTB not commuting

I go through cleats before shoes. Probably one set every 1000 miles or so – riding all year in all conditions.

Pedals….don’t seem to wear out?!

Blimey – I seem to be a cleat-slop obsessive.
[off to swap cleats]

My commute shoes get a fair bit of walking on them, and as they wear this leaves the cleat in contact with the ground. The first cleats last ages as the shoe is new, once the shoe is worn replacement cleats last much less time as they are in contact with the ground from install. Usually go through 2 sets a year at that point until the shoe dies and gets replace with a new one. In my mtb shoes the cleats last ages as the shoe sole does not get much wear.

I walk a fair bit on mine and the cleats never seem to need changing.

In fact only the other day I had a clear out and chucked a really old pair of NIKE poobahs out, and noticed the cleats actually looked OK, so they came out and I put them in the spares box.

Don’t think I’ve ever replaced cleats! Or properly worn out a pair of cycling shoes. Retired my commuting shoes last year as the soles were coming away but I reckon they were probably repairable!

Mountain bike shoes, cleats and pedals. Left seems to get squeaky far sooner than right. I guess I get six months before my shoe starts to make some noise. Maybe I should live with the squeaking?

The number of miles you’ve cycled is pretty much irrelevant. It’s the number of times you’ve clicked that matters. Is your left foot the one you disengage when you come to a halt?

The number of miles you’ve cycled is pretty much irrelevant. It’s the number of times you’ve clicked that matters.

Not entirely sure its all due to clicking – especially on MTB. Since SPD’s have float in them, any mud/grit on a MTB will happily act as a grinding paste whilst just riding along.

On road, I guess you are right, but surely clicks/mile follows a standard deviation pattern like most things.

I’ve got a pair of mtb shoes that I still use sometimes with the original spd cleats that I bought in 1996, I’ve changed the pedals and bikes but still running these cleats!

Left is what I disengage all the time, yes.

Try swapping the cleats over for a while.

always put the squeak down to bits of shoe rubbing bits of pedal

The pedals on my CX bike have done nearly 10000 miles (on and off road), I’ve got through a few sets of cleats (probably two or three) but the pedal bodies are so worn now that even new cleats rattle.

Drop of chain oil on the entry mechanism?

Must 15k on mines easily. I buy the single release not multiple release cleats, also run the spring tension quite high. Not sure if this is relevant.

Roughly 50 times longer than crank brothers brass butter efforts! But seriously sometimes years, even when doing loads of hike-a-bike here in the Lakes they just keep on trucking like their XT trail pedals. Pity their shoes are now rubbish.

It’s the soles of the shoes that squeak on the pedals when the cleats start to wear. Lube does not make any difference! The cleats and mechanism work fine, just the shoes squeaking. Changed the left cleat yesterday and guess what, no squeaking. Swapping left and right before the squeaking starts might allow me to get more life out of each.

Try different shoes, I’ve never had this.

My cleats last years

I get many years out of spd cleats. Couple of years out of spd-sl.

I generally replace a set every six months or so, but that’s rotating through about four pairs of shoes.

I did manage to get a week out of a brand new set on the HTR550, but I put that down to the amount of walking involved.

I probably end up changing the ones in my main MTB shoes at least once a year as I seem to move my feet around a lot and have the tension turned up very tight on the pedals otherwise I tend to un-clip at the wrong moment!

Once a bit of wear sets in I get the unintended release set in 🙁

Err.. they wear out??? 😯

Yes. Quite frequently for me it would seem!