Cleat Positioning

Sometimes, usually not. Ünless they are using the same mould /pattern for the soles.

I usually measure things like ankles and toe joints etc

But my shoes tend to last me a decade, so i don't need to do it often.

I find most shoes have the cleat pocket too far forward for me even with the cleat as far back as possible. Exceptions are fizik terra range that have lots of adjustment so you can get the cleat right back under the ball of the foot

Four of my Shimano shoes have been identical except a newer pair of XC3's. Got them sorted though.

Shimano have various different outsoles. Cleat position is probably similar between say the old ME7 shoes and current MW7 winter boots, but completely different for the XC7. I would have to drill the cleat slots further back to use the XC7 because they're much further forward.

As rocketdog says, most cleat slots in shoes are too far forward, you can buy cleat extenders though

These Cleat extenders didn't work for me. What other types are there?

Surely the best thing to do is measure them - maybe wear them all while standing on something that'll show the imprint?

It's best to ignore cleat position relative to the slots, and pay attention to where they sit in relation to your foot. Cleat slot positions do vary from shoe brand to shoe brand.

I have long arches and can't have my cleats way back like a lot of people want now - my feet are in agony if I do. So that rules out brands like Fizik and Crank Brothers for me - their cleat slots are too far back. Giro and Shimano suit me, with slight differences in cleat slot position. But I just set the cleats up so they sit under the right point on my foot, rather than the same position on the cleat slot.

Huh, never seen cleat extenders like that. Looks like the cleat would be raised and too far back for the pedal to contact the shoe lugs, which isn't great.

Further to my post last night I did buy Shimano XC7. But as above if I drilled the cleat slots back further the lugs didn't extend back far enough to contact the pedal, so I returned them. This is a method I've successfully used with other brands though.

Usually I just set two shoes (one old and one new) vertically on their heel sole to sole and look down inside to see if the cleat position is the same.

Most cleat positioning is based on road bike geometry.

For mountain bikes, the pedal needs to be further back under the arch of your foot making it easier to drop your heels.

Making this change has massively transformed my confidence descending.

Most cleat positioning is based on road bike geometry.

For mountain bikes, the pedal needs to be further back under the arch of your foot making it easier to drop your heels.

Making this change has massively transformed my confidence descending.

I use the same setup on my MTB, Gravel and Road bikes - cleats set as far back as the shoes allow, multiple shoes but always Shimano M540 SPD's.

I use one of these:

https://www.tweekscycles.com/ergon-tp1-pedal-cleat-tool-557137/

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Set up shoes, new shoes, winter boots, repeatable every time.

I have often thought about dremelling out the slots a bit further back on my SPD shoes. I wear them for my XC bike and whilst they generally feel ok for hard efforts uphill and pedalling, it creates so much calf strain on longer downhills, and somehow feels quite insecure too.

Huh, never seen cleat extenders like that. Looks like the cleat would be raised and too far back for the pedal to contact the shoe lugs, which isn’t great.

They were originally for road pedals/cleats, the MTB thing is altogether more recent. And not as robust.

Though midfoot positioning does give you a more stable/controllable foot position.