Shimano Shoe Rehab

[jcstilley]

Last week I got a pair of Shimano shoes that I had won on ebay for $25. They are carbon soles, but I didn't know they would need work.



First, the inserts to screw the cleats into were all gone except for the metal plate in the middle. Also, the heel pads came off with almost no effort. So that left me with a bigger project than anticipated. That meant taking the shoes to work and drilling out the rivets.



The thought of trying the Sidi replacement pads did creep into my head. But at the end of the day, I decided that spending $15-20 on something that might not work was not a good idea. Then an idea hit me right between the eyes. Why not just make my own heel pads? At first, I thought of using plastic but I was afraid of slipping. Then idea #2 hit me. Why not use a hockey puck? After all, pucks are made out of vulcanized rubber. The same material as tire tread on your car.

After finding a puck that was sufficiently beat up, I traced a template of the pads that came off.



Then I traced around the template with a Sharpie on the puck. Next, it was cut with a knife.



After drilling what would become screw holes, it was time to start cutting.



The result of careful cutting with a hacksaw is shown below. That process took roughly 45 minutes.



Since the puck is 1" thick, it had to be cut in half to get it to a usable size. After bisecting the pieces, it was time to shape them with a sanding drum attached to a hand drill.



After sanding...



As I had mentioned before, the cleat inserts were gone when I got the shoes. Thankfully, my local bike shop gave me a handful of them when I explained my situation. I had a few left over after putting the inserts in for where the cleats go. So, I drilled the hole for the heel pads out to accommodate the inserts.




When I put the inserts into their new location, another problem arose. The uppers started to separate from the soles. So the next day I brought the shoes to work and put them back together with epoxy. Clamping them together for a few hours helped too.

While the epoxy was drying, I did final shaping and thickness sanding on the heel pads. They are probably about 1/4" - 5/16" thick. I also countersunk the holes in the pads for the new screws. After finding a couple of 10-32 X 1/4" screws, the project was completed.


The finished product!




Do they look absolutely perfect? No. But they definitely will serve their purpose. And I couldn't beat the price of materials... free! And I also like the fact that I was able to get three sets out of one puck. And the screw setup instead of rivets is nice too. I will try them out tomorrow and let you know how they work.