Shoe Clip Adjustments

[t84a]

I just added the SPD pedals to one of my bikes and bought a pair of MTB shoes. Is there a tutorial of how to align everything, particularly on the shoe size? Thanks

[dave_sd]

If it was a road bike I'd suggest getting fitted. If you're trail riding, you're out of the saddle so much and adjusting seat height on the fly there's no point in getting fitted, in my opinion. The main points are you don't want your heel or toe to hit any part of the crank arm or frame, and the ball of your foot should be right above the pedal spindle. You can look up bike fitting tutorials to get the general idea.

When I bought my first spds (also on my mountain bike), the dude at the trek store just put the cleats on the shoes without watching me ride or anything, and they've been fine.

[JohnV]

On a road bike, the position of the cleats is pretty critical for correct alignment of the foot on the pedals to the normal alignment of your foot in your gate. This allows the leg to move in more of a vertical line when pedaling and helps keep the knees from turning outward on the upstroke. I would imagine this holds true with MTB bikes as well. If you ever do a computer fitting to your bike, you will find that they will adjust the cleats and shim the shoes several times until they get the legs moving in an almost vertical stroke. This is when you get the most power on your down stroke.

I don't own or ride MTB bikes and don't ride off paved surfaces so I can't comment on what is ideal for MTB riders, but I can't imagine that there is too much difference between a road and MTB bike in the way the power is applied to the pedals.

[t84a]

This is a hybrid bike ridden on the road. I remember when my other shoes were fitted, the guy used masking tape to to the front to rear alignment but I don't remember the details. Also, there has to be an angle alignment test as well. Thanks for the replies.

[JohnV]

If it's a hybrid and you only ride on the road, then it would be the same as a road bike. Both my hybrid and road bike have the Shimano M520 MTB pedals and my shoes are Specialized MTB Sport. I had a computerized (Retul) fitting on my road bike because I do a lot of distance riding. It took four different cleat settings before he found the perfect spot. Of course each time he adjusted the seat height and position, the cleat setting changed as well.

[AndrewB]

t84a - congrats on getting shoes and cleats! When I did mine, it was a trial and error process over and over again. When you do get a fitting, mark the cleat outline on the shoe with a Sharpie or similar afterwards if they don't do it for you.

For me, my SPD cleats are placed dead center of my foot, and about 3/4ths of a centimeter behind the center of the ball of my foot on my mtn bike shoes that I use on my road bike.

One thing I'll mention: make sure your final setting is TIGHT to the torque specifications on the shoe. Had I known that, I wouldn't have had the cleat come loose on the shoe mid ride. I still don't know how my buddy got my shoe off the pedal.