The ratchet on my bike shoes (yes, they are non-tri shoes) busted to pieces this past weekend, 1 week out from my last A race of the year. I can get them on OK but they won’t come off without a flathead screwdriver. This will make the flying dismounts very difficult. They had a good run of almost two years and 10,000+ miles.
So now I need to get new cycling shoes, will most likely buy tri-specific shoes this time around. Is there a reliable way to make sure the cleat position is exactly the same on the new shoes? I had my old setup fit and dialed in perfectly, so I’d rather not screw it up with 5 days to go until an A race. Any tricks that anyone knows of to install the cleats so that they are in exactly the same spot on the new shoes?
New shoes are going to feel totally different anyway. Best thing you can do is try to line the news ones up with the old ones as you put the new cleats on.
My 4-year-old bike shoes had the sole separate from the shoe about 10 days out from IMCDA in June. I had been wanting to try some LG Tri Air shoes, so I hunted a pair down and bought them. Only got 2 rides on them before the race, and the cleat position was a little different, but I ended up having a good bike split, for me anyway.
Maybe someone can give good advice on how to preserve your current cleat position. Good luck.
Never having done it myself, I’m not sure but the best way I can think of…
-since you dont know that the location of the holes is “standard” between shoes- any measuring from there might be futile
-if its the same brand and the same sole (might luck out if you went sidi- cause their soles are all very similar if not identical) then you can try measuring from various points on the shoe to nail down the location
-lots of shoes have some form of markings on them to give a location of the cleat- these may be useful
-trace the cleat on your old shoe with some sort of scribe- or the tip of a sharp knife- so when in doubt, you know dead nuts where it belongs on your old shoe
-pop the cleat off one shoe, and install on your new one- and just compare the old shoe with the cleat on it, to the new shoe with the cleat… and then look at the traced old shoe without cleat vs the new one with.
-keep on doing this till you’re happy. then pull the second cleat off your old shoe, and keep comparing it side by side- vs the new shoe with cleat, and vs the old shoe with the traced mark…
of course- im not a wrench, or a guru, i dont work in a shop, and i dont know of any other way cept this… http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055371481
and i have no idea who those people are- or what their qualifications are either
mostly… i needed a break from work, so i tried to answer to my best ability
good luck this weekend- where you racin? I’ll be at timberman
Hey I am racing TimberMan too. Thanks for the suggestions - I’ll try it out and see if I can make it work. Certainly not the worst thing that can happen the week before a race, so maybe I have exhausted my bad karma early.
They’re Specialized Comp road shoes - the black ones with 2 velcro straps and a buckle w/ a red ratchet. I am wondering if perhaps the Specialized TriVents have the same soles.
Put your new shoes on; wear them and ride a bit without cleats…so your foot finds its own position within the shoe.
Mark the locations of the inner and outer metatarsal(?) heads of your feet onto the outside of the shoe-your foot should have some obvious reference points. Note the position of these in reference to the cleats on your old shoes also. Transfer cleats. Roll old shoe reference point and cleat markers against new shoe with cleat on; adjust.
I will also leave the cleats just a bit short of tight during their maiden run believing that muscle memory will slip them into a position like the old one.