Road Cycling

Martynt74 · 6 Jul 2025 at 19:26

Anyone else convince themselves it makes sense to keep the old bolts/inserts when changing cleats?

Just fitted some new ones as mine get destroyed walking on gravel (started wearing slides to the front gate and then putting shoes on there).

Looked down at the spares from my old cleats and was about to shove them in a drawer before I remembered I’ve probably done this with the last 3 sets and never needed them!

Also first time fitting some with one of those cleat positioning things I bought for £4 from Ali express. Made life super easy to get the placement.

fez · 6 Jul 2025 at 20:39

Martynt74 said:
Anyone else convince themselves it makes sense to keep the old bolts/inserts when changing cleats?

Just fitted some new ones as mine get destroyed walking on gravel (started wearing slides to the front gate and then putting shoes on there).

Looked down at the spares from my old cleats and was about to shove them in a drawer before I remembered I’ve probably done this with the last 3 sets and never needed them!

Also first time fitting some with one of those cleat positioning things I bought for £4 from Ali express. Made life super easy to get the placement.

The thought is always there but I have never had to use an old bolt or cannibalise a new set because something happened to one. In the bin they go. How on earth some people get 6000km or whatever they say out of a single set. I break the little coloured bits off the back within a few weeks, often on first use and within 3-6 months I have wrecked them.

Martynt74 · 6 Jul 2025 at 20:55

I think it’s the typical man approach to put them in a drawer for a “what if” but I’ve got far too many random bits I have no idea what they were originally for!
Made more apparent by the fact I keep moving house and taking it around with me!

fez · 7 Jul 2025 at 09:32

Martynt74 said:
I think it’s the typical man approach to put them in a drawer for a “what if” but I’ve got far too many random bits I have no idea what they were originally for!
Made more apparent by the fact I keep moving house and taking it around with me!

Yeah, we should be moving house at some point soon and I am dreading the move. So much crap. The loft is full of my partners toot and I have 2 sheds worth along with a lot of drawers.

Martynt74 · 7 Jul 2025 at 09:53

fez said:
Yeah, we should be moving house at some point soon and I am dreading the move. So much crap. The loft is full of my partners toot and I have 2 sheds worth along with a lot of drawers.

We cut everything right down and only moved over here in a LWB Ford Transit, but i seem to have been slowly accumulating stuff again. I keep acquiring wood from Facebook on the basis it might come in handy for a project. Our next move was supposed to be to our actual house but now we're having to move to another rental and it's resulting in a lot of crap having to be moved again!

SoliD · 7 Jul 2025 at 15:27

Yes, all the time just in case one falls out! plus some bolts are longer.

Martynt74 said:
Anyone else convince themselves it makes sense to keep the old bolts/inserts when changing cleats?

Just fitted some new ones as mine get destroyed walking on gravel (started wearing slides to the front gate and then putting shoes on there).

Looked down at the spares from my old cleats and was about to shove them in a drawer before I remembered I’ve probably done this with the last 3 sets and never needed them!

Also first time fitting some with one of those cleat positioning things I bought for £4 from Ali express. Made life super easy to get the placement.

thor · 7 Jul 2025 at 16:10

My road bike has developed a clicking noise when pedalling (more so on the push down rather than pull up) and also has, what I can best describe as, a "squelchy" sound

, all coming from the pedal / gear region. It's not massively noticeable but still annoying, so wanted to ask for any tips on what I should be looking for to get rid of it? I should mention that my knowledge of bike maintenance is pretty much non-existent..

Roady · 7 Jul 2025 at 16:54

Martynt74 said:
Ooof, got a reply from Lightcarbon on their frame. $565 inc fork/seatpost. $70 less without a fork

Just waiting for an update on shipping costs and also some carbon wheels, but they'll prepay import fees to avoid any surprises which is also decent.

Could get it hand painted with a picture of my dog

So just under €1500 for frameset, forks and wheels, all bearings - so just need to add a groupset. Seems a very good price. Don't know the cost of components for you (they tend to sound quite high in EU compared to UK prices), can you get a full Ultegra groupset for €1400? So likely all built up for a bit over €3000 (£2600) if you did it yourself for a standard build.

Ironic Namesake said:
Done 153km so far this week in the evenings - feels good to be active again. Although as T1 diabetic I’m shocked how many carbs I need for an hour ride - about 120g or so .. not sure if it’ll help me to loose weight if that’s the case!

Welcome back and great work! That's a decent figure to be getting back into things with. You'd be surprised about weight loss even putting that many carbs in - always tell yourself muscle weighs more than fat!

Gotta fuel the system - you know that and certainly more aware of it than most others when starting out. Be extra careful if you consider running any deficit, almost safer not to, just keep enjoying the ride!

Martynt74 said:
Anyone else convince themselves it makes sense to keep the old bolts/inserts when changing cleats?

Only 3 old sets? I've got a whole assos creme pot full of them! Actually used a bunch of them when reassembling the kids outdoor swing this year - perfect length and stainless. Also have an old biscuit tin full of various small nuts and bolts which always comes in handy...! I'm trying hard not to become a hoarder - but nearly everything bike bolt+fastener is worth keeping.

Have to admit I've not lost a cleat bolt for many years. SPD seemed to be a fairly regular occurrence, would even carry spare bolts with me. Don't recall if I am anymore but might be one in my saddle bag...

fez said:
How on earth some people get 6000km or whatever they say out of a single set. I break the little coloured bits off the back within a few weeks, often on first use and within 3-6 months I have wrecked them.

Haha yeah, would be hard pressed to get 3-4 months out of a set on my commuting shoes. I've considered cleats a consumable for a while - always snap them up in deals. Look Keo - they seem to be softer plastic than SPD-SL but seem to age better while also gripping better when needing to walk in them!

UTmaniac · 7 Jul 2025 at 17:00

They're looking worse for wear, but I still have barely useable original Time ATAC brass cleats from 2006 on my dog-eared Shimano shoes from same year, while the same age Time ATAC XS Carbon pedals are still perfectly good and now on the ebike (with pair of DHB Dorica MTB shoes or PlanetX Das Boots, both with new cleats).

Roady · 7 Jul 2025 at 17:01

thor said:
My road bike has developed a clicking noise when pedalling (more so on the push down rather than pull up) and also has, what I can best describe as, a "squelchy" sound , all coming from the pedal / gear region. It's not massively noticeable but still annoying, so wanted to ask for any tips on what I should be looking for to get rid of it? I should mention that my knowledge of bike maintenance is pretty much non-existent..

Clean your cleats, check your pedals for grease/play. Probably grit between cleat and shoe, or a pedal bearing. But could equally be dirt in your BB or a worn bearing there. Could even be a broken crankarm! Certain Shimano Ultegra/DA ones from a few years back there is a recall.

Shimano Hollowtech crank failures, one year on — how the component giant's handling of this dangerous debacle is continuing to damage its reputation

It's been just over a year since Shimano admitted issues with Hollowtech cranks, but what's happened since? We hear from bike shops, cyclists, industry figures and a law firm about how the recall and 'inspection programme' has been handled by Shimano

road.cc

Basically if you're not doing any maintenance you're better paying an LBS for their time/tools/experience.

thor · 7 Jul 2025 at 17:16

Roady said:
Clean your cleats, check your pedals for grease/play. Probably grit between cleat and shoe, or a pedal bearing. But could equally be dirt in your BB or a worn bearing there. Could even be a broken crankarm! Certain Shimano Ultegra/DA ones from a few years back there is a recall.

Thanks - I guess I'll start with the cleats (they're due to be replaced anyway) and checking the pedals. If there's no improvement after that I'll hand it over to the bike shop as mucking around with the BB is beyond my ability!

labbby · 7 Jul 2025 at 17:19

That reminds me, I must change my BB... I think I might try and ignore it for a little longer lol

Martynt74 · 7 Jul 2025 at 19:19

Roady said:
So just under €1500 for frameset, forks and wheels, all bearings - so just need to add a groupset. Seems a very good price. Don't know the cost of components for you (they tend to sound quite high in EU compared to UK prices), can you get a full Ultegra groupset for €1400? So likely all built up for a bit over €3000 (£2600) if you did it yourself for a standard build.

Yeah, although i'd likely be going for SRAM to aid with mixing the Eagle 10-50 cassette with the drop bar rival shifters. Might even get it slightly under €3000k, might look used aswell as there's some deals on components. Did consider the Ltwoo/Wheeltop options but they don't work out that much cheaper than SRAM once you factor everything in.

Not having much joy with Mondraker, new frameset is due August. Doesn't seem like anywhere local has any stock and if i'm spending that kind of money i want to see it in person/demo. I'll take risks when it's cheap and Chinese but not when you get the option. No luck on direct purchases/promos either and the one local bike shop is no longer a retailer for them.

grudas · 8 Jul 2025 at 00:10

Wife rode my Boardman adv 9.2 and now that’s all she talks about and will not ride her ribble CGR 725 that we got her.

I don’t mind the ribble it does ride really nice and the 725 steel frame is a peach. But, the Boardman is my baby. And she’s just getting into cycling and refuses to even attempt clipless pedals so it’s on flats as she wanted to try the bike.

So I have a feeling that I’ve got downgraded or maybe sidegraded into a ribble steel from my carbon.

The ribble is brand new and good spec :

105 hydraulic, steel frame, mavic wheels, good finishing kit, 45c Schwalbe tires etc. But I’ve only just got some elite carbon wheels too coming for the Boardman with sram hub.

Ahhhh! Basically, I think I’ll end up on another bike yet again. As she’s set on riding the Boardman and me swapping the sensors and power metal pedals each time she wants to go out is no good.

serves me right for being nice and letting her try it.

Martynt74 · 8 Jul 2025 at 07:31

Haha that's quite amusing. What does she not like about the steel bike?

chanjy · 8 Jul 2025 at 08:41

First mistake was choosing the bike for your wife instead of letting her get one herself :cry:

grudas · 8 Jul 2025 at 09:47

Martynt74 said:
Haha that's quite amusing. What does she not like about the steel bike?

just the position/height of it, it's got quite a high stack for some reason - on paper not that bad by 15mm against boardman but it's currently sitting with 30mm of spacers on stem and reversed stem too as I set it up for her in a "relaxed" position but she seems to not like that. I'll have to play around with it..

chanjy said:
First mistake was choosing the bike for your wife instead of letting her get one herself

the idea was a bike we can both ride if/when she decides that cycling is no fun - we're both similar height so it was fine. or meant to be fine

now we're here.

Martynt74 · 8 Jul 2025 at 10:26

grudas said:
just the position/height of it, it's got quite a high stack for some reason - on paper not that bad by 15mm against boardman but it's currently sitting with 30mm of spacers on stem and reversed stem too as I set it up for her in a "relaxed" position but she seems to not like that. I'll have to play around with it..

the idea was a bike we can both ride if/when she decides that cycling is no fun - we're both similar height so it was fine. or meant to be fine now we're here.

Stem height and spacers should be an easy fix, can always put the spacers on top to avoid cutting the fork.

The fear you have now are that you buy a new bike and she steals that!

grudas · 8 Jul 2025 at 10:48

Martynt74 said:
Stem height and spacers should be an easy fix, can always put the spacers on top to avoid cutting the fork.

The fear you have now are that you buy a new bike and she steals that!

that's what I've done, dropped it by 20mm and flipped the stem - she may well prefer the more aggressive position. I initially set it up very upright / relaxed but I don't actually think she likes that, she rode my other 105 bike that's near race geo and liked it but it's too big for her and me and has been relocated to indoor duties.

As you can imagine, steel is quite nice to ride but I'm a huge fan of 1x gears so this 105 with 2x is not my thing

it'll do the job, I moved the pedals / sensors over to it for now see how I get on with it but I guarantee you as soon as my elite wheels arrive i'll be back on boardman... it's very much a first world problem.

women in general are scary, especially when they nick your toys..

jpaul · 8 Jul 2025 at 14:19

Martynt74 said:
Seems like shipping is $312 for the frame and a set of wheels

do you have vat too ?

---
lunch time success celebrating finally got the seized barrel adjuster out - was on the verge of ordering drills and tap, or fear that support would rip (even though had a wrench on it)
had spent several hours with plus-gas and wrenches at w/e babying it.

can't find a replacement online - it has a 16.5mm length M5 ?
will have to buy some of the stuff I employed to put in toolkit, rotated bike and sprayed some upwards into bolt head, nice frost pattern at tip as it travelled