What are All of the Clipless Cleating Systems?
 

Are there any other systems for cleating the shoes into the pedal? I had a thread about the SPD's the other day.

I learned that the meaning of the clipped pedals is the strap over and buckle down across the top of the shoes, so the cleat style is therefore "clipless." But I've seen various kinds of clipless, therefore I posit the question. :thumb:

Look
https://www.wigglestatic.com/product...=430&h=430&a=7

Time
https://merlincycles-img.s3-eu-west-...oad_cleats.jpg

Speedplay
https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1Xhted...pg_640x640.jpg

Shimano SPD-SL
https://content.competitivecyclist.c...101/SMFLMO.jpg

Crank Brothers
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....EL._SX425_.jpg

Speedplay Froghttps://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4ed2ef028b.jpg

Speedplay SYZR https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...656724aa9f.jpg

Its a little more complicated than that.

In the "old" days you had toe clips +cleats to keep your feet secure. Toe clips attached to the pedal and included a strap that could be tightened. Cleats were simple slotted brackets that were nailed to the bottom of a leather soled shoe that would fit over the back plate of a frame style metal pedal.

Toe clips were somewhat useful without cleated shoes in that they would keep your feet in place most of the time without cleats although you could pull your feet out backwards quite easily. Slotted cleats were completely useless with toe clips.

Modern systems have cleats that are attached to the shoes, yet the pedals have no toe clips, hence clipless.

3 bolt or 2 , its down to just those ... BITD you Nailed the cleats on the bottom of Leather soled cycling shoes..

One thing to keep in mind is rotational movement on the pedal or float.
On my road bike, I use SPD-SL yellow cleats on the bottoms of my shoes because they have 6 degress of float. There are also red and blue with 0 and 2 degrees of float.
If you have a straight pedal gait, for lack of a better word, you can get by with the 0 and 2 degree float cleats. If these are not adjusted right, you can get some knee pain due to forcing your knees one way or the other.

Some cleat/clipless systems have adjustable float.

Now on my mountain bike, I use crank brothers egg beaters and they seem to have a lot of float. I like them as they are easy to unclip when you need to quickly get off of the bike, hold tight on the upstroke and can be clipped in by pushing front or back.

Interesting site showing history of some clipless systems coming into use.

Technically, that's not right, since Speedplay road cleats are actually 4 bolt. Most shoes are still 3-bolt, so the speedplay cleats come with adapters, but there are some speedplay 4-bolt shoes out there too.

A correction would state “most all shoes designed to be used with clip less systems come as 2 bolt or 3 bolt”. Adapters can be used for other systems

Sounds fair to me.

Since the OP's thread seemed to be about laying out base-level knowledge of clipless cleats and shoes, I just wanted to make it clear that it's not as simple as "buy clipless shoes" and "buy clipless pedals" since there is a variety of compatible and incompatible systems.

In my bike closet now I have a set of 4-bolt shoes that won't work with any pedals I'm running, and I have some shoes that are 2- AND 3-bolt, but some other shoes that are 3-bolt-only. Recently, I stupidly bought SPD pedals to run with a specific set of shoes, without realizing those shoes wouldn't work because they won't do 2-bolt cleats.

I'm running over a dozen of the original Look Deltas, tho a couple are knock-offs.
Prefer the red cleats with float.
The black ones are what (I think) used to be called Track cleats.
I would rate their reliability and pedal durability to be exceptional.
Use rubber cleat covers to extend the life of the plastic cleat.
Easy to buy inexpensively as used.

An important consideration for me when making the decision as to Which Type?, was the size of the contact area between the shoe and cleat to a solid pedal platform. From my experiences the 3-bolt felt more effective in distributing the pedaling forces across the bottom of my foot. Clearly, the sole of the shoe thru stiffness+fit is the primary factor, but pedal/cleat size put me on Look back in the 80s.

Others will have different experiences, especially the mountain bikers.

With the exception of one MTB clipless pedal system road clipless pedal systems waste less energy.

Types of clipless systems covered in detail by others.
No such thing as 'clipped pedals' but we know what you mean. Which is pedals with toe clips. Traditional toe clips used straps but there were/are also half clips without straps. Generally, toe clips could be used with or without cleats on the shoes. I never used them but did use shoes designed for bicycling without cleats.

Thanks. I'll check all these out. :thumb:

In the USA I've been using Look Deltas on all my road bikes for the past 20 years, In the Philippines I just started using CB on my fatty and adventure bike. I like the look better because I am used to them and I like the more conspicuous "click" so I know I am clipped. The CB have the advantage of being used with MTB shoes so you can walk around without cleat covers.

Elegant road cyclists use Look. Philistines use that other dreck.

Welp, I have concluded I want to be down with the egg beater conspiracy considering all other choices on every side of the spectrum. Hehe. :backpedal: