Harvey Sachs wrote:

>>
>> 1) If an expert is someone who has done it several times,
>> been photographed doing it, and has a Genuwine Shoemaker's
>> Anvil, then I qualify.


Hey, all I need to be an expert is for someone to catch me in the act
and photograph it?! I've nailed 'em a number of times, dozen-ish, and
have an iron foot that Laurie thinks is décor but really is a manly
tool.


>> [great advice snipped] Being a cautious type, I tend to drive
>> home one nail pretty well, then check the angle against the
>> crank and the wear line, then do the rest of them.


We used to take this one step further and nail about 4 nails and have
the guy go ride it a bit gingerly to verify the correct position before
committing. We used the nails that come with the cleats for the
tentative nailing - they're usually too short to be really reliable, but
being easy to pull them out if needed is a good thing in this first
step.

Then we nailed 'em with longer nails that curve back when they hit the
anvil, making little "J" shapes.

I forget what those nails are called but we got 'em at the local Ace
hardware. Like carpet tacks but a bit more slender and a small head.
The pointy end is very slender and wicked sharp; you can press them in
by hand far enough that they'll hold still for nailing, no need to
hammer on your fingers. Also this fine point is quick to double back
when it hits the anvil.

Been a long time since I bought any. Maybe they're called "slender
carpet tacks"? Length should be the combined thickness of the sole and
cleat plus 2 or 3 mm for the J hook.

Yes they go right through the sole and are visible inside, right where
your tender feet press down. But they come out so flush with the sole
that you'll never feel the bumps unless you're akin to a certain
legume-sensitive princess.

We nailed 'em like this for track sprinters and high-mileage roadies,
and no one ever had a cleat come loose. In my experience they will
definitely come loose if you use short nails that don't double back
inside.

OK, I haven't told a story in a while but this reminds me of a good one.

When I got serious about cycling in the early 70's I had a riding
partner named Mitch. We got going in racing at the same time and we
both bought leather cycling shoes as well as the aforementioned TA
cleats. We did what you are supposed to do; ride the shoes without the
cleats until you get a mark, and then nail the cleats on using the
special nails that come in the bag with the cleats. Everything was cool
for a few rides but after a while the nails loosened up and the cleats
fell off!

Mitch's next door neighbor was an Italian immigrant. His brother, Hugo,
was a shoe maker and his shop was right on our regular training route.
Mitch had an idea that maybe Uncle Hugo could make our cleats stay put.
So he bought a new set of cleats and we stopped at Hugo's shop on our
next ride.

The place was a wonderful mess; old shoes, scraps of leather and all
kinds of crazy stuff strewn about. Hugo didn't speak a word of English.
Mitch took off one of his shoes and handed it to Hugo with a sad cleat
hanging on by a couple of loose nails. Then he handed him the new
cleats in the sealed plastic bag with the special nails. While babbling
at us in Italian, Hugo tore open the bag, spilled the sacred nails into
the palm of his hand and promptly threw them over his shoulder into
abyss of endless leather scraps. We were dumbfounded!!! This IDIOT has
just thrown away the SACRED NAILS!!!

Before we could say a word Hugo picked up a nail from his bench and
proudly held it up for our examination. It was square in cross section
and tapered over its whole length. But the punch line was that it was
easily twice as long as the sole of the shoe was thick. "Isn't that
going to stick into the bottom of my foot??? Why did we ever come in
here??? This guy is a lunatic!!!" That was the low point of or visit to
Uncle Hugo's.

Hugo pull the old cleat off with a pair a pincers. He loosened the
laces and placed the shoe on the iron foot thingy. Next he carefully
bent the cleat a bit over the edge of the bench so that it matched the
curve of the sole of the shoe... I tiny glimmer of hope that he wasn't
a complete moron. Next he brushed a thick coat of glue on the sole of
the shoe, plopped the cleat down and lined up the slot with the mark
left from Mitch's pedal... Things were starting to look up. Uncle Hugo
actually understood that the slot in cleat had to line up with the
mark... But what about those way too long nails?

Hugo started a nail with a little tap of his hammer. Then he took a
huge swing at it and drive the nail home in one swat! Hugo pulled back
the tongue of the shoe and showed us the insole of the shoe. It was a
miracle!!! The nail was not sticking out at all. It was bend around
back on itself like a capitol letter J. Uncle Hugo was a GENIUS!!!

Hugo finished the job and wouldn't take our money. On the next ride we
stopped in with a bottle of Chianti... Needless to say those cleats
never loosened up. We used those TA cleats for years after that, but
they only lasted about one season before the aluminum base plate
cracked at the middle of the slot. It was mildly annoying but at least
it was an excuse to go visit uncle Hugo.