lyle.coop

I bought a new pair of five ten kestrel clipless shoes recently. I've noticed the cleat is coming a tiny bit loose on every ride. Is it safe to blue loctite the screws?

choddo

How tight are you doing them up? And I’d have thought threadlock will be fine as long as the screw heads are robust enough to get decent purchase on when it comes to removing them.

lyle.coop

I'm cranking the screws down tight. didn't use a torque wrench to measure, but they are good and tight. I'll give the loctite a shot.

wheelreason

Yeah, or turn them a little tighter. I lube my cleat screws, and I've never had one come loose,

spclark 

Blue's fine for this if you feel it's necessary, just don't use a lot of it. Purple's a little weaker, great for temporary use, but can be hard to find, or green which is similar to blue but for use on fasteners that have already been tightened to spec rather than waiting to be assembled.

I tend to prefer the gel versions as they seem easier to deal with not being so liquid as the original varieties. Blue's my most used choice.

Just Don't Use Red unless you really, really, really don't want the secured fasteners to come undone.

Kontact 

Greased threads are what is normal, and they don't come loose.

Pop N Wood

Can't say I've even had a problem with shoe cleats coming loose. Maybe a bit tighter. But second the idea of purple locktite. Sort of hard to find, most stores don't stock it, so order on line.

cuevélo

I find that cleats often come loose on new shoes as the plastic creeps and the cleats settle into place. If you go to the full 5-6Nm I think this might not happen; it is tighter than I would do by feel. I also use Loctite 242 or 243 on the screws.

jadmt

just got new shoes and cleats and I tightened by feel on what I thought was tight. I then used my handy dandy ritchey torque wrench which is factory set to 5 nm and wow I was not even close by feel, tightened up a lot more with the ritchey tool.

Unca_Sam

I'm thirding this emotion. When I was finding my cleat position I'd get the bolts snug then turn the wrench 1/4 turn past to get them tight. I'd ride for a little bit and the cleat would eventually come loose (panic unclipping when the shoe rotates but the cleat doesn't ). I torqued them to spec with the clicky-ratchet and it was instructional to see how much more torque they needed.

If these are 2-bolt SPD style cleats, the bolts will be M5 flathead countersunk bolts which use an 3mm hex wrench. A 3mm hex wrench will actually flex noticeably at 4-5Nm of torque which can fool you if you're used to torquing to feel with a 4mm or 5mm hex wrench.

Iride01 

Did they give you screws with a hex socket in them or are they Philips or something else? Some Allen wrenches can be pretty short. Which is normally good because it keeps you from overtightening things. Though if you can't get the torque you need with those short Allens, then look for some longer ones.

And make sure it's the proper size. Don't use ANSI fractional sizes in metric sockets or the other way around.

RCMoeur 

Green is a hookup, blue is a relationship, red is a commitment.

KerryIrons

What he said.

Eric F 

If I recall, Speedplay pedals used to to come with the cleat screws already blue-dipped. Based on that, it seems like blue would be a reasonable choice.

streetsurfer

Heat will defeat threadlocker. Apply a heated soldering tip to the head of the screw

ClydeClydeson

I use blue loctite. It serves two functions - keeping the bolt from loosening, and keeps water out and prevents the threads from rusting and seizing.

Also you need to make sure the bolts are tight enough in the first place. The 'teeth' on the bottom of the cleat will progressively work their way into the underside of the sole of the shoe and effectively loosen the bolt. If the screws are tight enough when assembled then the teeth will already be seated into the sole.

yannisg

I've used Loctite 222 on cleat bolts for years without ever having a loosening issue.
I use to use wax in the allen socket to prevent dirt accumulating, but just use a pick now to clean out the dirt before unscrewing the allen bolt.