I’ve trawled through loads of Google posts but can’t find this issue - it must exist and someone here will no doubt point me in the right direction.
I’ve been using Speedplay for a while. Badly set up on some fiziks but I’ve recently moved to shimano shoes which have improved things but one thing I’ve noticed it the 3 bolts that holt the base plate down slightly protrude. Whilst I cam have a completely flat baseplate 1-2 screw heads per shoe may stick up above the plate. I’m convinced this is why I’m struggling to clip in at times even when the screws are all correctly torqued. Has anyone noticed this with theirs if so has it been an issue?
Fresh speedplay cleats and pedals are always a bit harder to clip in with, especially when both are fresh.
Can you post a photo of the problem so we can see?
And going further than the poster above, for the baseplate are you sure you’re using the short little screws supplied with a wide head? I always use the black screws, which are a bit shorter than the chrome ones.
Also possible that the baseplate screws protruding are a coincidence, so you could try backing off the 4 screws ever so slightly as if they’re overtorqued it’ll make it harder to clip in.
If all tried and still struggling and they are fresh cleats, spending some time clipping in and out when not riding to make them release a bit should ease it bit.
Edit: just reread and saw the obvious bit about using them for a while, so ignore the bits about fresh cleats/pedals
They’ve been used for a while but I’m 99% sure that previously the baseplate wasn’t quite right on either foot and caused issues. It’s marginally better with the shimanos. I’m using a mix of black and silver as the black are a little short I feel. I will retry with black and see if that makes a difference but think possibly one bolt to each shoe needed to be longer.
I’m away from home at the moment but I will send a pic ASAP.
Thank you
photo attached hopefully. You can see the level difference when putting a level across the centre and over the bolt.
I have managed to tweak the right foot to be in a much better position. Don’t know if it’s starting from scratch or a different torque wrench but that’s easier to clip in. Need to retry the left foot. I’ve changed all screws back to black too
Sorry for delay only just saw this.
To me, the protruding screw isn’t straight, so is possible not straight in the rivet so isn’t going the whole way in, or that it is kind of reaching into top screw.
My 2 possible things to try:
Take the baseplate off and make sure you start with the top screw that’s protruding. Tightening the two bottom ones first might be causing problems with the top one.
2nd will change your fit a bit, but you could try shifting the baseplate significantly up or down. Obviously the baseplate is to make a flat surface out of an arc, alongside converting 3bolt to 4bolt.
Maybe changing the position on the arc will fix the solution, just make sure to make the same change on the other side if it does fix it.
A weird and frustrating one that’s for sure, hope you can get to the bottom of it.
You need to get shorter screws. did you use the phillips screws that came with the cleats? You may have used your existing ones or the long ones (there are also short ones that came with the cleats). They should be M5 flathead by about 5mm long
