# Shimano road cleats



## North (Aug 28, 2011)

I am switching over to Shimano pedals and am about to purchase cleats for them.

Which color do I go with? Yellow, red or blue

I know that red is fixed and blue has a 2 degree and yellow has 6 degree of float. I was riding SPD pedals on my road bike because I was too cheap to buy road cleats and mt bike cleats well I broke down and purchase road pedals 

Should have a little float? I dont want the pedal to be real sloppy but I dont know if fixed would be great on the knees? Thoughts???

Thanks


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## ph0enix (Aug 12, 2009)

Personally, I hate having float in the cleats so it would be red for me if I were using Shimano pedals.


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## Typetwelve (Jul 1, 2012)

I recently switched from SPD to SPD SL and went with the yellow cleats. You'll find the power transfer of the SL to be FAR superior to that of the standard SPD. Even with the float however, you'll also find the SL to be a tighter cleat than the SPD, I loved the difference immediately.

Coming from a SPD, your going to want some float...at least at first. I suggest you go with the yellow.


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## North (Aug 28, 2011)

Thank you,

I just watched a video on youtube of the yellow float cleat and wow did they move around a lot. You are right fixed is the way to go! I do not like my feet moving around!


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## mpre53 (Oct 25, 2011)

I started with yellow, because they're included with the pedals. Switched to red after a few months, and never looked back. Never even a twinge of knee pain.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

North said:


> Thank you,
> I just watched a video on youtube of the yellow float cleat and wow did they move around a lot. You are right fixed is the way to go! I do not like my feet moving around!


You really can't assume that based on what it looks like on a video. Most people, when they've tried both fixed and floating pedal systems, prefer some float. The SPD's you've been using probably allow a little rotation, actually.


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## mann2 (Oct 16, 2012)

North said:


> I am switching over to Shimano pedals and am about to purchase cleats for them.
> 
> Which color do I go with? Yellow, red or blue
> 
> ...



What kind of float are you used to? Get the closest, IMO. That said, now is a good time to try zero float. Worked wonders for me too, especially the part where you get almost immediate disengagement upon twisting.


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## Ventruck (Mar 9, 2009)

Started on Yellows for a few months, then the same pair of Reds for two years (holy **** did those last), and now trying to finish a lightly-used pair of Yellows from backup shoes.

"not liking float" while having it does nothing to your performance. I never had pains in Reds and in fact I have a fresh spare set, but I don't feel so compelled to skip the Yellows at all. Maybe my only complaint is when I sometimes check the clip-in. I'd typically shift my foot side-to-side to make sure I'm in, and with the Yellows you just don't know if it's the float range or if I'm surely in. But in all it's not some kind of tragedy.

Another thing to mention is the cleat range was updated. There's a new Red version where the toe is totally fixed. Previously it was designed to have some lateral play (same with the Yellows). Not sure if the new one is an addition or replacement altogether. The new Blue cleat has this too, and 2 degree float in the rear. Now I'm just wondering if the wider interface will affect ease of clipping in.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

North said:


> You are right fixed is the way to go! I do not like my feet moving around!


Great if that works for you. But the float feature not about liking or not liking your feet moving around. When the human leg is extended, the foot rotates a bit, like it or not. So if you attach the foot on a zero-float cleat, that so-called tibial rotation works against the knee. For many people, that's not a problem because their knee joint is flexible enough to take care of that rotational stress. But for others, that's not true. They *need* pedal float in order to keep that rotational stress away from their knees.

Proof of this surfaced in the early days of clipless pedals. When clipless pedals first came out, they offered no float. Many riders who switched to the new pedals started having serious knee problems. When float was offered and widely accepted, rider knee problems decreased significantly.


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## tednugent (Apr 26, 2010)

wim said:


> Great if that works for you. But the float feature not about liking or not liking your feet moving around. When the human leg is extended, the foot rotates a bit, like it or not. So if you attach the foot on a zero-float cleat, that so-called tibial rotation works against the knee. For many people, that's not a problem because their knee joint is flexible enough to take care of that rotational stress. But for others, that's not true. They *need* pedal float in order to keep that rotational stress away from their knees.
> 
> Proof of this surfaced in the early days of clipless pedals. When clipless pedals first came out, they offered no float. Many riders who switched to the new pedals started having serious knee problems. When float was offered and widely accepted, rider knee problems decreased significantly.


This probably best explains why the vast majority of cyclists need float:

Specialized BG Fit - Ally Stacher - YouTube


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