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DIY Spin Cycling Shoe Cleat Screws

I have a pair of cycling / spin shoes with "clipless" SPD cleats, but the cleat screws were mangled due to lousy manufacturing.

My local shop charges $25 to install cleats.  I don't mind supporting the local shop, but that's ridiculous.  I'll support the local shop with my money when they use expertise and skill, but not for turning less than a handful of 45¢ screws.  And replacement generic screws on Amazon or eBay cost like $10!  Even that is insane.  So I decided that the fastener section of my local hardware store was the solution.

The Screws to Buy For SPD Cleats

The fastener industry is mature and professional.  They make fantastic products.  Cleat screws are absolutely nothing special. And the local hardware store more than likely carries what I need.

That said, it is important to get the right screw.  Using the wrong screw for the given application could cause trouble.

In general, in my experience, SPD cycling cleats use the following fastener:
  • Stainless steel metric machine screw
  • Diameter: M5
  • Length: 10 mm (1 cm) long
  • Drive: flat, with 4mm hex (allen) head
So I went to the hardware store and found these as a good substitute at 45¢ each:
  • Stainless steel metric machine screw
  • Diameter: M5
  • Length: 10 mm (1 cm) long
  • Head: flat, with 3mm hex head




Note that the only screw I could find at the local hardware store sports a 3mm allen head, whereas the bike industry uses a 4mm allen head.  There is one advantage to the 4mm head: a 4mm head isn't easily damaged by using the improperly-sized 5/32" hex wrench.  I don't care about that advantage because I'm not an idiot.

In my ideal world, all of these screws would be better off with with a Torx (star) T-25 head.  Torx screw heads wear far better than an easily-damaged hex screw head.  But the bike industry is very very slow to change, and my hardware store only had the screws I needed with a 3mm hex head, so that's what I bought.

With screws in hand, I coated their threads with a dot of blue "thread locker" to reduce the chance of the screws backing out from under the stresses of pedaling.  Thread lock is a simple but wonderful thing, and it should prevent the need from over-torquing (and thus ruining) screws.

Finally, I installed the screws into my shoes at roughly 15 pounds on my little 3mm hex wrench. Complete!

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