Words & Images Lester Perry

1998, what a year that was! The swell of mountain biking in NZ and around the world was in full effect. Bike tech was leaping forward each season, pro racers were still on hefty contracts, and I’d taken delivery of a Specialized Rockhopper A1 FS Comp. This gloss black beauty with orange accents arrived just in time for our afternoon MTB outing with the school squad.

Shimano SPD pedals were all the rage at the time, and luckily for me the new rig had a pair bolted on. Fresh Specialized kicks on my feet and a significant amount of time stabbing at the pedals trying to get the little metal cleats to engage with my pedals and, finally, I was clipped in and riding. A dozen metres later and I was on the ground after trying to put a foot down the way I would have on flat pedals. Everyone remembers their first time, but not everyone’s first time was in front of half the school at lunch time. Scarred for life.

The Shimano SH-SM51 “Single-Release” cleats on those Specialized shoes have remained the same since those early days, and until recently that design was one of two SPD cleats available. I’m reasonably sure the second style of cleats, the SH-SM56 “Multi-Release”, has only been used by people who didn’t realise there was a difference between them and the SM51. Their ability to release while moving the foot in any direction, usually at the most inopportune time, left riders (myself included) scratching their heads, wondering what was going on! By and large, if a rider has been doing actual mountain biking and is using SPD-style pedals, they’re using SM51-style cleats. When Shimano announced the release of the MT001 cleat, some 30 years after the SM51, I was keen to see what experience-enhancing technology they would be adding, or what positive changes could actually be made to the humble SM51 design. After unboxing the new cleats, it was obvious the changes, while visible, were pretty minimal. But, the proof is in the pudding, so I bolted them onto my pair of Shimano GE700 trail shoes. The entirety of my time riding these MT001 cleats has been on Shimano’s XT M8120 trail pedals.

The obvious change to these cleats is that the front edge now has a bevelled section rather than the squarer, blunter shape on the SM51’s. The previous shape relied on the user hooking the front of the cleat into the clasp mechanism, then pushing down to force the bevelled back edge into the pedal. With the redesign, so long as it’s lined up correctly with the pedal, a user should be able to stomp on the pedal and have it engage – no need to manoeuvre the front edge into the clip mechanism. There’s a new line marked on the cleat, which appears to reference the centre of the cleat and serve no other function. The underside of the cleat, closest to the shoe, remains the same, with some knurling to help keep it in place once fitted and cut-away areas which allow for some degrees of float (free movement before release).

“This is great,” I thought as I headed off for my first ride with these. “I can be dropping feet all over the place and just slam my shoe back into the pedal!” Foot out, flat out and all that; ideal for sketchy moments, and especially great when riding slippery trails in the mud. Muscle memory is a real thing, though, and as hard as I’ve tried it’s really damn hard not to instinctively hook that front of the cleat into the pedal. Granted, I’ve had success by purposely stepping down, but I’m fighting every autopilot instinct not to engage my cleat, as I have for almost 30 years!

There’s no point in trying to rewire my synapses and reverse decades of repetition. Clearly, I don’t “need” these cleats, so the question arises: who is the target market for them? Imagine, if you will, that back in ‘98 I had these MT001 cleats – I could likely have engaged my cleat far quicker than I did back then on the old ‘standard’ cleats and, in doing so (hopefully) was then of clear enough mind to remember I needed to kick and twist my heels to release my shoes from the pedals, thus saving me from a bruised ego and a lifetime of therapy.

Long story short: if you’re a beginner or still not confident at clipping into SPD pedals, then these cleats are for you. Helping remove some of the initial headache of learning to clip in, and the cognitive load it can cause on the trail, means a user should be more confident and secure on the bike, comfortable that – hopefully – they won’t be entering a section of trail still trying to get clipped in.

For the more experienced riders, I think there’s a case for these cleats making it easier to clip in when things get sketchy, particularly in winter slop on technical trails. While I haven’t really tested this theory in the real world (surprising, considering the summer we’ve had), I’d guess these cleats will clip in more easily when pedals and shoes are clogged with mud. Ideal perhaps for cyclocross or just grimy mid-winter days.

A winner? Yes. Essential kit? Perhaps wait until your current cleats need replacing (they do wear out) and then get these, there’s no reason not to.