Off-brand LOOK Keo cleat problem
I recently had a client come back for a quick follow up to his bike fit with a cleat issue I hadn't seen yet that may make you think twice about purchasing an off-brand LOOK Keo cleat.https://youtu.be/6-4LDS8PS3wOriginally we'd made some small changes to his cleats and saddle position mainly. Also, I'd given him a few exercises to work on to improve his body an dhow it melded with his bike. Everything was going well until he bought some new replacement cleats as his were getting old and worn. This in itself isn't unusual because many cyclists struggle to replicate their cleat position when changing to a new set. But this time, the problem wasn't any human error -- he actually did a good job of putting the cleats in the sam orientation as the old ones.The issue was the cleats themselves. He couldn't find a reasonable price on a LOOK Keo cleat pair in town -- one shop wanted $45, which is ridiculous, but that's another story -- so he ordered a pair online for cheap. But the pair he ordered weren't LOOK brand, they were made by Wellgo, who licensed the Keo design in order to reproduce and sell a cheaper version.These Wellgo cleats look very similar and are even the same color gray as a LOOK Keo cleat. How bad could it be, right?Turns out the first problem is that Wellgo uses the gray color to denote their 9° float cleat, while LOOK's gray is 6°. Not a huge deal for many people, but it's certainly something that could cause some trouble later on.The bigger issue is that the hole pattern isn't molded the same as the LOOKs. There are a few millimeters of difference in the fore-aft and the side-to-side directions, which creates a scenario where lining the cleat up the same as the LOOK will produce a functionally different cleat position. It may look to be in the same spot as the LOOKs but it displaces the engagement portion of the cleat, creating a biomechanical difference in cleat setup.So beware and this should be further reinforcement that small millimetric differences can have profound effects on bike setups.