On the wearing of cleats

I switched to clipless pedals on Leonardo in 2011. During recent jaunts, I had noticed that the front of the SPD cleats were getting almost sharp. After yesterday's Challenge, I inspected them again. I then looked them up on the MEC's website. It didn't take much effort to decide that they were very worn and it was high time I replaced them.

Removing them involved first cleaning out the crud that had accumulated in the hex slots. For a moment I was afraid I wouldn't be able to fit an Allen key in them. However, my fears were unfounded.

 After removing the first one and replacing it right away, I took the time to photograph a new and an old cleat next to each other. Bear in mind that these exactly the same model of Shimano cleats, viz Shimano SM-SH56 SPD multi-release cleats. In the top image, I am holding them upside down. The two holed "washer" type thingy on the right in the bottom image is removable. Also, note how much crud there is in it!

  

Note to self: replace the cleats more frequently.