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I've had look Keo pedals installed on my road bike for a few years. Recently the right pedal has felt like it no longer has any float (potentially seized up?). This is starting to cause me foot pain on longer rides, so very keen to solve it before it leads to injury.

The cleats I'm using are only a few weeks old, so I can't see how it would be those causing it.

My main question is whether there is a way to service pedals to fix this? I know the axles can be serviced quite easily. Otherwise, is my only option to replace the pedals?

I have tried old and new cleats in the pedal and in the other pedal (Which seems to be fine). I use the grey Keo 4.5 degree cleats and always have done.

I've tried putting the left shoe into right pedal and vise versa, and it appears that the problem is pedal specific (Right shoe works in left pedal, left shoe doesn't work in right). I believe it was an issue before the cleat change, the same foot pain existed, but I didn't know the cause. I've checked for for stones/muck, both pedals are clean and clear of debris.

As a follow up question, what are the reasons that would make you change your pedals? Could this be caused by one of those reasons?

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    Float is provided by the shape of the cleat, there is nothing in the pedal to seized up. Have you clipped a shoe into the pedal and looked at it to see what is preventing movement?
    – Argenti Apparatus
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 10:52
  • The amount of float on pedals such as Look Keos and Shimanos SPD-SLs is usually determined by the cleat - float is nothing more than a loose-fitting cleat.
    – Andrew Henle
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 10:53
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    As far as I’m aware only the red and grey cleats have float, the black cleats are zero float
    – Dan K
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 11:59
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    Stupid question: Did you check for dirt or a stone jammed into the cleat or pedal?
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 14:44
  • The cleats are quite sensitive to dirt, especially mud.
    – Carel
    Commented Jul 1, 2020 at 15:01

1 Answer 1

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Put some soap on the cleat contact points to lubricate it. Be careful not to get it everywhere, just in case it becomes too floaty!

This assumes you have covered a bunch of other options (of course!)

  • The cleats are actually the same and you didn't mix-n-match (some other manufacturers make compatible cleats which might be slightly different)
  • The black protruding insert is not different / damaged / inserted incorrectly.
  • All the caveats above regarding dirt etc.
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    Soap's a good idea - if it doesn't help, will wash off much easier than anything else. For longer-term lube I'd suggest some hard-drying silicon spray like "dry glide" being ultracareful to keep it off the brakes. I'd take the pedal away from the bike to clean it and then spray with dryglide, or at least put a big piece of cardboard between bike and crank to limit overspray risk.
    – Criggie ♦
    Commented Jul 3, 2020 at 6:59

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