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Silca now offers 3D printed, titanium cleats

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Liam Mercer's picture

Liam Mercer

Tech Editor here at off.road.cc Liam can also be found photographing bikes as well as revelling in cycling's intricacies. Whether it's gravel, mountain, or e-MTB as long as it's a bike on dirt, he's happy.

12 comments

2 years 3 months ago

I think I replaced my last ATAC cleats after 30 years or so ?  

2 years 4 months ago

A completely daft idea but it got them some publicity which was no doubt the point. I've only ever used spd and in the last twenty plus years have replaced two or three sets of cleats. They go on and on and on and on and on, why you'd buy a pair if these is beyond me. 

2 years 4 months ago

This is ridiculous!  As someone whole deals with 3D printing on a daily basis (admittedly plastic but similar principals apply) there is zero benefit to 3D printing a commodity part.  The advantags of 3D printing come from it's ability to cheaply produce single or low volume run copies of an object, not in it's superiority strength wise (quite the opposite in fact).

The worst part is most titanium 3D printing is done on a layer by layer basis using a laser to build up the part. The gyroid infill suggests they are doing exactly this.  That means that there will be very small ridges between each layer where they are bonded.  The cleat will likely act as a very fine file as it moves around INCREASING the wear on your pedals!  Maybe that's it, it last 400% longer because the pedal now fails first wink

2 years 4 months ago

Take a none existant problem and make it exclusive. Rubbish marketing and excution. Stronger than hardened steel? so lies also

2 years 4 months ago

RoubaixCube wrote:

 

Ive probably been wearing the same Shimano SH-56 cleats since 2016 - Still clip in and out just fine.

 

 

Plenty of more miles left on them id say

2 years 4 months ago

Ive probably been wearing the same Shimano SH-56 cleats since 2016 - Still clip in and out just fine.

2 years 4 months ago

cleats that wear super quickly"

From a road pedal user: You have NO problems with fast wear.

2 years 4 months ago

EddyBerckx wrote:

Cleats are £12 on wiggle.

Also, if they do last so much longer how can they not wear out the pedals to a greater degree than steel cleats?

Transport and packaging etc. is such a tiny part of the environmental impact of a product. The massive amount of electricity used to refine titanium from ore and the relative inefficiency of additive manufacturing versus stamping out parts from steel makes these cleats relatively bad for the environment.

A quick google suggests CO2 output from titanium production is around 10 tonnes per tonne of material, compared to approx 1.9 tonnes per tonne for steel.

 

DrG82 wrote:

 

 

What a stupid idea. Take a £12 item and make a £63 version that will wear out your expensive pedals much faster.

Titanium 3D printing really does seem to be the new fad for the stupid with more cash than brain cells.

 

 

 

£16 is the cheapest at the mo...times 4 (roughly what they claim the new cleats will last compared to standard) and you have spent £64, possibly plus x4 postage.

And not forgetting the environmental costs of 4 sets of disposable cleats being made and transported. So it may make some sense if they work as advetised.

And they are softer than the pedal as it said in the article.

 

2 years 4 months ago

DrG82 wrote:

 

What a stupid idea. Take a £12 item and make a £63 version that will wear out your expensive pedals much faster.

Titanium 3D printing really does seem to be the new fad for the stupid with more cash than brain cells.

 

£16 is the cheapest at the mo...times 4 (roughly what they claim the new cleats will last compared to standard) and you have spent £64, possibly plus x4 postage.

And not forgetting the environmental costs of 4 sets of disposable cleats being made and transported. So it may make some sense if they work as advetised.

And they are softer than the pedal as it said in the article.

2 years 4 months ago

its clear form the article that the aim is still to have softer cleats than pedals, so will be interesting to see if their prototyping and testing work out in the real world. As an appraoch to material engineering this makes sense and having longer lasting products is good for reducing waste , as is using less material in more up to date ways. Will be intersting to see if this translate to road cleats too with huge amounts of plastic compared to the wearing parts. 

2 years 4 months ago

What a stupid idea. Take a £12 item and make a £63 version that will wear out your expensive pedals much faster.

Titanium 3D printing really does seem to be the new fad for the stupid with more cash than brain cells.

hawkinspeter's picture
2 years 4 months ago

Shiny!