How to fix/prevent blocked cleat bolts I've had my SPD touring shoes for about seven years. The cleats are the originals and are now quite worn and I noticed recently that one of them (not pictured) is at a rather wacky angle that can't be doing my pedalling action any good.

As the shoes are more or less OK, I'd like to replace the cleats.

The problem is that the cleat bolts (hex-shaped) are jammed with grit, mud, stones and whatever else I've walked on in the past 7 years. So the allen key won't go in.



Last night I tried picking the dirt out with needle-nose pliers, chiselling it with a nail and hammer and even resorted to trying to drill the bolt out. This last attempt barely damaged the bolt, but heated it up so much the bottom of the shoe started to melt.

Is there any way to prevent this from happening or to fix it when it does?
Try a pipe nipple extractor or similar stripped screw extractor (Example:  http://www.plumbingsupply.com/extractors.html).  It is designed to grip the inside sides of a pipe using the same turning direction that will unscrew it.  It shouldn't need much depth to work and it will try to drill itself in.  You may still have to drill some of the junk out, but go slow and select a bit that is smaller than the head opening.