Feet not square on pedals - can I still use cleats?

[Arlberg]

I am about to try riding 'clipped in' for the first time ever. I have bought some SPD shoes, cleats and pedals. (Shimano M324 pedals) When I ride on normal flat pedals and look down, I notice that my right foot does not sit straight/square on the pedal, rather the toes are angled to the outside at about 20 degrees. This could be due to a broken leg I had about 30 years ago. When I try and ride with my foot straight/square on the pedal, it feels very unnatural and seems to put strain on my right knee.

Can I angle the cleat slightly when mounting it to the shoe to allow for this? I dont see how this can be done given that the rectangular metal mounting plate (which goes inside the shoe and which the cleats screw into under the sole) can only fit squarely into the recess in the sole of the shoe.

[Oxford]

short answer yes. you'll be surprised how much "play" there is in cleat adjustment. both my feet have largish toe out, like you, due to old injuries. I was able to get the required comfortable set up, so I imagine you should be good.

[foo on patrol]

My shoes (Aldi) have enough room to set up foe any position on the pedals (wellgo) to compensate for thingslike this.
Have a look at the cleats and see what adjustment there is for moving it around.

Another thing you can do is, place the shoe into the pedal, without your foot in it and with the cleat not done up hard and
see what sideways movement you have.

Foo

[InTheWoods]

Can I angle the cleat slightly when mounting it to the shoe to allow for this? I dont see how this can be done given that the rectangular metal mounting plate (which goes inside the shoe and which the cleats screw into under the sole) can only fit squarely into the recess in the sole of the shoe.

As the others have said, yes you can.

The SPD cleats have 2 separate screws that go into the mounting plate. The position of those screws in the cleat is pretty flexible so the cleat can be mounted with toe-in or toe-out. The metal mounting plate always goes in straight, its the cleat that you can twist a bit. Do you actually have your shoes&cleats yet? Its pretty easy once you've got them in front of you.

[grasshopper]

As the others have said, you can tweak the position of the cleat, but there is some float as well once clipped in. Steve Hogg describes a good technique for adjusting cleat angle here (just read down a bit). It can be quite confusing once the shoe is upside down.

[Arlberg]

Thanks to everyone for the help, and the good tips. I have the shoes already but the pedals and cleats are still on their way. Once I have all three I will play around with them and let you know how I go. I am glad to hear there is a bit of play in the cleats, as I was thinking I may have chosen the wrong pedal given my leg and was considering a switch to Speedplay which apparently has plenty of float.

[im_no_pro]

I love my speedplays for this exact reason, but dont write off your spd's yet. As already mentioned, you may be pleasantly surprised by the amount of adjustment.