Patent ID: 8769751

Claim:
A method of replaceably attaching and locking a traction cleat in a shoe-mounted receptacle, said method comprising: rotating a cleat stem about a rotation axis in a receptacle cavity to attach the stem in the cavity; abutting an axially facing surface of a flange projecting radially from said stem in increasingly closer engagement with an axially facing surface of said receptacle as the cleat stem is rotated in the receptacle to provide an increasing friction fit between the surfaces as the stem is rotated toward an angular locking orientation of the cleat in the receptacle; abutting a leading edge of the flange against a wall of the receptacle in rotational blocking relation in said angular locking orientation of the cleat in the receptacle; and abutting a cleat ramp surface and a receptacle ramp surface disposed outside the cavity in an angled interface that gradually forces the ramp surfaces into tighter abutment as a function of cleat stem rotation to provide a friction fit between the ramp surfaces in a final angular orientation of the cleat and receptacle.