General Cycling Discussion - Did John say: "Oil your clipless pedals."?

Yesterday I fell down again because of my new clipless pedals.

It happened in front of numerous pedestrians and drivers, who could not comprehend why a slow moving cyclist could drop on the even place without any obstacles around.

My right cleat just stuck in the pedal and did not let go.

It seems however that I found the solution to this. I sprayed the pedals with the penetrating lubricant and then cleaned the surfaces from excessive oil with a rag.

The locking and unlocking became very easy since then.

Do you oil your clipless pedals?

Alexey,

I'm using Speedplay pedals so I'm not sure this
applies to all clipless pedals.
I always lube the peday. I use one of the dry
chain lubes to keep the clip/pedal interface well
lubricated. I have noticed that when I neglect to
do lube em they get progressively more difficult
to clip into/out of.
Speedplay recommends this procedure and I totally
agree.

Marty

I lube the pivot points on my 515's every couple of rides. I think it does make a difference. And have occasionally sprayed a light coating over the whole pedal especially when it's muddy. I think it keeps mud from sticking to it also.

I use Schwinn clipless pedal spray occasionally on my M535's. Can't tell that it helps very much.

What kind of pedals do you have?
Do you have the tension adjusted so tight it's hard to unclip?

Being an ardent fan of Shimano 858's, yes the same ones which everybody was always complaining they had difficulty clipping out.

Whenever I lube my chain I give my pedals and cleats equal treatment using the same teflon based lube as I use on my chain.

My 858's work as smooth as silk, no inadverdent releases and no clipless induced topples.

maybe it's jsut because I have some Time ATACs... but I've never had any problems with them... always work like a champ! I saw that and they'll mess up tomorrow.

As far as getting stuck and falling over... I think I've always fallen at the worst time, when the most people are watching, it's just the way it works out.

I lube my SPD's every time i lube the chain, I do NOT lube my Look pedals on my road bike.

If you are using Shimano SPD pedals make sure you have the release tension set to minimum. If you don't know how, a shop can do it for you in about 30 seconds.

Getting in and out of my SPD-R 7700s is easier when they are lubed. I use Pam (spray non-stick for cooking... dirt doesn't stick) and spray contact surfaces of both pedal and shoe.

same here I don't lube my look pedal, it has work fine with me all this years....

My Shimano's were getting harder and harder to get out of. Gave 'em a little drink of oil before the ride this am. Back to normal now. Thanks for the advice.

Yes Alexey. Oil them . Like yourself I just toppled over a couple of times at embarrasing places, rather fortunate once i did not get hit by a car coming behind me at a road junction.

I use SPD pedals and even adjusted to the slackest tension they still gripped to tightly for my liking , so i took it upon myself to lubricate the small coilsprings at each end of the grips, and he-presto it worked like magic.

I no longer find them gripping to much, try it , I hope it has the same effect , regardless of which type of pedal you use

DO NOT LUBE YOUR LOOK PEDAL SURFACES!!

Why? When you lube the plate and clip sufaces you increase the risk of accidental slip outs by your shoe!! I had a creaking shoe/pedal once, and I tried to fix this by spraying some lube on....big mistake..... As soon as I applied some power on the pedals, my foot slipped out! Damn near killed myself!!

I armour all my look pedals to help with the squeek...but no problems getting in and out for me!