Bontrager

O.K. Last saturday I went out along my usual 20 mile route.

About 2 miles in I realized I was training too hard (just started up again this year) because my HR was 180ish so I'm out of shape. Pulled over under a tree and did the OCP thing and sucked on some gatorade. Right foot clipped, rolling about 2-3 mph, left foot waiting for cars to pass so I can get in the left lane and turn left. Cars pass. More cars coming but far enough. I try to clip the left SPD-SL in and WHACK - oh my shin! I guess I wasn't clipped in and the crank went backwards and you know the rest. I make like Lance racing Oprah and just use the right to pedal to get out of the way.

Later, at the 1/2 way point I was pulling out of a gas station onto a 2 lane road with a small shoulder. There was the usual grass, some soft sand/dirt and a drainage ditch. The parts I ride in don't have much traffic in the morning and the drivers are very courteous. So I'm about to pull out - my right SPD-SL's clipped in. Left isn't yet. I start moving slowly on the grass towards the shoulder and notice a car coming so I attempt to stop. Front tire sinks into the sand/dirt and I flop over into the ditch trying to unclip like a madman. No problems. Just a scrape. The guy slows down and makes sure I'm o.k. - not his fault. I was just trying to be courteous and wait for him to pass first. Fine. I do the OCP thing and take a swig out of my TdF water bottle and pretend it never happened.

I start out again. Right foot clipped in. Left foot waiting till I start moving. Front tire goes in more soft dirt/sand and I lose my balance again since I'm going so slow, can't clip out fast enough to put my right foot down and I flop over (a little worse this time). Right anterior knee hurts, small cut with dirt in it, yada yada yada. This time I'm pissed. I could have a fracture in my tibia which would really SUCK. So I take a quick assessment and diagnose a bone contusion and ride home. I stick my knee in the xray machine and everything's fine. 1 week later I'm in no pain, just a scab.

So. Should I get the replacement SPD-SL cleats that have 0 motion so that when I do twist I'm really clipping out? The standard ones feel like i'm walking on ice and I have to twist quite a bit to get clipped out. I'm sure they'll be great for when I'm on the road all day but in the urban setting I can see why I liked my mountain bike SPD multi release clips. You could just think about unclipping and you would be unclipped.

John Wilke

Ouch !

My knee-jerk reaction is to suggest be more careful in soft dirt and sand.

Take a look at the pedals and see if you can loosen the tension in the springs so you'll pop out easier until you're more used to them. Be careful on climbs though so you don't twist out at max effort!

John Wilke
Milwaukee

DocRay

I dropped SPD over unclipping/clipping.

Crank Brothers -either quattro or eggbeaters. Quattro cleats are very easy to walk on.
Simple and they work.

'nother

Crank Bros ++

I have been using mine for about 1-1/2 years now. Then just the other day I borrowed a guy's bike and for reasons I won't go into, needed to use SPD-SL/Look-style. My problem with them was not so much unclipping, but clipping in. I realize anything new "takes some getting used to", but man, they sucked ASS. Flipping that stupid pedal over to clip in is such a pain; now I know why people using those are really slow coming off of stop lights and such.

You can have my Crank Bros when you pry them from my cold dead feet.

SDRider

Hmm, my Dura Ace SPD-SL's are always pointing up. I've never had that problem with them (of course, I only have about 400 miles on them so far).

LTH2009

The only thing I can suggest is to loosen up the tension if possible. This allows for easy unclipping/unclipping. Also, when I first started riding I had my cleat at such an angle on my shoes that I couldn't clip out no matter how hard I tried. Not sure if this helps your problem or not.

'nother

I'm not sure what model these were. I don't think they were DA but I don't think they were El Cheapos either. And anyway, even pointing "up" is still a problem, you've got to "catch" that bit with the cleat just right . . . my Crank Bros are *always* in the right place. Always. Just jam your foot down in the general area of the pedal and you're in . . . from clip #1 . . .

Tequila Joe

Bontrager,

This sounds like my first experiences with clipless pedals. I would set the release tension on your SPD to the minimum and find a nice grassy field to practice. Go real slowly while clipped in and only unclip when you are tipping over, not before. When I did this, it helped me to unclip a lot faster and I learned that there were certain crank arm positions (12:00) that made unclipping very difficult.

Also check for tread interferance. I use MTB shoes and the tread was interfearing with the pedal body. I added shims and shave some tread off the shoe. It made a huge difference in the ease of clip-out.

I wouldn't go running to another set of pedals right away. I'm a big supporter of Crank Brothers but you indicated that you are looking for a 0 degree clip-out. Crank Brothers are a minimum of 15 degrees (vs. 8-10 for SPD) or even 20 degrees depending how you mount the cleats. However there is no resistance with CB like SPDs, just clip out angle.

Good luck.

T.J.

Hemlock

I loosened the tension on my spd's for similar reasons. It was an improvement, but I was much happier when I switched to eggbeaters. With the cleat adjusted right I never feel any tension on my feet while pedaling, but I can still unclip without really thinking about it.

lilith

Took a spill yesterday on my SPD's, couldn't clip out as fast as I wanted (and should have) too. My knee took the brunt of it, my front wheel was temporarily stuck and shaving off rubber from the wheel... Yeah fun stuff. Resulted in a phone call for pick up. So, another trip to the LBS to figure out what the hell happened. Still, compared to toe clips, I take another spill..

fixedfiend

ultimate spd combo but quite pricey. Sidi dragons with Crank Bros Ti candys. The little platform helps prevent hotspots associated with eggbeaters.
I'd also suggest track standing because this will help with balance at slow speeds as well as quick foot release practice.

NickExxon

I also vote for checking the tension on the pedals before considering a replacement. When the LBS first put on my Shimano SPD's, they went on right out of the box with the tension set as high as it could go. After I went down and got a "deep" chainring tatoo, I downloaded product instructions from Shimano's website, and after becoming informed, realized they were just too tight. With the tension adjusted down somewhat, I've had no issues since.

dahvaio

Maybe I'm reading it incorrectly, but in all of your falls, your left was unclipped... I could see how you could fall over and hit your shin trying to clip in really fast... But how did you fall over in the other 2 if your left was unclipped?

The SPD-SL's are amazingly easy to clip in and out of... As mentioned before, they always hang at a slight vertical... Just push forward and pedal...

mathmo

I heard that you can't use eggbeaters with large feet??

'nother

I don't see why that would necessarily be true. Maybe you've heard that you are more susceptible to hot foot with the smaller platform as compared to the larger Look/SPD-SL, but this has nothing to do with foot size.

Also there may be some confusion over "eggbeaters"; I think people sometimes refer to Crank Brothers generically as eggbeaters, when that is a specific item in their line. They have several models, from the original eggbeaters ("micro platform":


to the Candys ("small platform"):


to the Quattro ("road"):


to the Mallet ("large platform"):


Some of the models do have a max weight of like 185lbs or so, but weight and foot size do not necessarily go together.


I have the Candy SLs and love 'em.

mathmo

Oh, just saw a guy once selling them because he said his feet was too big to be able to use them And with size 15 feet myself...

Yes was just using it as a generic term, what else is there to use?

pigmode

Sounds like a major part of the problem is lack of situational awareness and anticipation.