goose70

I had noticed over the last few weeks that I was having increasing difficulty clicking into and out of my Speedplay Zero pedals. Several days ago, I nearly had a bad incident when neither cleat would disengage the pedal as I approached a busy intersection. I was able to turn and, with all my might, disengage my right cleat. That is obviously much harder than it should be. My last ride was on the trainer since I didn’t want to risk being unable to clip out on the road; sure enough, the cleats would not disengage without extreme effort while on the trainer. This was after I cleaned them with an old toothbrush.

Have any of you encountered this problem? If so, what was the solution? My first assumption was be that my cleats are worn and need to be replaced (about 3k miles), but my lbs told me that the sign of a worn cleat is that it will unclip too easily, which obviously is not the case here. The pedals, themselves, look fine (no visible damage).

Thanks again.

Issaquatch

I've had this happen before. Mud got behind the springs and prevented them from flexing, which is the mechanism that allows them to release. The fix was to disassemble the cleats and clean them thoroughly. If that doesn't fix it, it's time for new cleats.

ravenmore

You can also try lubing the cleat springs. I drop some lube in there once a month or so.

AngryScientist 

lube the springs and clean out the cleats thoroughly, it's happened to me before after stepping in a pretty muddy surface, speedplay cleats get fouled pretty easily and they have some tight clearances.

goose70

Thanks. After posting I got a call back from Speedplay customer service. The guy was very helpful and suggested exactly what you have said (take apart and clean, and then lube). He said that lubing with a dry lube should be standard cleat maintenance, as should taking apart and cleaning whenever they get muddy. I'll post once I do that so that everyone knows whether that resolved the issue.

P.S.: I also talked to him about a pedal rebuild I'm having done on Friday (unrelated to the above issue). My pedals are less than a year old but have begun seizing on occasion (not while riding, but when applying light force like trying to spin them by hand). He said that this sounds like a failure to grease properly. Too many LBS's, according to him, just squirt a little bit of grease into the grease port rather than flushing it. This accomplishes nothing, he said, and can actually make things worse by trapping in dirt/water. Done properly, the new grease should completely flush out the internal workings of all old grease, water, dirt, etc.

DScott

Rather than taking the cleats apart to give them a thorough cleaning, often you can get away with spraying them with a good degreaser/cleaner, like white lightening. Then re-lube with a dry lube. I use TriFlow, just because I have it around. I haven't found that this is all that necessary, and may be needed only every couple months or so, depending on how much and where you ride. I ride them until the alloy plate is ground down from walking, usually at about +/-4000 miles of use.

I dislike taking them apart, as getting them back in the proper position is a finicky process. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to set them and not move them again until I take them off to replace them.

One caution, though: I've come to believe that using a spray degreaser in this way can lead to the mounting screws loosening up, so watch for that. I've gotten away with just a few drops of lube on each cleat spring area, like, every 3-4 weeks, and have had very few problems.

I re-grease the pedal bodies every three or four months, if that, and that seems sufficient. Speedplay pedal bodies should be a little resistant to spinning by hand. That's a sign they're properly lubed. If they spin freely or not at all, that's a problem.

BTW, I'd be a little concerned that your LBS was confused about the difference bdtween Speedplays and other pedal systems. If this is typical of their knowledge/skill-set, be skeptical of them in the future...

goose70

Thanks. I did end up taking them apart (partly out of curiousity) but may try your method going forward. Also, the lbs comment was when I first purchased the cleats....I had not yet asked them about the recent disengage problem.

Anyhooo, they were very dirty inside, as expected. I cleaned them and applied a dry lube. They now engage and disengage better than ever.....very little effort. Good advice about the screws. I do check them every few rides, but might do so a little more often right after lubing/cleaning the cleats.