Originally Posted by
Pete Fagerlin
This is false. Do you think that repeating it will make it any less false?
I've ridden with "dirty" pedals (lots of different mud, pine needles, pine cones, clay, mud mixed with gravel, etc.) and my pedals have shed mud/vegetation mixtures in all but a few cases. In those few cases all it took was whacking my foot against the pedal (while riding) to clear whatever it was that was blocking my cleat (probably a small twig compacted with mud).
It is not impossible to get into SPDs when they are dirty.
Any pedal system can get jammed on occasion. I've seen it happen with Times, Eggbeaters, SPDs, Frogs, etc.
Do you have the high(er)-end SPDs? If so, do you know if they clear mud/debris better than the low-end ones? My low-end SPDs shed (and have always shed) mud/debris very poorly and, at least once or twice per ride, and more so if I ride in muddy conditions, they become very difficult to clip into. It is especially frustrating when I am on a certain part of a trail where I want to be clipped in immediately and where I can't (w/o risking falling) whack my foot against anything while riding.
I have heard similar complaints about the SPDs often but very rarely about Eggbeaters and Times. Additionally, I have never had problems clipping into or out of with my low-end Smarty Eggbeaters.