So I only have one bike as grocery getter, occasional (trying to become more frequent) commuter, and recreational ride. Up until now, I've only ever had old mountain clips and straps (never tightened the straps) on there, but I wasn't really satisfied. I liked that I could pull up a bit (but the looseness allowed me to pull out easily enough), but the problem is that I have big feet and I didn't feel like I could get forward enough on the pedal. This was especially exacerbated by certain shoe choices as my hiking/train running shoes (my main work/all around shoe) were too wide/tall to get all the way forward and my athletic shoes just didn't feel right and have crazy long laces that were finding ways to slip out of where I'd tucked them and actively seeking my big gear. So last year about thanksgiving I found a great deal on some closeout Shimano M086 shoes and some clipless pedals (SPD 520's) and thought $80 didn't seem like too much to try out the whole clipless thing I'd heard so much about.

Still haven't used them on a commute, but I thought I'd mention my experiences/thoughts so far.

On Saturday, I finally tried out the shoes in my old pedals (only had 1.5 hours and wanted to spend it all on the bike, not with my tools), and enjoyed it, but again didn't feel I could get my feet far enough forward in the clip and ended up flipping the pedal over and riding with the clip side down so I could get more of my foot on the pedal (I think this may have in part been do to my saddle slipping down a bit, but fixing that's another thread). But overall, I thought these new shoes were working well. Not super comfortable as the upper is awful stiff, but I suppose that might break in some. Part of that problem is the shoes are a bit wide for me (and 49's which fit ok, but I'd probably be better of in 48's), and the velcro doesn't tighten them up as much as I'd like so I really have to crank on the plastic rachet thing at the top pretty tight and then the top edge of the tongue dug into one of my ankles a little. But they worked pretty well and I could walk in them enough to do a grocery trip at the end of my ride (though I overloaded my rack going home as is often the case).

Then, on Sunday, I put the clipless pedals on the bike and the cleats on the shoes. I didn't know where exactly to put the cleats, but I knew that I often wanted my feet more forward on the old pedals, so I put the cleats all the way back and because I'm a clyde with wider hips/legs, I put the cleats all the way to the inside (might adjust this). Then I went for a short 2 mile or so ride on the bike path in the park across the street from my house. Did lots of unclips at various speeds (pretty fast and almost stopped and in between) on flats, going uphill and coming down. It doesn't seem to take much more memory to remember to twist out than pull back out of the toeclip, but I'm sure I'll forget at least once. I loosened the clip tension a fair bit on both sides and had a pretty easy time coming out and going back it, but I didn't accidentally unclip.

Having the cleats back all the way seemed about right for the spacing, but I wonder if moving them forward a bit would allow me to get more power out of my pedal. I'm going to have to work a bit to figure out the in/out placement of the cleat.

I have a question for anyone who made it this far into my post. I always put my left leg down first in the road up until now (odd because in jumping in basketball/volleyball and starting from the blocks in track my left leg was my power leg, so you'd think that'd be the one I'd want to push down with to start, but it's not) and I think I'll keep with that (though I know what people say about going the other way so you don't fall into traffic if you can't unclip. Since I always do it that way, does it make sense to differentially loosen/tighten the tension so it's tighter on the right pedal that on only unclip when I'm getting off the bike and a bit looser on the left pedal that I'm using quite a bit in traffic?

Any other pointers? Thanks for any tips that might be useful to this clip newb and here's hoping that this is one more thing that makes it easier/more fun for me to commute so I do it more.

Personally, I think your commute would be easier and more fun with regular pedals. But if you must, keep the tension low until you're totally comfortable and can clip/unclip instinctively, without thinking about it. Just because you can clip/unclip during test rides doesn't mean you can do that equally well in traffic during real commute ride when your senses are busy with gazillion of things around you.

Then you can tighten them up gradually and make further adjustments. You should be equally comfortable unclipping with both legs as life will not always let you do things the way you prefer so you should be able to get either foot out quickly.

As far as cleat position. Unless you have a bike trainer, stop by a bike shop. They can help you with finding the right position while you spin on a trainer. Otherwise it's a trial and error process. Getting the cleat position wrong might cause joint problems, etc.

You might want to ooch the cleats forward, say 1/4" at a time, and try them for a few days. Then you can move them again, or stop if they're comfortable.

I don't think it makes much sense to vary releast tension from side to side. You're having to train your brain and legs to swing out, why make it harder by having one leg tighter than the other? Also, it makes sense to put the left fot down, since it doesn't have to reach as far on crowned roads.

If your knee starts to hurt, stop quickly and figure out which way you need to angle the cleat. If you're good or lucky, you'll not need this tip.

The pedals/cleats should allow some lateral foot "swing", otherwise you will have knee problems.

I keep the release tension at its lowest on all my clipless pedals. I've yet to have an accidental release so why increase tension?

I click out my right foot at stops. If I go down, I'm going down on the non drive side.

Also agree with moving the cleats a little further forward to get the ball of your foot over the pedal spindle.