bottom line: i think i've solved 10 years of premature release problems with speedplay frog pedals by: switching to shimano shoes, from lake; rotating cleat to point toward the center of the shoe instead of following the curve of the shoe to point to the big toe; and shimming the cleats.

i'd stuck with frogs so long because while they've been death to my ankles and calves when the cleat disengaged almost whenever i pulled back on the pedal, the float was easy on the knees. my right leg is about an inch longer than my left, and the problem almost always was on the right side, as the pedal stroke seemed to unwind the cleat from a secure attachment. i'd stuck with the lake shoes, because they were the only ones i could find in wide. i'd shimmed the pedals over the last year, but that didn't really work.

shoes: shimano shoes seem to get better connection to the cleats than did the lakes.

shims: anything soft i used -- inner tube, plastic lids, etc -- deformed over time. i finally made shims out of stainless steel hobby metal, about 1/3 inch square, put under the rubber elastomer on the cleat. hobby metal's a little thicker than the shims i got from speedplay, and for me, worked better.

cleat angle: i'd originally set up the shoes with the cleats pointing toward the big toe. now, i have the cleats pointing almost straight ahead. my pedal stroke's never been very smooth; rotating the cleats a little to decrease the orientation toward the big toe gives more rotation on the pedal before my cleat unwinds from its connection. 28 degrees of float sounds like a lot, but in practice, the shoe doesn't have to rotate very far till the cleat disengages, whether intentional or not.

i commute (and tour), and i now have about 500 miles on the new setup. couple of premature releases. would have been hundreds.

jeff

https://bicycletouringoncarfreepaths.org/