This is my first attempt at clipless and I have been having a hard time getting out of them. I have had them for 3 months and have taken 3 zero speed falls and had a couple of other panic moments rolling to a stop light when I was struggling to get unclipped. I have considered switching to some SPD but all the research I have done leads me to believe that Crank Bros should be the easiest pedals to unclip from.

The only thing that I thing might be a factor is that I am using Shimano MT33 shoes to the cleat is recessed. Would switching to a road shoe that is not recessed be a good move? Or is it the pedals? Or is it just me?

Did you try making the coupling between pedal and shoe loose? You can do it on the pedal. Keep it loose till you get used to it, then tighten the clip.

I don't think you can adjust the tension on crank brother's pedals. It's just a spring.

I have crank brother's candy 2 pedals on my commuter. I considered eggbeaters, but I wanted something with a bit of a platform so I could ride more easily in regular shoes for short trips. I wear Shimano MT 22 shoes, so they're similar to yours in that they're a recessed cleat mountain shoe. I had to use the little plastic shim to get the cleats to stick out a little farther. If I remember correctly, there are two orientations for the cleats: one that makes it easier to unclip since it has a narrower angle. I would check your cleats to see which orientation they're in. Maybe you have them in the orientation that makes it harder to unclip since you have to rotate your foot to a greater angle?

Thanks. Yes, there are no adjustments to be made on the pedal. I have the cleats in the 15 degree unclip position which is the easier (the other being 20 degree). I don't remember getting any shims in the package when I got my shoes but I will search around my house later for it

I don't remember for sure, since it's been about a year since I went clipless, but I think that the shim came with my pedals. If you didn't get shims with your pedals, maybe you could contact crank brothers?

Shims come with the pedals. I have eggbeaters on a couple bikes. Super easy to get in and out. OP - do you have any problem clipping into the pedals? If you can get into them, I'm not sure why you would have problems unclipping. If you have lugs on the soles of the shoes interfering, you can always trim them back a little to open up some more space.

Make sure the dotted cleats are on your right shoes.

The cleats should be set up such that the dotted ones on the right release at 15 degrees; dotted ones on the left at 20.

If it's too recessed, use the shims.

I use Eggbeaters on two of my bikes and never had a problem with them. I probably have about 10,000 km's on eggbeaters and I really like them.

You could trim the tread on your MTB shoes with an X-acto razor, so they don't rub on the CB pedals. My MTB shoe's tread was rubbing on my CB eggbeaters, and even with the spacer they rubbed... making un-clicking difficult. i switched to Specialized roadie shoes and couldn't be happier. I Really love my eggbeaters.

Ooooooooooh yeah, I remember when I tried Crank Brothers, at first it was actually impossible to clip in and out. Then I used put the shim in, and it was no longer a problem.

Crank Brothers eggbeaters *should* be easy to clip in and out of. If you can't find the shim, go to your local bike store - maybe they have extras or sell them...

Definitely find and use the shims. If you can't find them your LBS probably has some they'd give you. If you've got the shim installed correctly your foot should turn freely with hardly any friction while you are clipped in. Without the shims your foot will probably feel like it's fixed in place. I had knee trouble because of that once.

So, I decided to pick up some cheap road shoes. 100% easier to unclip now. Clipping in on the other hand is trickier. I think I will get the Candy pedals for my commute so I can still pedal easier while trying to clip in since I have a lot of stop lights on my commute and put the eggbeaters on my fixie since I usually take that for rides in areas with less stops

Although it was for her SPD pedals, when my wife purchased Shimano clipless pedals and MTB shoes last week, the LBS took the time to set up her cleats (and the spring adjustment on the pedals) so that the fore-aft position of the cleat was under the balls of her toes and the angle of her cleat was best for her natural foot position (slightly toe-out, more on the left foot than the right) so that the foot was in the best position for pedaling and that twisting the foot would release the cleat (unlike my initial, DIY, setup which forced me to really twist my foot to get it released). She has had no problems adjusting to the clipless pedals.

Perhaps contacting your LBS for a similar setup procedure might be beneficial.

Well...good luck.

The Crank Brothers Egg Beater pedals are designed for mountain bike shoes. You can use them with road shoes, but you lose advantages like having tread on the sides to make walking around in them easier. If you were willing to pay to buy road shoes, I would get good money that paying a bike shop to install the cleats and put the shims in would have gotten as good if not better results. The cleats are designed for mountain bike shoes, there's nothing inherent about them that would cause them to work better with road shoes (other than that the road shoe doesn't need the shims). Good luck.

Shimano SPD multi-release cleats (SH56) are easier to get out of than the standard SH51 cleats.

I was actually able to return the mtb shoes and the price was about the same for the road shoes I got so it didn't cost me anything. I got the mtb shoes thinking that it would be better for commuting and running errands when I'm off the bike. I have since decided that I would just rather change my shoes when I get to work into something more comfortable. And even if I am going grocery shopping I don't mind changing since I carry some Sanuk slip on shoes and the road shoes are velcro and staps so they are quick to get in and out of.

That's cool on being able to exchange them. I definitely prefer my mountain bike shoes for commuting, for the reasons you describe, and also for things like being able to walk across my wood floor without knicking it all to heck with the cleat, for being able to walk into my desk at work and change shoes at my desk (I keep a pair of shoes in my desk so I don't have to carry them on the bike), and just for being able to walk around a bit off the bike. Having a small cleat on a road shoe seems pretty uncomfortable for that, and also owning a pair of road shoes with speedplay pedals, I have to put covers on them to walk around with them on.

Good luck!

Just FYI, I tried CrankBros pedals about 7 year ago and seem to remember the clips could be installed two ways, one of which made it easier, the other harder. In other words, you can turn the clips 180 degrees around for the change, but keep the one with the dots on the right side.

I had loads of trouble clipping in on the fly with CrankBros. Like stepping on a wet railroad track. Went back to SPD. I too wear ATB shoes with cleats to commute so I can reasonably walk around the grocery, cafe, etc. Most of my buds use CBros and have no issues - except making fun of me for not succeeding with them. With SPD I might miss one clip-in out of a thousand, and never have issue un-clipping.