My husband recently had a weird problem where he couldn't release his cleat from one of his M-324 pedals. He eventually had to remove his foot from his shoe to get off the bike! Even then he had a difficult time releasing the shoe/cleat from the pedal. When he did he noticed that one of the screws holding the cleat in place was missing. He inserted another screw and made sure everything was tight before riding again. Today, after several trouble-free rides, he had a simulataneous malfunction on BOTH pedals - this was at the end of a 45 mile ride where he clipped/unclipped without any problem several times. Anyway, he eventually freed one shoe from the pedal, untied the other shoe, and removed his foot from the shoe (again). The shoe is still on the pedal . . .but it's spinning - the cleat is loose.

He has a new pair of shoes, fresh cleats, and, if needed, another pedal set and may just start new with all 3 parts of this equation. The question is really this . . . has anyone ever had anything like this happen to them, and, if so, was it a pedal problem, a cleat problem, or a shoe problem.

As I understand it, some cleats do not fit some pedals. It shouldn't be a problem if you use the cleats that come with the pedals, but some people (moi, for instance), get new pedals and keep their old shoes/cleats. Didn't work for me. All SPDs are not the same, apparently.

These are the cleats that came with the pedals so we're all set with that. It's still a mystery!

To answer your question, no, I have never had this problem.

What I see from your post, the only problem you have is the screws keep coming loose, and happening on both side. SPD cleats have little spikes bite into the sole of the shoe, so that once the cleats are tightened, they won't move around. It is possible that the screws were tightened just enough for the spikes to touch the sole but not biting into it, therefore, they came loose.

If the tightening them even more doesn't work, try a product called Loc-Tite. It's a compound that keep the thread from coming loose. You can get it almost any hardware stores.

Once the screws are tightened properly, spikes bite into the sole securely, they should not keep moving around.

It sounds to me like the screws that hold your husband's cleats aren't long enough for the shoes that he's using. Better bike shops will have a little box of cleat hardware that includes slightly longer cleat screws.

Back off the release tension screw a bit.