Hi

Today I was using my SPD shoes in a spin class and during fast-paced sprints my left shoe came out of the pedals. Luckily the cleat was still attached to the shoe (I've seen it happen that the cleat comes out of the shoe and gets stuck in the pedals - which is very difficult to get out).

But why did this happen? Surely the idea of the SPD clipless system is that the shoe can't come out unless twisted outwards. Oh and yes, I do have Single Release Cleats. I've gone that speed before, and never encountered any trouble

I'm worried now. Could the cleat or the shoe be damaged? How do I prevent this from happening again (as you can't freewheel on a spin bike so a foot dangling loose when the pedals are going at 'blur' speed is dangerous).

I asked the instructor who said it might be just the grip on the pedals and to make sure the cleats were tight when I went home. The pedals are set to the lowest release tension on all the bikes, but again I've done that speed before.

Should I be worried? Will there be any damage to cleats or shoe?

By the way, the cleats are relatively new - they aren't worn

Probably the pedal is worn and the tension is too low.

Not all SPD (& compatibles) are created equal.

What make is the pedal ?

What make is your cleat ?

Sounds like you already are.....

Cleat's getting old and worn down. Increase the tension or replace the cleat. No big deal.

At least on the spin bikes at my gym, the pedal tension isn't adjustable like it would be on a bike set of pedals. Or if it is adjustable, it's somewhere not easily visible by inspection. So there's really not that much recourse other than to be more careful.

Since the pedals on a Spin bike are just spd-compatible, not actual shimano brand pedals, they were probably designed to take a wide range of SPD-like cleats, such as wellgo, etc. It may be that a different type of cleat would work better, though I'm not sure. I actually do spinning with cannondale MTB shoes that I bought years ago, and have had the same cleats on since then. The cleats are from 2002 and double release. I use the same shoes/cleat for commuting and club rides, so they get a lot of use indoor/outdoor, and hold in a spin bike fine. Try swapping to a different cleat, maybe even to an off-brand one, and seeing if that works better for the spinning.

You may wear your cleats faster, and if you have road-style shoes with plastic or carbon soles, you may scuff them; but otherwise there shouldn't be any real damage. Try different bikes in the classroom; where I go they never move the bikes so I've already gotten used to which bikes are good and which ones are bad (mostly have clicky bottom brackets, but one or two have a missing pedal cleat on one side).

I hate it when that happens! I mean I REALLY hate it when that happens!

1bluetrek, I've gotten identical markings, but on the shin side. If you don't know how to do it that way, I don't think I should tell. Bled like a stuck pig, too.

At the risk of being pedantic, didn't the pedal in reality willingly disengage ?

True. I always make sure my SPDs want to disengage before dismounting.