I'm going to suggest that "easy to get out of" isn't the problem.

While you want avoid ones that are hard to get out of, the real problem with getting out of pedals is that they are different to get out of.

Your foot falls off of platform pedals (nothing to get out of) and you have to do something specific (and different and unusual) to get out of clipless.

I suspect that, except for a few rare cases, any pedal will be easy enough to get out of.

The M520 pedals can be made to be fairly easy to get out of.

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Obviously, the problem is you! Clearly, she needs to be umd's girlfriend!

Any of the Crank Brother pedals. No adjustments. Easy to get in and easy to get out. Just wish they made road bike specific pedals still.... I use the Quatro model and the Candy model and have nothing but positive experiences with them.

I've had several different pedals. Currently I'm using SPD with Shimano M647 DH pedals and M122 MTB shoes. These are great for urban stop-and-go, you can unclip instantly (BTW, the SF51 standard cleat allows heel-inward clip-outs fine, no need for 56), and you can take off when the light turns green, clipped in or riding the platform. These are not the lightest pedals in the world. Road pedals/shoes/cleats are more efficient for rural rides where you don't have to stop too often. (I try to look at the lights ahead, and do semi-trackstands to not have to unclip and dismount, but a lot of times, I have no choice but to put the foot down.) Nothing wrong with having both urban-riding and roadie kits.

What the "easiest" pedal to get out of is a fuzzy issue. I just switch from Crank Brother's pedals to the Time ATAC's. The Time's require about twice as much force from your leg to clip in and out of than the Crank Brother's did for sure (about the same to clip in). However, I actually feel like it's notably easier to get in and out of them - my leg is capable is producing far more force than required to unclip from either, but with the Time's I slide my foot out and it "clicks" and I'm out - with the Crank Brother's I would slide my foot out and overdo it and assume that my foot had actually unclipped...not nearly as confidence inspiring.

The spd's would probably be fine as well.

Like other people, I would also stay away from road cleats simply because they don't have any tread on the shoes, so when you put your foot down it's not very stable - something you get used to, but it's unexpected at first. Plus it's way easier to walk around in mountain bike shoes off the bike.

The only cleat system I specifically avoid is the crank brothers one. Like I said, I had them before I was just very unimpressed with them in so many ways. Clipping in and out was ok but not great. I had to install the extra shims so they had enough clearance for my shoe to actually rotate on the pedals. When I switched them from one bike to another, the axle was covered in oil/grease - something I haven't run into with any other pedal systems. My bike fitter said that they might be the reason I was having knee pain as they let the shoe slide left and right a lot (which seems to be ok for mountain biking, but not for road biking). The fitter also changed the positioning of stuff on my bike, but after switching to the Time's my knee pain has almost completely dissapeared.

The Time Z's have a fairly large platform which is nice -
http://www.nashbar.com/bikes//Produc...2_506612_-1___

http://www.nashbar.com/images/nashba...-NCL-ANGLE.jpg

Anyways, just my thoughts. Good luck.

Stay away from the Smartys. My wife and ride the egg beaters and they are easy in and out.

It's not only how easy they are to get out of but how easy they are on the knees. I have the ultegra pedals with the float cleats and they killed my knees. Not only do they have a fore/aft adjustment they also have a left to right adjustment. The speedplay IMO are the easiest to get out of and the easiest to install the cleat.

egg beaters gave me hotspots.

Agreed. These are some crappy quality pedals. Candies are great though.

I had that with SPD's as well. It's the size of the cleat. I solved the issue by going with carbon soled shoes. Stiffness was the key.

After experience with my wife I'll suggest you not force it on her. Because if she falls she'll blame you. :) maybe. Get her on the Team Estrogen forums and let peer pressure do it's thing. Until then just use regular pedals and ride slow.

I just picked up a set of Time Iclic as my first set of clipless pedals. Very easy to clip in and out. I had read a few reports of the cleats breaking when they first came out... so far so good on mine.

All of you people who don't think tension is an issue are forgetting that people are different. Women, children, and other people (weak knees, previous injuries, movement issues, etc.) sometimes find it difficult to clip out. I remember my mom's first clipless moment was a good 5-10 seconds of shouting "I CAN'T GET MY FOOT OUT!" before she ran out of room and succumbed to her fate.

I don't think it's a non-issue, I just think it's a focus that scares people away. Most people can learn and get used to unclipping any pedal. Knowing that, people would be better off choosing a pedal based on how easy it is to use, not get out of.

It can be an issue but are most pedals that different in their lowest tension setting?

Is the problem generally the tension or is it the unfamiliarity with the particular, unusual technique required to unclip?

This was the first moment. It seems that it might be more due to the unfamiliarity to the whole clipless thing than the tension (unless she started using different pedals after this first time). That is, she might have said the same thing with pedals with the "lowest" tension because the required movement was peculiar not "hard".

Most importantly, take her to a park or similarly grassy area (nothing paved), and let her ride around in circles to get used to it.

Even before doing that, she should practice the move on a bike that isn't moving.

Wildly different. In my experience, Speedplays not only have a very low amount of tension, but the motion to release is more natural. Looks and SPD-SLs are tight at the lowest setting. SPDs are light, but the motion is not as intuitive.


You're probably right, but when you've spent 10 minutes with the bike on a trainer practicing clipping in and out, then just the fact that you're moving is enough to make you unable to accomplish the task despite planning way ahead, I'm sure it was a combination of tension and not being used to the motion required.

As I said before, a pedal that requires a more natural ankle movement is also very helpful to beginners. Probably more helpful than a low tension, but both can help.

This makes sense. I am a bit worried that the OP expects magic from "easy to get out of pedals".

+1

They're also insanely easy to get into.

You could be right. Speedplay Light Actions came pretty close to "magic" if you ask me. Releasing was so natural and smooth (I never even heard a click) that I swapped to something else in fear that I would unclip unintentionally.

edit: They were also the hardest to clip INTO in my experience. If I didn't step on just the right spot, it wouldn't engage.

Thanks for all of the info everyone. Today will be her first ride in a 5k bike/skate circuit we have in the city so we will see how it goes. This will be her first time riding a bike since she was 13 but the fitter yesterday said that her posture looked very natural for someone who has never ridden a road bike in her life. I will easily ease her into it so she can get comfortable with the bike before we jump into clipless. Right now we are just going to concentrate on the saddle because the one that came with the bike is one of those really crappy cushy ones that barely give any support so we will be going saddle shopping this weekend.

It looks like you can't win!

agree with all the others who mentioned SPDs. in my experience, they were easiest to unclip.

Shimano 520's.. thats what I learned on.

Spd sl