SPD: Sudden Pedal Death
 

My feet have been popping out of my pedals a lot recently. I adjusted the spring tension, and it was good as new for two or three days, and then not so much. I don't like what happens when I try to stop my bike. Are the cleats worn out already ('s only been five months or so), or does the spring tension revert to terror mode on its own?

Which pedals do you have? Do they grind on the ground at all when you walk? When you are slowing down/stopping/skipping/skidding, do you twist your heels out without thinking about it?

I once flipped over my bars in a sprint when clipping out of SPD's--breaking collarbone--2 months later I was in a bike shop telling my story when mechanic lifted his shirt--broken collarbone a month before mine from---clipping out of SPD's. I'm new to fixed and having a little trouble clipping into my road pedal while it is moving ("damn--stay still") and thought about putting on my SPD's--that thought lasted about 5 minutes.

If you walk a lot it's quite possible your cleats are already worn - I got a year out of ATAC cleats in one pair of shoes, and in new shoes wore them enough for a brand new pair of them to have some slop in a couple of months, but I could hear the grinding when I walked. Look at the contact points and compare them with an online pic and it should be fairly obvious.

My brief flirtation with spuds had me unclipping unexpectedly not infrequently, and the spring tension on mine didn't stay for long.

Just replaced my cleats and it's been less than a year. Plus I should've replaced them around summer time, but I don't skid much so I wasn't popping out too much. Put some new cleats in and the unexpected popping out has stopped for now, but it's got me thinking about eggbeaters. I heard the cleats don't last long either, but I haven't heard about any problems popping out unexpectedly.

Eggbeaters are really a sudden death pedal. Apparently they are really poorly designed. They have a teeny tiny bearing and the way it is designed a groove is worn into the spindle. This groove likes to make the pedal explode.

SPDs are the worst for foot pull-outs. Get some ATACs.

I broke my collarbone in October this way. I also ruptured my spleen. Now I have no spleen thanks to SPDs. :( :(

Walking on SPDs doesn't contribute to wear I think, because the retention mechanism doesn't depend on any downward pointing face.

get atacs they have a fixed rear spring and are very very sturdy

Eggbeaters are just as susceptible to getting effed as any other pedal. Especially if you mess around with them, I'm sure they're subject to spontaneous exploding. Worse for the earlier generations. Using the grease port every once and a while is a good idea.

That said, I got a pair, and though I like them just fine, they're not the greatest. Super easy and whatever, but with the way the cleat is set up, they're super tight for a while, then they're perfect for about a second, and then the cleat wears more and they're looser than Susan Sarandon will be in year 2013. And with the Eggbeater styling, if you bump the underside on a rock on the trails or a curb or something, the other side (the one your foot clips into,) opens up. Some ATAC's in my future, I think...

On the MTB, I kind of like the easy-out. But for the road I wouldn't get anything from Crank Bros. except the Candy-C's. In that case, though, Time Aliums are probably better anyway.

Yeah but you save 20 grams per pedal!!!!

;)

There are two kinds of Shimano SPD cleats;

The BLACK aka Single Release (Model SM-SH51) = the GOOD ones
and the SILVER = the BAD BAD BAD ones.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...3&d=1166603143

The silver ones are designed to unclip not only by rotating, but also by pulling up!!!

Use ONLY BLACK SPD SH51 cleats for fixed gear!!!!!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...k-spd-sh51.JPG

I've been running Wellgo cleats in my Shimano pedals, and I haven't pulled out once since making the switch. I guess they're slightly bigger, because the float doesn't feel the same, and they're much more secure.

That's what the Shimano manuals say... But then I have silver cleats and they most definitely don't clip out when I pull up... No SPD cleat does AFAIK. IIRC the manual also says that the "black" kind doesn't release inwards, only out... my cleat releases whichever way I turn my foot.
Can anyone make sense of the stuff Shimano say?

I was riding on some SPD cleats that released by pulling upwards on October 11 and broke my collarbone and ruptured my spleen. Mind you, I was pulling up as hard as I physically could, which I would estimate is harder than the median cyclist. I have never had this problem with my Look cleats.

Were you using the multi release cleats? They are designed to pull out of in pretty much any direction but straight up. Even a slight lateral motion with your pull and BAM. I borrowed my dads shoes and used them with my pedals once.... bad idea.

Do you have keos or arcs? I had arcs and could pull out directly up at will and often when I did not will it too even with new cleats and the tension maxed.

Yeah, that's an unfortunate malfunction... but the manuals claim that some SPD cleats do that as their normal ****ion.

My SPD cleats release in either direction. But I can pull hard enough to pull them out straight up.

My look pedals are deltas. I've never unintentionally pulled out of them. Even up to 1200W, as measured by my powertap. In my experience, that level of exertion in the SPDs frequently leads to unintentional pullouts. I was at my LBS trying to solve this problem. The shop owner gave me brand new SPD pedals and shimano cleats, and I could pull directly up and out some considerable fraction of the time when I tried to.

While I never got into an accident, my experience with the non-multirelease SPD cleat with M520 pedals is the same as recursives. I pulled out during hard sudden sprints, during hard leg slowing/skidding. I could even pull straight up with leg while stationary on stand and pop it out if cleat had ~200mi of wear (with lots of short trips due to commuting) with new pedals set at max. release tension.

I got ATAC XS pedals and have never clipped out.

Al

Have been using black ones for about 10 years (geared and lately fixed), and recently bought a new silver pair. The first ride around the block, I almost killed myself trying to stop...
And changed right back to old black cleats.
The difference is really big.

Cleat and pedal are symmetrical, so there is no reason to not release inward, it is only a bit harder to twist your foot that way.

Release force/difficulty also greatly depends on shoe stiffens.

Edit: No problems with BLACK SPD cleats and Shimano pd535 pedals, in 10+ years.
They clip in and out fine. And propperly set up, never unclipped unwhanted.

Luke

I got my first pair of LOOKS in 87, and my first SPD's in 91 and have NEVER had a problem with clipless. Toe straps almost killed me @ Rocky Hill Ranch, south of Austin in the late 80's (story for another thread). I guess I've just been lucky.

Sorry about your bad luck.

(edit) all of my cleats have been black.

I'd strongly suggest Time ATACs in some form. I've ridden the same set of ATAC cleats for 2 years, pretty much day-in and day-out, including all the grinding on the ground and everything. I've since replaced the shoes and cleats, but I only ever pulled out of the ATACs once, and that was after I had been riding the cleats in the "you know, this isn't really a good idea" state for about half-a-year -- my shoes were so worn that most of the time, I was literally walking on the cleat on flat, smooth ground.

All this is to say: get a pair of ATACs. They won't let you down, regardless of what you're riding in, and they won't let you go unless you want them to. (Additionally, I've not had any problems with clipping out)