Cleats - whats that about then?

[mercalia]

However, if you look at people who ride a bicycle a few times a week AND do more than a few miles each time they go out, the "minority" rapidly changes into a "massive majority".

Aha! I don't always do more than a few miles each time I go out. Sometimes I just bimble to the village shop and back. So I don't count then

Bikes are for life, not just for mile-eating

yes u dont count as a real cyclist, infact shouldnt be reading these forums?

[Mike Sales]

yes u dont count as a real cyclist, infact shouldnt be reading these forums?

I think you are reading this implication into these comments. I understood the point being made to be that many more miles are cycled on clipless (or clipped) pedals than on flat. And also, perhaps, that riders who ride more miles are the ones who naturally want to improve their pedalling.

[NUKe]

Sorry but the vast majority are not the weekend Wiggos. Do not need anything special to affix themselves to the bike. The problem is on specialist forums like this we tend to be the keen cyclists, So our view of the world is distinctly skewed. It is wrong to call all other bikes BSO. my daughter for instance rides a bike everyday as her means of transport she neither wants nor has funny hats, funny shoes, skin tight clothing. If I look round our cycle sheds at work the vast majority of bicycles have normal pedals, they are used every day by people to commute to and from work. If I go touring with my 11 year old son I wear normal shoes and ride on flat pedals we may do 30 miles in the day.
Admittedly I wear lycra and wear funnyshoes most of the time but its not the norm and people who prefer not to are still genuine cyclists.

The shoes aren't magic and the effect is more limited than most people think.

[Mick F]

Again, I make the point ..............

It depends on where you are and what you perceive as reality.

[JohnW]

I may be wrong here, but this seems to me to be becoming all a little less than good natured. I'm unsubscribing.

[meic]

I hope you manage to disengage without having a mishap.

[mercalia]

hmm some people dont have any sense of humour? so i added some winks for them

[vjosullivan]

I use multi-directional release SM-SH56 SPD cleats and I swear by them.

I tried SPDs for several months without success and eventually gave up on them before coming across these and gave them them one last try. An immediate success and no worries about doing three or four attempts at the correct 'ankle twist' to detach from the pedal. Somehow these ones seem to 'know' whether I'm lifting the pedal or taking my foot off. I started off with them on the loosest settings... ...and stayed with those settings ever since.

The SPD pedals I use are double sided but with detachable flats clipped on one side. I thought that that would be a good compromise to start with but I don't think I've ever used the flats since.

Curiously, my "off road" bike still has flats and I just can't imagine trying to tackle any of the long distance mud baths (aka bridleways) around our way with any kind of pedal attachments. I always need at least one foot on the ground to extract the bike from the gloop and push myself along (assuming I can find any ground solid enough to do so).

V.

[ScotchEgg]

I've went back to SPD after a summer of hell on SPD SL, I dont know how many times I've slipped or skidded on my backside on stairs or the busy commute!

[Brucey]

I've went back to SPD after a summer of hell on SPD SL, I dont know how many times I've slipped or skidded on my backside on stairs or the busy commute!

They are meant to have little rubber inserts in the cleats which are supposed to help to stop you from going base over apex. I have not found them to be effective either.

For full-on racing maybe SPD-SLs are slightly better than SPDs. I don't know; maybe it is just a herd mentality thing. Clearly even Shimano didn't use to think that conventional SPDs were unsuitable for racing; they used to make both Dura-Ace and Ultegra SPD pedals with the small cleat. Although it is not super popular, there are folk using PD-A520 and PD-A600 for full on road racing and they report no problems whatsoever.

cheers

[mercalia]

These the ones that came with my Dawes One Down long time ago - any good these days? made by FPD I think says on the side

never been used. I suppose the black thing with screws in u attach to shoes? any particular type of cycling shoe?

[ScotchEgg]

I'm very sceptical SPD SL was ever designed for anything other than racing. If I've had a pound for every time I slipped and skidded on them...

[Brucey]

FPD? -an SPD knock-off. The cleats will fit to any shoe that will accept an SPD cleat, and the cleats are meant to be compatible with SPD pedals and the pedals with SPD cleats. BUT;

1) the pedals don't have kicker ramps in them; this can make for a poor release, especially when the cleats get worn.

2) if you strip the bearings down you may well find a small cartridge bearing in the outboard end, and a sleeve bearing (bushing) in the inboard end. The sleeve bearing is both higher friction and less durable than a ball bearing.

cheers

[ScotchEgg]

I've used these FPD and there is a slight issue with getting the cleat caught again in the mechanism when you are released.
This proved too scary for me and I ditched em!