SPD newbie needs help

So, I bought a pair of the Lidl shoes this morning (thanks for the
heads-up, wafflycat et al) to go with my M324 pedals, and went for my
first ever clipped ride, up and down the road at the back of the house,
with lots of unclippings and reclippings (and even more vague downward
poking, staring intently at my feet - it's a good job it's a
cul-de-sac), and only one ohmygodmyfoot'sstuck after I thought /really/
carefully about coming to a stop, understanding the need to unclip...and
unclipped the wrong foot. So far, so good.

Currently I have them set up with the cleats more or less in the middle,
under the ball of my foot-ish, and the tension on one pedal as it came
and on the other, reduced by a couple of turns. Is there a recommended
position for the cleat, or is it just like saddle/bars/etc - trial and
error with longer and longer rides until nothing hurts? And, is there
a recommended tension? I did some fairly serious pulling up of pedals
riding up the cul-de-sac (it's a gentle hill) and they didn't come out -
should I slacken them until they do fall out under such honking, and
then tighten them fractionally so they don't again?

R.

Richard richard at percival dot demon dot co dot tld for united kingdom
wrote:
Is there a recommended

Quoted message said:

position for the cleat, or is it just like saddle/bars/etc - trial and
error with longer and longer rides until nothing hurts? And, is there
a recommended tension? I did some fairly serious pulling up of pedals
riding up the cul-de-sac (it's a gentle hill) and they didn't come out -
should I slacken them until they do fall out under such honking, and
then tighten them fractionally so they don't again?

Trial and error as far as position is concerned. My favourite trick is
to set the cleats so that my feet sit on the pedals at the same sort of
angles as they do when I stand naturally. In my case that's left foot
straight ahead and right foot pointing nor' nor' east, as it were. As
to tightness, adjust them so that you can unclip without getting a
hernia but they stay put even when pulling sharply uphill.

One point - make sure the cleats are screwed very firmly to the shoes
and check the fitting from time to time. Looseness here can lead to
difficulty when trying to unclip.

Good luck.

--
Brian G

Quoted message said:

And, is there
a recommended tension? I did some fairly serious pulling up of pedals
riding up the cul-de-sac (it's a gentle hill) and they didn't come out -
should I slacken them until they do fall out under such honking, and
then tighten them fractionally so they don't again?

Two schools of thought:

1) Tighten them up just enough that they won't come out when cycling. Then
when you stop and realise you're still clipped in, it's a lot easier to
wrench your foot off the pedal.

2) Tighten them up so that there's no way they'll ever come out cycling but
you can still unclip okay.

I suggest 1) and then moving up to 2) if you need to and you've got used to
unclipping.

Mark Thompson said:

Two schools of thought:

1) Tighten them up just enough that they won't come out when cycling. Then
when you stop and realise you're still clipped in, it's a lot easier to
wrench your foot off the pedal.

2) Tighten them up so that there's no way they'll ever come out cycling but
you can still unclip okay.

I suggest 1) and then moving up to 2) if you need to and you've got used to
unclipping.

An inadvertant but preventable school 1 (I knew that the cleats were worn,
and that I didn't have the tension anywhere near where it should be) lead
to my pitching over the handlebars of the fixie while mid-sprint. While
possibly classifiable as a "prat-fall", it did earn me a nice scar on my
chin. I would personally suggest moving towards 2 as soon as is humanly
possible. The occasional fall while stationary due to an inability to
unclip (Only happened to me once in 8+ years of riding clipless) is likely
to result in less injury than an inadvertant unclip at speed.

YMMV.

Jon

in message <[email hidden]>, Richard

(') said:

Is there a
recommended position for the cleat, or is it just like saddle/bars/etc
- trial and error with longer and longer rides until nothing hurts?

Under the ball of your foot is right. Then, as you say, trial and error.

The real error, though, is to leave the bolts only half tight on the
basis that 'I'll harden them up once I'm sure they're in the right
position.' If you do this you WILL NOT be able to get your foot out, and
you WILL fall off. Do not ask me how I know this...

Quoted message said:

And, is
there
a recommended tension? I did some fairly serious pulling up of pedals
riding up the cul-de-sac (it's a gentle hill) and they didn't come out
- should I slacken them until they do fall out under such honking, and
then tighten them fractionally so they don't again?

No. Start with them fairly slack, as you gain in confidence increase the
tension gradually. So long as you are sure you can get your feet out in
emergency, the tighter the better, really, on SPDs. Saves accidental
releases.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; killing [afghan|iraqi] civilians is not 'justice'

Brian G said:

One point - make sure the cleats are screwed very firmly to the shoes
and check the fitting from time to time. Looseness here can lead to
difficulty when trying to unclip.

I can confirm this is indeed the case, having had to lean against a
piece of road furniture and unstrap my shoes to get my feet out...
I didn't make that mistake again.

...d

Simon Brooke said:

No. Start with them fairly slack, as you gain in confidence increase the
tension gradually. So long as you are sure you can get your feet out in
emergency, the tighter the better, really, on SPDs. Saves accidental
releases.

I started on Looks. Ever since then I hav enever been able to get SPD's
tight enough for serious work.. Then again I do have somewhat broad
legs..

...d

David Martin said:

I started on Looks. Ever since then I hav enever been able to get SPD's
tight enough for serious work.. Then again I do have somewhat broad
legs..

One day, I'll buy a nice pair of shoes, put some Look cleats on them, and
put my old Looks back onto the Giant. I did love those pedals, but SPD
cleats were more practical for commuting!

Jon

"Richard richard at percival dot demon dot co dot tld for united kingdom"
<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So, I bought a pair of the Lidl shoes this morning (thanks for the
heads-up, wafflycat et al) to go with my M324 pedals, and went for my
first ever clipped ride, up and down the road at the back of the house,

Another thing, apply some anti-seize coppergrease to the cleat fixing
screws.

Pete

"Jon Senior" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I would personally suggest moving towards 2 as soon as is humanly
possible. The occasional fall while stationary due to an inability to
unclip (Only happened to me once in 8+ years of riding clipless) is likely
to result in less injury than an inadvertant unclip at speed.

I tend to keep the mtb pedals only just tight enough to avoid involuntary
unclipping but loose enough that I'll automatically disengage when being
thrown from the bike and also to allow easy dis-engagement when landing in
a peculiar position and auto dis-engagement has failed ;-)
(on more than one occasion I've had to help others disengage when they've
landed in a heap, can be difficult on a steep technical drop with them
buried in the shrubbery :-)

I keep my road bike cleats tighter on the basis that I almost never have to
unclip without forewarning and coming unclipped when sprinting from traffic
lights is ill-advised (based on personal experience :-(

I preferred Looks on my road bike but in the interests of standardisation
now have spds on all my bikes.

Pete

Jon Senior said:

One day, I'll buy a nice pair of shoes, put some Look cleats on them, and
put my old Looks back onto the Giant. I did love those pedals, but SPD
cleats were more practical for commuting!

I've never managed to get ATACs to release when they shouldn't, even
with /ridiculously/ worn cleats (though they did come out when I took a
real pearler over-the-bars on the MTB when a rut I'd been riding in ran
out all of a sudden). Won't have as much power going through my feet as
Jon, but they don't suffer in this respect like SPuDs and you can still
walk.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Quoted message said:

Two schools of thought:

1) Tighten them up just enough that they won't come out when cycling.
Then
when you stop and realise you're still clipped in, it's a lot easier to
wrench your foot off the pedal.

2) Tighten them up so that there's no way they'll ever come out cycling
but
you can still unclip okay.

I never got past (1). When I first got mine I loosened them as much as
possible until I'd gotten used to them, in fact I undid one so much it fell
apart and I had a hell of a job getting it back together. I've never felt
the need to make them tighter and never accidentally unclipped. Mind you
I'm in and out of the left one all the time while commuting. For maintenance
they get a squirt of WD40.