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Cleats question
A couple of questions that I am sure you guys will know the answer to.
1. I've only been riding cleats for the past six months but all of a sudden I am struggling to get in and out of them (Shimano spd). Would it be possible that because I have them on the loosest setting that this is occurring? They kind of feel like they get caught sometimes when getting out of them and sometimes I'll be riding for a while before I can slam them in. When I got them this didn't happen and I felt quite comfortable getting in and out of them.
2. If so, which way does the screw need to be turned to tighten them a touch? (Idiot I know, but I lost the piece of paper with this info)
3. Riding Manly dam I have always enjoyed hitting the challenges head on as having the luxury of being able to just jump off the bike if it starts going pear shape is a great peace of mind. How did everyone go when they started out with sections such as the boardwalk that runs up to the rock step up and the 3 rock step up? Anything though downwards makes for some very nicely controlled riding and bombing off drops is great because there is no worry of the old foot slip!
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Check the bottom of your shoes that the cleats are still straight , clean them . Tightening is clockwise, and it's not automatic that loose means easier to unclip . Loose for me means easier to get in more likely to pop off but lacks the definite click sideways when getting out in a hurry. Sometimes a little spray with a light lube plus tighter spring setting makes a nice compromise
some pedals have an indicator tab to show you how tight/loose it is.
loose = mushy in and out
tight = definite click
check your shoes to make sure you haven't got a stone wedged between the cleat and your shoe tread.
Mate, i would get rid of the shimano's. Have never had a good experience with them.
Go for the Crank Brother, Cand's or the Eggbeaters.
These are indistructable, no drama's with mud either. Nice big holes to push the gunk etc out.
Cheers
As other have said check for blockages, rocks or gunk in shoes and pedals.
Also I like to lube the pedal mech with chain lube to keep the spring and catch working nicely.
The other things to check are
Cage/platform . The cheaper plastic cage style pedals can get damaged which can make it hard to line the cleat up properly
Axle nut. Again on the cage style clip less pedals the outside nut that holds the platform level can work loose. Cheap replaceable bits
Don't worry about the shimano v cb stuff. Both are good. I do prefer the feel of crankbro but their cleats wear like soft cheese. Shimano cleats last and last and last and their newer style mech clears mudd and crap much better then the older pedals
I was once a Crank Bros aspirant.
I very much liked the minimalist design and light weight. The supposedly better mud shedding was also an attraction.
I thought it might be salient to share why I've decided now to stay away:
) every year to 18 months.
* High maintenance. Long term owners report having to service the pedals with replacement bearings (bushings in some models
* High wear rate on the cleats
* Complaints by more than a few of fague feedback of engagement and exit points
* Design is prone to let go of cleat from rock strike
What removed the rose-tinted glasses from me was seeing the reliability and excess play hassles owners of Crank Bros seatposts seem to commonly have, even on the newly released model. Culturally, reliability and robustness seem to take a lower priority than funky looks.
In contrast, my experience of Shimanos is they are thoroughly bulletproof.
On the downside, yes I have managed to find a couple of collections of sharp rocks and sticks to fall into when I couldn't get a foot free from my XTs on some very wet rides. That resulted in a few scratches and bruises, but by far the worst injury was to the ego.
Most of the guys I ride with also use Shimanos, so swapping bikes on social rides is a nice risk-free way of working out which toy to put on the shopping list next.
For sure Shimanos aren't as light as CBs, but they do excel in most other areas.
Re the bearing replacement you are suppose to grease them regularly. If you do this you shouldn't have a problem, well I haven't anyway.
every thing else is very true
With shimano spd's you need to lube the springs every ride or two to keep the click in/out performance consistent. I use chain lube.
After only 6 months wear probably isn't the issue, but damage might be.
On Eggs v SPDs, they score on performance v durability respectively in my experience, but there's not much in it.
Personally I prefer the Eggs and the maintenance is minimal really, but apparent due to SPDs being seemingly fit & forget. I have actually run 2 sets of Eggs to failure through no maintenance whatsoever and it took years until they literally fell apart. The tip I'd give now is to rebuild them with the kit before the cartridge bearing disintegrates. It's cheap and only takes 5 mins. Conversely my SPDs used to get pretty scruffy looking and the performance varied more while I don't think I've ever noticed a difference in performance with the Eggs, with the exception of occasionally coming accidentally unclipped while jumping on cleats that I knew were seriously worn.
the downside of shimano pedals - - My main pair have been through 4 different bikes, and car like kms in 10 years (and lots and lots of mud)- when they started playing up I was yippee, new pedals on order - ordered some new white 20's which came with cleats.
relegated the old ones to a hardly used bike, and when i go back to the old pedals, guess what they work perfectly again! Cleats worn, not pedals. these things are just rediculous, I cant wear them out, shiny new xt trail pedals perform no better, the only drama is when my cleats move on my shoes or after walking in heavy mud where clipping in again can take a bit more weight than usual. - wash with hose, squirt with lube when i do an entire bike clean (once a season), and ride - up there with cranks, handlebars and stems for products that dont wear out.
I ride flats sometimes and cleats other times which means that I often have random pedals lying around the house. I've lost one spd pedal so the odd one now lives permanently in the kitchen where it works perfectly...as a bottle opener.
They work pretty well as pedals as well...bought a pair in 2006 and they are still my main clipless pedals. I've never done any maintenance on them either and still use the original cleats. As for reliability - I once had a loose cleat.