Viewing 25 posts - 1 through 25 (of 25 total)
  • First experience of sdp's….
  • backtothetop
    Free Member

    …ended up with me laying on the dining room floor.

    I had the shoes so i thought id get the pedals, m530’s for £22 from crc, just attached them and me to a whyte 905, stood upon pedals whilst leaning on the wall to my right to get a ‘feel’, seconds later i started leaning to the left, over balanced, couldnt release left foot and found my self stretching out to grab the workstand that was holding another frame up, this was just out of reach. the extra weight from leaning over caused me to crash to the ground and land on my left leg that now aches a lot around the knee, wish me luck on my first ride out on spd’s tomorrow. could be interesting.

    andyl
    Free Member

    have you backed off the tension screws to minimum?

    Good luck.

    Oh and make sure your cleat screws are tight as if one drops out the cleat rotates and you can’t unclip….

    andyl
    Free Member

    stupid double post.

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    waller
    Free Member

    😀 baptism of falling off. You may find your not as confident going over drop offs and steep stuff for a while but you’ll soon forget about it.

    Try winding down the tension a bit and remember you can unclip your foot both ways. Heel in and heel out. Bu most of all. Good luck 😉

    unklehomered
    Free Member

    Its like the matrix, everyone falls the first time.

    As andy says, screws tight, I once got to the bottom of Dunkery Beacon descent, and only then discovered I was missing a bolt, and would not have been able to unclip if I’d had to stop…

    CaptJon
    Free Member

    Just wait until you do that at some traffic lights.

    andyl
    Free Member

    When my screw fell out I fell into a prickly bush!

    Fortunately, and amazingly, I retraced my steps to the last place I unclipped and found the screw in the mud!

    _tom_
    Free Member

    I’m still yet to have an SPD related fall somehow, but have only used them on road bike where stopping is rare anyway.

    backtothetop
    Free Member

    backed the screws right off which i hope is enough for me to get used to. i can only unclip going heel in at present, as i cant seem to twist my ankles out enough to do it the other way, thanks for the tips, cleat screws being tightened as you read this.

    andyl
    Free Member

    ahh yes I was going to say have a mess with the cleat position today so you can unclip properly in both directions and it is comfy. Be prepared to mess with the cleats a bit.

    I found the M530s are a lot better at preventing hot spots than the uncaged ones like M540s but I guess that only works if you have suitable shoes. I have shimano M123 which sit nicely on the cage.

    Edric64
    Free Member

    you can unclip your foot both ways

    Depends on the cleat, dont some just work by twisting out ?

    stuarty
    Free Member

    First outing on mine just ten minuets ago
    No offs as yet but defo weird for a bit
    As far as im aware the single release cleats are black ie heels out unlocks only
    And silver are multirelease in\out and up
    But i would like to thank who ever it was who recomended trying out in the hall first saved me launching them into orbit when i couldnt get clipped in

    Bunnyhops a million percent better now
    Just need to get them off road

    backtothetop
    Free Member

    its more my ankles ability to twist that way, i find it awkward to twist that way, think i have special ankles. i shall have a play around and see how i get on. watch this space tomorrow.

    andyl
    Free Member

    single release – twist either way.

    Multi – twist or pull up.

    Most people use single for obvious reasons.

    nwgiles
    Full Member

    11 years with spd’s and I forgot to unclip last week and hit the deck luckily it was in a car park with everyone watching

    backtothetop
    Free Member

    The first ride went well, fell over softly thankfully whilst getting over some roots and also had the added bonus of friends on flats in front of me stopping every so often so i had to unclip or fall. rear wheel lifts are made so easy too, think im gonna like these spd things

    montylikesbeer
    Full Member

    Welcome to the falling down club , I went over to flats and a pair of 5, 10’s a few years ago and never looked back ( my shins think so anyroad)

    Kramer
    Free Member

    My first ride clipless I ended up on my side in a stream still attached to the bike.

    martymac
    Full Member

    25 years on em, only had 1 fall due to not being able to unclip.
    it was about 1hr after i started using them, came to a complete stop and was pulling my foot back.
    i quickly realised my mistake, but had reached about 45 degrees by then.
    i suspect im not the only one to have a similar experience . . . . .

    IainFP
    Free Member

    After 15+yrs on SPD’s I’ve gone back to flats this year. Absolute revelation, can’t bunnyhop as well but, IMHO in most other situations flats are way more confidence inspiring, especially on jumps 😉

    bruk
    Full Member

    You are truly a spd user when you have come to a halt in front of a large group of walkers (strangely including some quite attractive young ladies) then slowly toppled over, slid down a ditch and ended up with your bike stuck on top of you!

    Enjoy them they are fantastic and you do get better with them.

    Gunz
    Free Member

    The best advice I read when I first started using them was on how to set them up individually for each leg.
    Sit on a worktop with both legs hanging free and see which way off centre each leg naturally sits – set up cleats angled to take account of this.
    Sorry if this is teaching some to suck eggs but it really helped me after initially setting up the cleats dead centre and wondering why my knees were killing me.

    PePPeR
    Full Member

    Gunz is very very correct!

    Install the cleats as he suggests as it will prevent your knees being buggered up!

    backtothetop
    Free Member

    ive got my right cleat set up well but need to adjust the left slightly, found some soft sand in deepest darkest suffolk today and ended up laying down again whilst attached to my bike, much to the amusement of my mate. bunny hops and rear wheel lifts are so easy, going to keep to flats on the other bike and try to transfer different skills learnt between the two. preferring being clipped in now though thats for sure.

    faz083
    Free Member

    anyone ever lost a cleat bolt? Was on the last mile of a weekend in Wales yesterday and couldn’t clip in with my left shoe. Looked at it and one of the bolts had just disappeared, and it was at 45 degrees. Not something I ever thought of bringing a spare for, either. Just pedaled with one foot the rest of the way back.
    Imagine if that happened at the top of a descent, though? Odd.

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