Do they afford you the freedom to unclip on sketchy sections of the trail or on corners with the security of standard release cleats or am I dreaming?

Work of the devil, avoid avoid avoid.

*veteran of several terrifyingly random unclippings when experimenting with multi release. Only really good for pootling on the flat and level, which begs the question why you’d use SPDs.

afford you the freedom to unclip on sketchy sections of the trail

Normal cleats do this, no?

The short answer is yes, sadly you are dreaming.

They are scary as hell.

They’re for towpath pootlers that are new to clipless. Avoid them.

I’m with 13thfloormonk. Bought some dead cheap, (why are cleats half the price of a set of 520 SPD’s?)

Number of times I kneed the handlebars on my commute to work was painful. Literally. Whacking up the spring tension helped, but then they barely release in any direction. Just get used to the standard ones, after a while you don’t even think about the unclip.

Horrible things they are! Get normal cleats and set the tension to minimum – this will give you 100 times more control and assurance than the multi-release ones with tension to the max…

Work of the devil, avoid avoid avoid.

This, horrible things, lack security, consistency and are generally terrible.

Been using them for years but had I known they had such a potential for instant death I’m sure I would have changed my mind. Or been killed.

Saying they are just for beginners is bollocks, they offer something different, you use them differently. If you’re relying on your cleats to keep your feet glued to the pedal then maybe there’s a technique issue.

If you’re relying on your cleats to keep your feet glued to the pedal then maybe there’s a technique issue.

What technique allows you to grip a cageless M540 SPD with a stiff, plastic soled SPD shoe? The only technique that would allow you to stay clipped in with a multi-release cleats seems to be to keep your feet dead level and straight at all time.

But no offense intended, if you use multi-release and aren’t a tow path pootler then fair play to you, although I’d be genuinely interested to know why you use them, knee issues?

another vote for death traps.
I have the pair I bought framed and hung up in the shed with the words ‘DANGER – RISK OF DEATH’ written above in blood they liberated from my shins.

But no offense intended, if you use multi-release and aren’t a tow path pootler then fair play to you, although I’d be genuinely interested to know why you use them, knee issues?

Another user here – I’ve always used them – on my commuter and MTB (which admittedly doesn’t get a lot of air time).

Can’t say I’ve had more than the occasional (maybe even rare) unwanted unclipping.

I have had knee issues in the past, and I like the float they have.

If you’re thinking of trying them, wear out a set of standard cleats to the point where they randomly unclip when you’re pulling up on the pedal (setting off from lights, for example). That’s pretty much how they are in use.

I’m not going to disagree with the majority. They won’t give you the security you want, they just make it easier to unclip anywhere. Flat pedals are a better option if you want to reliably be able to separate from the bike.

When I used them for a while I found them more or less indistinguishable from normal cleats in practise; though when i used multi-release i did increase the spring tension.

Only time they would have been useful is when one of the screws fell out of my cleat so on trying to unclip the cleat just turned and I fell into a prickly bush.

Amazingly I had just done a loop near to where we last stopped so went over to were we took a break and I last unclipped and found the missing screw.

Other than that I have never tried them as I want to unlcip when I say so.

Work of the devil, avoid avoid avoid.

*veteran of several terrifyingly random unclippings when experimenting with multi release. Only really good for pootling on the flat and level, which begs the question why you’d use SPDs.

The same experiences of them here. Even when I upped the tension on the pedals I would pull out of the pedals when ever I stood up on hill or started to apply lots of force.
Never, ever use them again……

Funny I use them all the time… race xc in them, use the same shoes/cleats on my road bikes and have ridden enduro in them, although I use flats currently.

Never experienced the whole ‘death trap’ thing… bizarre!

Got sent a set incorrectly and fitted them without checking.

Bloody awful things, would unclip under hard cornering, hard pedalling, getting sideways in the air, getting sideways on the ground… thought I was going mad until l checked the box. Technique has nothing to do with it either, I ride flats 90% of the time.

I didnt get on with them.

I’ve never understood how to normal ones are so difficult to get out of?

well there you have it OP – they’ll kill you and even worse, brand you as totally un-gnar to your peers. Unless they don’t. But they probably will. Most likely.

Basically OP, they are less secure than a single release cleat because they can be released by twisting in more than one axis.
They have a bit more float than single release and if you really like to pull hard on the pedals then you may prefer the single option.

I’ve commuted in them for years without incident, but only last night I had a random unclipping while pulling up on the pedal during a spin class. Fortunately the bars were very padded and the unnecessarily loud crap music drowned out my swearing.

Have them on three pairs of shoes which get used on six bikes. No problem and I’d go far far as saying they are better than the usual shimano cleats.

Cheers for the replies, i certainly don’t want to die, (just yet) so i’ll revert to the original plan of buying flats and using normal cleats in the mean time.

Try one of each* on different feet for direct comparison, worst case you only get half killed 😉

* don’t do this

I’ve used them for 5 years.. No issues whatsoever. I’ve taken them down world cup tracks, so not exactly pootling either.

After going back to Shimano from years on Crank Brothers, I didn’t like the “so secure I can’t move my foot” of single release cleats. Swapped to multi release and found them better, but still tough to get into compared to CB.

I like the vagueness of CB and the multi way in they give, forwards, backwards, STAMP!