My first clipless moment - caused by faulty shoes / pedals?

[Roadhump]

After fitting SPD-SL pedals to my road bike a few weeks ago, I fitted some SPD pedals to my hybrid yesterday. I have been fine with the SLs, but because they are difficult to walk in, I wanted to try SPDs and if I found them okay, I might have put them on my road bike too.

After looking at shoes, I decided to fit the SPD cleats to the cheap Muddy Fox shoes I already own first, in case I didn't like them. So, this morning, with cleats and pedals fitted, I set off on a planned 35 mile trip on my hybrid. For the first few miles everything was fine. I did notice the pressure on my soles was not as spread out, but with the shape of the pedals that didn't surprise me.

After about 6 or 7 clips in and out of my left pedal, I noticed the cleat seemed to drift towards the outer edge of my shoe, but with a bit of effort I could move it back, it seemed to get a bit more difficult to unclip which I thought might indicate a need to adjust the tension, although I had set it quite low anyway.

Half way through my ride, I had to stop for a red traffic light (luckily I had decided to use a quiet slip road so there were no other vehicles at the lights with me), I slowed down and tried to unclip my left foot to put it on the ground but nothing happened, I tried again a couple of times, but again nothing. I realised I was not going to unclip before I stopped so I quickly unclipped my right foot to use that instead. Unfortunately, instinct took over at that point and I went for the ground with my left foot, which of course was still attached to my pedal and as a result I crashed to the floor.

When I landed I tried to unclip my left foot but it just would NOT come free. I was unhurt but as I struggled to free my foot, I got a horrible cramp attack in my left thigh, which was agonising and made me grab my leg. A couple of passing motorists stopped to help but there wasn't much they could do except make sure any vehicles coming along went round me.

Eventually I had to take my shoe off and try to lever it from the pedal with my hands. After a few attempts, it came off but the cleat was still firmly clipped into the pedal, and I rode home using only one cleat, which wasn't as difficult as I expected to be honest.

I managed to free the cleat using pliers and a screwdriver and the plate with the threaded holes for the cleat bolts is still in the shoe but moves around.

I am wondering what caused this. I suspect my shoes are of inferior quality than most, although they are shown on Amazon as having a RRP of about £90, they are available at around £35, and I got mine for £30 in Sports Direct. If I was certain it was the shoes, I would go and fork out the £80 or so for a decent pair of new ones, but could it be faulty pedals? I could always just put my old pedals back on and give up on SPDs. Grateful for any help, expertise / knowledge or advice.

 

[13 rider]

Fault is the shoes . The cleats needs to be firmly fixed to the shoe so when you twist your foot the cleat moves . As the plate moved in the shoe the cleat wouldn't move in the pedal so would not unclip. My mate muddy fixes shoes fault exactly how yours did

 

[Drago]

Horrible Middy Fox shoes.

 

[raleighnut]

It looks like the plate failed to me.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Fault is the shoes . The cleats needs to be firmly fixed to the shoe so when you twist your foot the cleat moves . As the plate moved in the shoe the cleat wouldn't move in the pedal so would not unclip. My mate muddy fixes shoes fault exactly how yours did

^^This^^

Either the cleat won't tighten because of the way the shoe is made or you didn't tighten the bolts enough.

 

[Lonestar]

That happened to me...a 0mph spill on the Brompton right up my street...Last year.Fixed it but was testing them out at the time.

The inside plates were wrong causing them to slip.

 

[wisdom]

In defence of muddy fox shoes.On my hybrid used daily on my commute I have spds and I have done thousands of miles in them and never had a problem.They are well worn now and I still use them when the good shoes are soaked.Or In bad weather.On the roadie I have spd sl's with northwave shoes but to be honest I find spd's easier to use.

 

[Roadhump]

Thanks for the replies, guys. They have made me more certain that it was the shoes that were at fault. @wisdom it might be that your Muddy Fox shoes are a better model than mine which I bought from Sports Direct. I don't know this for sure, but I sometimes wonder if they sell seconds, when I have bought cycling shorts or trackie bottoms, the cord has always been too short, which suggests they are seconds, so maybe the shoes I bought were. Anyway, I will probably go and buy some better shoes, there are some nice Specialized ones in Leisure Lakes about 10 miles away from me, for £80.......this cycling lark is soooooooo expensive at times.

 

[andrew_s]

Your initial problems were that the cleat bolts had loosened or weren't tight enough, so that when you twisted your foot the shoe moved but the cleat didn't.

Subsequent struggles seem to have twisted round the plate inside the shoe, probably by continuing to twist after one of the bolts had come out completely.
If you can twist the plate back square again, you can probably just bolt the cleat back on, properly tight with Loctite this time.

Free yourself by taking the shoe off, then you can generally get the cleat and shoe out of the pedal by levering the pedal clip open with a screwdriver or similar smallish, pointy, and non-bendy object. Once that's done, it's just a matter of re-tightening the bolts

 

[aferris2]

Thanks for the replies, guys. They have made me more certain that it was the shoes that were at fault. @wisdom it might be that your Muddy Fox shoes are a better model than mine which I bought from Sports Direct. I don't know this for sure, but I sometimes wonder if they sell seconds, when I have bought cycling shorts or trackie bottoms, the cord has always been too short, which suggests they are seconds, so maybe the shoes I bought were. Anyway, I will probably go and buy some better shoes, there are some nice Specialized ones in Leisure Lakes about 10 miles away from me, for £80.......this cycling lark is soooooooo expensive at times.

You don't "need" to spend that much on SPD shoes. I've got a pair of Shimano's for something around £40 (from Chain Reaction or Wiggle - can't remember which). Probably fairly basic, but they work for me. Just take note of the comments about sizes. You have to go one or two sizes bigger than you think.

 

[Roadhump]

Your initial problems were that the cleat bolts had loosened or weren't tight enough, so that when you twisted your foot the shoe moved but the cleat didn't.

Subsequent struggles seem to have twisted round the plate inside the shoe, probably by continuing to twist after one of the bolts had come out completely.
If you can twist the plate back square again, you can probably just bolt the cleat back on, properly tight with Loctite this time.

Free yourself by taking the shoe off, then you can generally get the cleat and shoe out of the pedal by levering the pedal clip open with a screwdriver or similar smallish, pointy, and non-bendy object. Once that's done, it's just a matter of re-tightening the bolts

Thanks for that explanation which makes sense. I am probably going to buy some new shoes though, as there is another problem with my shoes. One of the reasons I wanted to try SPDs is that the cleat sits in a recess, and is therefore easier to walk on than SPD-SLs. On some shoes I have looked at the recess is clearly deeper than the cleat but on the Muddy Fox ones I have, the recess is very shallow so the cleat is more or less flush with the rest of the sole and makes contact with the floor, which causes it to wear when in contact with concrete etc, and possibly damage floor coverings when indoors. This shouldn't really be a problem, I know, but I have a couple of part times jobs that I would like to ride to and not have to take extra footwear with me. At the end of the day, it might be better to just put the old pedals with toe straps back and not use cleats on this bike. I'll have to think about it.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Always check cleat bolt tension after fitting. .before first ride and again next ride.

They do losen off a little as they press into the sole.
A little thread lock can help too tho they will stay tight once settled.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

usual cause is as above, loose bolt.

That's, essentially, operator error.

 

[Roadhump]

usual cause is as above, loose bolt.

That's, essentially, operator error.

In which case I was the author of my own downfall (off my bike ). I think I'll try some better shoes in any case.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

In which case I was the author of my own downfall (off my bike ). I think I'll try some better shoes in any case.

We've all been there.