My First SPDs

[Zippy]

My first morning using SPDs on my MTB. I added an extra 15 minutes to my journey time to cater for practising clicking in and out of my new pedals and shoes and didn't do too badly.

Only two problems I had were the snap on engagement wasn't as positive as I would have liked. It felt like metal on metal which was a bit like walking on ice. It felt like my shoe might slip forward instead of engaging the cleats and I was worried about losing control of the bike, especially when stopping at give ways. Disengaging was ok.

The other problem was my foot naturally engages the pedals at the instep rather than the ball of the foot. Where I had mule type pedal straps I just had to flick the pedal up and shunt my foot forward, but now my placing has to be more precise.

I guess it will come in time.

 

[02GF74]

no idea what you are talking about - walking on ice? ????? when pedalling?!?!!?!

anyways, congrats for not falling over when still engaged ....... yet. it will happen, even to the Best of us!!

 

[Zippy]

no idea what you are talking about - walking on ice? ????? when pedalling?!?!!?!

Yeah - when the cleat first meets the metal pedal, sometimes the cleat doesnt engage positively so it feels like my foot is going to skate off forwards. Tempting to look down to help get my foot in the right place, but I know enough not to do that!!!

 

[PK99]

Yeah - when the cleat first meets the metal pedal, sometimes the cleat doesnt engage positively so it feels like my foot is going to skate off forwards. Tempting to look down to help get my foot in the right place, but I know enough not to do that!!!

Engage your first (right?) foot with the pedal at 6 o'clock ie the engagement and pressure is vertical and the position easier to feel without looking

 

[Zippy]

Engage your first (right?) foot with the pedal at 6 o'clock ie the engagement and pressure is vertical

Thanks - that made sense as I was trying to engage the cleats at about 2 - 3 o'clock, with the potential for the unclicked cleat to shoot off the pedal if I pushed too hard.

Engaging at 6 o clock position means less effort to click and nowhere for the foot to slip off to - maybe.

I suppose now all I need to do is fall off with both feet in and I'm fully fledged!