purpurreiher

Hello! Long-time lurker, first-time poster because I just can't find good advice on this topic.

I switched to clipless last year. I used to bike mostly for commuting, so flat pedals worked just fine. Anyways, bike shops around here still haven't fully re-opened so when I made the switch I mostly relied on online reviews to choose a clipless system. I ended up getting Look Kéo pedals.

I love the way the pedals feel, they're easy to clip into, the cleats are easy to walk in, and I'm generally pretty happy with them. But, I now have about 1,000 miles on them and I still struggle with unclipping. This has resulted in me developing really dumb habits. Mainly, I often don't even bother with clipping in if the next traffic light isn't far, I just pedal with my foot resting on the pedal. I do the same when cycling on a crowded multi-use path because I'm not confident I can clip out fast enough if a dog runs into the path or a child won't get out of my way.

I find that at the beginning of a ride, unclipping feels effortless, but when my legs start getting a little tired it often takes me 2 or 3 tries to disengage. And yes, they're in the lowest release tension setting. I recently read a blog post by a bike fitter who steers away from recommending LOOK/SPD-SL pedals to women < 65kg because it takes too much force to disengage. Am I just not strong enough for Look pedals (I'm 50kg)? 😫

Supposedly, Speedplays have the easiest release out of any actual road pedals. But then, most people don't seem to find Looks to be difficult to unclip from either. Has anyone had a similar experience, and did Speedplay work out better for you? Or should I be looking at SPDs instead?