fbxcore

I will be tightening my pedal spring tension before I ride tomorrow. Yikes.

Good to hear you didn't eat it though, that would have sucked big time.

Hocam

Could your foot have rotated when you were sprinting and disengaged the cleat by accident?

Meek

Same thing happened to my brother. We were rolling down this moderate descent (Jamboree Rd in Irvine, CA) at a very good clip. Well he had been pulling hard enough that I was 'on' his wheel still putting out significant watts, so after a few minutes being a nice brother I fall back and jump in the draft to fly around him hoping he was fried, he jumps and out of the corner of my eye I see something out of the ordinary. I look back and see that he is weaving like crazy sitting on the toptube with his right dragging the pavement. A car is coming by at about 55 and he gets probably within a foot of it at our 40+mph speed. Another foot and he would have been in big trouble, it was pretty scary. Naturally I still count it as among the few sprints I've won against him.

vladav

Yep scary. Last august my PT freewheel slipped while 'jumping' on a into downhill stretch and lost it(although I stayed clipped in until the rendevois with the ground). PT recorded only 28mph at last pwr. Had a Hematoma bleed into the ol sac. Walked funny for 5 weeks. Still haven't regained all the tactile feeling in my right hip, broke a nerve I guess.

Note to self: tighten down my SP zero's, errr, um, well...

CrimsonKarter21

Last I checked, my name isn't Djamolidine Abdoujaparov.

Actually, when I sprint, my feet are pretty well-anchored in one place in the pedal.

urbanknight

I'm starting to really think we know each other in person.

celticfrost

Does everyone adjust their cleats to max tension? I've never messed w/ mine and have been OK so far *knock on wood*. Then again, I'm not putting out gobs of wattage either.

DScott

Not. Saying. A. Thing.

Nosirree.

Although, if I did, I'd point out that I have never seen a verified report of a functioning speedplay Zero cleat disengaging accidentally that wasn't user error or a clear breakage-related failure of the system. But I won't say that. Nope.

CrimsonKarter21

Most people only do it because they have grandeur illusions of being powerful enough to pull out of a pedal.
At least, that's why I used to tighten them. All preconceived notions of mine have been changed this season. I've never ridden this well before.

tbrtbx

Eek ! Unclipping during a sprint it scary as ****. I've done it a few times with my worn eggbeaters. They're fine otherwise, though.

ted ward

Don't worry, you won't unclip unless you get sloppy and rotate your heel or somehow pull up on the pedal really hard, neither of which happen if you're doing it right.

I've had the pedal start to disengage from rotating the heel but it's never come out, thankfully.

celticfrost

Hhmmm... I think that I'll split the difference and set the tension halfway between where they are now and max.

merlinextraligh

Exactly. This is precisely the reason I started using speedplays 20 years ago.

recursive

Sorry. Not true.

I was able to do it repeatably with a pair of brand new Shimano SPD pedals and brand new Shimano SPD cleats.

Edit: Actually, I was pulling up on the pedal really hard. So I guess it is true.

But now I'm curious. How do you jump when you sprint?

CrimsonKarter21

Just about anybody can pull out of SPDs or Eggbeaters.

carpediemracing 

I have Look Keo Carbon and the regular Keos (Sprint?). Sprints are cranked all the way down, Carbons 2/3 now, and my cleats are in good shape.

I pulled out during a leadout at a race about a month ago. I was convinced that I hit something etc etc. I then proceeded to do the same thing on the trainer while doing a 20 minute ftp type test. Ends up I rotate my foot a bit when under extreme duress, and with the current cleat adjustment and float, I can end up clipping out of the pedal if I get super sloppy/tired. Apparently I rotate my foot far enough that I hit the chainstay, and that's what unclips my foot, the ankle bouncing off the bottom of the chainstay.

I cranked down the tension (it was about 1/3 down, now about 2/3 down) and it's been fine. I actually have a hard time getting into the first pedal now, have to jump down a bit.

I don't have this problem with my old SPD-Rs, but the problem I had with them is that I couldn't get unclipped when I wanted to.

For another example of pulling out while sprinting (or attacking):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHkIjpSiAMk
I think he unclips the right side as the bike seems to be upright until he lands on the top tube.

cdr

recursive

I just wish someone had told me that before I tried to do sprint drills on them.

ted ward

Pretty sure I'm not pulling up at all, I focus on throwing all my body weight (and then some) into the forward pedal. Pedal force was about 115% body weight jumping at 95 rpm today.

GuitarWizard

I did that in a sprint at around 34 mph before....foot came out, hit the pavement (still have the black scuffs on the shoes like 3 years later), did some top-tube surfing, but kept it upright. Good thing too, as I probably would've plowing into the car that was coming toward me, which would've really ruined my day.

GuitarWizard

This is just one reason why I like zero float

urbanknight

I only did that on the velodrome. For road, about 3/4 was plenty for me. It's a compromise between ease on your knees (and ease of clipping out) and secure clip-in.

CrimsonKarter21

I just now realized how close I came today. There were also cars behind me; I can only imagine the consequences if I went down in the middle of the road.

Meek

Shimano 7810's are very nice and if you are ever on the track you can 'zip tie' straps to them...very effective. I love 'em.

andr0id

I use SPD-SL on all my bikes. I have my road bikes at half way, and the track bike almost at max.

I set my wife's bike to easiest though or she struggles to clip in.

fatallightning

+2. I was doing sprint drills on single sided SPD pedals, lost my right foot around 28 miles and went for a ride. Cracked my helmet, broke my pinkie, ruined brand new jersey, arm warmers and leg warmers. Literally first ride.