Pedal and cleat care

[dant]

I narrowed down a nasty creak to my cleat/pedal. Is there an easy way to determine if the cleat is either worn out or the pedal needs to be looked after a little better? How do most people dial in their pedals with float etc?

I ride a fixie and on the route there are two decent hills. I really give a good yank up on the cleats/pedals to use the fixie's natural momentum to help get up the hills. I have managed to yank my foot out of the pedals a couple of times (and I am almost certain my foot is not twisting out at the ankle to accidentally disengage). Don't know if this is a cause or symptom. It's actually quite unnerving to do it on a fixie and continue pedalling with one foot uphill.

thanks in advance,
adam

[Hawkeye]

My shoes creak something horrible in my SPDs. A little chain lube cures all. I've since read this is something I should be doing anyhoo.

[Bnej]

I ride a fixie and on the route there are two decent hills. I really give a good yank up on the cleats/pedals to use the fixie's natural momentum to help get up the hills. I have managed to yank my foot out of the pedals a couple of times (and I am almost certain my foot is not twisting out at the ankle to accidentally disengage). Don't know if this is a cause or symptom. It's actually quite unnerving to do it on a fixie and continue pedalling with one foot uphill.

This is something that can happen with SPDs. I had the same problem with SPDs on my road bike twice then switched to SPD-SLs. The road pedals are far more secure if you're going to be pulling up hard.

Winding up the release tension on your SPDs might help a bit.

[Mulger bill]

Worn cleats tend to "rock" around in the bindings, maybe this had something to do with the crook release?

'Bout time for some new cleats, hmmm, maybe shoes too........

Shaun

[dant]

Thanks guys - a little bit of chain lube fixed the problem beautifully. Going to look into spd-sl's - sounds good.

Cheers,
Adam

[rustychisel]

get Keywins, you won't pull out of them. And don't try to dance the tango in your cycling shoes, the cleats will last longer.