Bike Idiot needs Expert help - Clipless pedals disaster

ukmarkwilson
ukmarkwilson Posts: 4
edited February 2011 in Workshop
Hi - bit of a stupid situation I've got myself into...

I recently bought a pair of Shimano SH-M076 cycling shoes and Shimano PD-M324 SPD pedals. As I got a great new bike on Bike To Work (Genesis Aether '11), I thought it was time to step up to the serious cycling big leagues and learn how to use clipless pedals.

So, I'm installing the bracket to the shoes and I wanted to check they were compatible and see how easy they are the clip in and out of the pedal. Without attaching them to the bike, I clipped in with a bit of effort but there was absolutely no way I can remove them.

Quick trip to the bike show (Cyclopolis, Balham) and they could switch my pedals over from the rubber cage ones that came with the bike and said I should put my foot into the shoe that was still attached to the pedal and clip it out.

BUT they wouldn't budge and the cleat came away from the shoe sole!

How on earth can I get the cleat out of the pedal? I'm in two minds as to whether to proceed with this clipless malarkey as if they are seemingly inseparable from one another by hand and brute force, what hope is there for a malcoordinated newbie like me?

Any advice / abuse is appreciated!

Comments

  • Rodrego Hernandez
    Rodrego Hernandez Posts: 1,436
    Release the tension in the pedal as much as possible and then the cleat should twist out easier. keep at it and it'l come out in the end. After all, they are designed to release!
  • Ginjafro
    Ginjafro Posts: 572
    Make sure the cleats are not installed "back to front"? Triangular part should face forwards.
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  • Zingzang
    Zingzang Posts: 196
    First screw pedal (with shoe plate still attached) firmly to crank. (Make sure it is the correct side pedal -i.e. left or right- for the crank in question).
    Second, insert foot into shoe and fasten shoe over foot.
    Lastly, twist heel of locked-in foot in horizontal plane away from the bike.

    Unless you have done the impossible and somehow got an incompatible shoe plate to lock itself onto your pedal, I can see no reason why my suggestion should not get you out of your difficulty.
  • rubbernekker
    rubbernekker Posts: 112
    except that the cleat is no longer attached to the pedal right?


    This isn't all that bad.First screw the pedal into the bike and nip it up a little. Then use a 3mm allen key to loosen the tension off the jaw by twisting towards the minus sign.
    Secure bike with a stand, or willing accomplice.

    Find yourself 2 old flat head screwdrivers and carefully insert one of them between the back of the cleat and the front of the jaw.

    Lever the jaw back against the cleat, you should find that the v shaped cut out in the middle of the rear jaw yields a little space between itself and the cleat, stick the second screwdriver in there on one face of the v.

    Now lever that one back and now use the first screwdriver to slide under the cleat and wriggle it as deep as can go. do this one the same side as you have inserted screwdriver 2.

    With cat like timing pull the jaw back with one screwdriver and simultaneously lifting with the other, be prepared for both screwdrivers to ping off anywhere with the cleat- ie don't do this too near drains, children or cliffs

    Repeat until released.



    now with ca
  • UPGRAYEDD
    UPGRAYEDD Posts: 117
    I experienced something similar recently, having insufficiently tightened my spd cleats onto my new shoes.

    Released pedal tension to a minimum and used a combination of a screwdriver, brute force and swearing to get the cleat out.
    "A gentleman who goes by the name Upgrayedd. Which he spells thusly, with two D's, as he says, "for a double dose of this pimping."
  • maddog 2
    maddog 2 Posts: 8,114
    nelson-haha.gif
    Facts are meaningless, you can use facts to prove anything that's remotely true! - Homer
  • Zingzang
    Zingzang Posts: 196
    rubbernekker wrote:
    except that the cleat is no longer attached to the pedal right?

    OP says: "How on earth can I get the cleat out of the pedal?"
    and "the cleat came away from the shoe sole!"

    Rubbernekker, please could you explain your assertion that the cleat is no longer attached to the pedal? You're confusing the OP and you're confusing me.
  • rubbernekker
    rubbernekker Posts: 112
    rubbernekker wrote:
    except that the cleat is no longer attached to the pedal right?

    Should have read ' except the cleat is no longer attached to the shoe' which I might say- you were already confused about ZZ :wink:

    The method above will work as described - not pretty but effective.
  • tri-sexual
    tri-sexual Posts: 672
    clamp pedals securely in a workshop vice (take care not to damage the pedals), loosen the pedal tension then grip the cleat with mole grip and twist to the side to release.
    you have to understand how the release mechanism works in the pedal (imagine your foot in your shoe, pulling up will not release it from the pedal, to release you need to pivot your heel away from the pedal) replicate this action and the cleat should come apart from the pedal.

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