Bought some of these

[A - W]

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Shimano_PD-M520_...

Going to get myself some shoes/trainers for the clips/cleats.

So what's the secret? Is there an art to it?

[neil_bolton]

Not really, just practise on grass first, as falling on your side (and you will, no matter what anyone says) friggin' hurts on concrete/roads.

Also, if you're not confident with them, down try to use them to commute until you've at least got the knack.

Once you twig, you'll never look back - I crash a fair bit on the MTB and have never had an occasion where I can blame the pedal for not releasing nor can I say I've ended up still attached - I've always unclipped...

[matt-ITR]

Don't give up on them even if you keep falling off.
You will fall off, it may hurt and it might be embarresing, but stick with them. The positives outweight any drawbacks.

[A - W]

Thanks chaps. Will try and keep the landings soft.

[Big Bob]

I changed to SPD's last year and have not looked back, it actually feels a bit wierd riding flats now!! You will feel a lot more of your pedal power going to the back wheel. You probably will have a few 'moments' but stick with it, first time I tried a wheelie with them on I did an odd sideways flop, nowadays I can unclip mid bail no problems.

[arryb]

There are adjusters for the strength of the spring - loosen them off so it's quite easy to clip in and out at first until you have the knack. May also be worthwhile trying it a few times whilst on the bike but stationary (one hand on the handlebars with brake applied, other holding a rail or lampost) just to get the hang of it before you start moving around....

Good luck It's not that difficult and you'll never go back once you've mastered it!!

[thepickle]

Make sure you get the cleat position right. When I first started using SPDs (520s) I managed to develop a bit of niggly knee ache that got to the point where I couldn’t ride for a week. Adjusted the cleats and not had a problem since. Mind you I was doing a fair amount of riding at that time, say 3 or 4 30+ mile rides a week, so maybe not surprising I brought on a dodgy knee with the cleats being just slightly out of the sweet spot.

Now I have them on my GT rigid mtb for blasting around the back roads/town and they’re perfect. But I've had them on my full sus and don’t like using them at the trail centres or proper offroad. They’re fine for xc but when you’ve got jumps and rocks or whatever I prefer the freedom flats give you to stick a leg out in a split second for a bit of balance, or to chuck the bike away completely if you’re going to stack it spectacularly. But the trade-off for that freedom is I’m always adjusting my feet on the pedals trying to find that perfect position, and slip occasionally in the wet so like most things...pros and cons. I remember my last crash with SPDs, jumped a ditch, didn’t make it, hit the lip with front wheel on landing, full superman, clipped in, bike follows me in my rotation over the bars through the air and lands on top of me. Stuck the flats back on after that one

Oh, and the first few rides, you will go to put your foot down when you stop and forget you're clipped in...and wil topple over in what will seem like slow motion

[Parrot of Doom]

You'll find that at speed you'll get your feet out in no time At slow speed though your feet will refuse to unclip, and you'll unceremoniously fall sideways with a small 'yelp' as your brain tries to comprehend the inability of your feet to move

[Mr_C]

Horrible things...

[hman]

I switched from toe clips to cleats (SPD) on both my audax and my mtb.

First thing is to loosen them off from the factory settings, they came set to full strength so i did the hip onto concrete thing within moments.

On the road and xc cleats are great, when its a bit rough i would prefer just clips as my natural instinct is to pull my feet back out of the clips - this is due to many years of clips and this doesnt work with cleats!

The locked in feel is very good for powering along, but I still keep the old pedals for my mtb in the car with a pedal spanner ready to change over for a proper off road ride.

Nice thing about spd is that you can walk in the shoes rather than waddling around with metal blocks on the soles of your shoes..