My feet are becoming attached to my bike

[Notsototalnewbie]

The M520s arrive with the tension all the way up. I very nearly forgot this last night in my hurry to swap the pedals on the new bike...thankfully I remembered and turned it down. Have never come close to unclipping by mistake, but then I don't honk up hills, I crawl up them.

[ABlipInContinuity]

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I've been working myself up to getting them by, every time I meet a hill (not all that often in London), thinking about how I'd be at the top already if I had SPDs. I'm not sure they'll be *that* magical.
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Although there is some immediate affect of using them, getting the full benefit of cleats and clip-in pedals, I think, is a gradual thing. It takes a while to perfect the art of spinning and retraining all the muscles used until it is second nature.

I certainly missed them more when I didn't use them after six months. They make a huge difference in terms of acceleration too.

[Ian H]

I always set the tension to nearly minimum. It's never a problem even in hilly Devon on fixed...until the cleats wear.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Ditto

The cleats won't release on a straight pull anyway, no matter how low the tension. You have to twist your foot a bit (until the cleats wear, of course).

[ABlipInContinuity]

Ditto

The cleats won't release on a straight pull anyway, no matter how low the tension. You have to twist your foot a bit (until the cleats wear, of course).

err.. beg to differ on that point.

I've pulled my feet out on a straight pull up accelerating away from the lights quite a number of times. It's repeatable - I know it's not a case of me twisting my feet. I've upped the tension slightly and that improved them slightly, but for the most part I just don't accelerate so hard these days.

[Ian H]

Ditto

The cleats won't release on a straight pull anyway, no matter how low the tension. You have to twist your foot a bit (until the cleats wear, of course).

err.. beg to differ on that point.

I've pulled my feet out on a straight pull up accelerating away from the lights quite a number of times. It's repeatable - I know it's not a case of me twisting my feet. I've upped the tension slightly and that improved them slightly, but for the most part I just don't accelerate so hard these days.

I think that'll happen with multi-release cleats.

[TimO]

I have multi-release cleats on my shoes currently, but I've had single-release ones in the past, and I have pulled my feet out honking up a hill.  This may have been because I simply put too much force in, or I may have inadvertently twisted my feet, but either way increasing the release tension did help make this a less common occurrence.

[LEE]

If I was still living in Gloucestershire, and had some miles of hills to go up, I may well ramp the tension up a bit so I could honk up hills with less risk of a foot coming flying out.

I have mine set to light tension and have never managed to unclip accidentally in 7 years.  I can't see how increasing tension would make it easier to pull out whilst honking (unless you twist your foot when doing so).   If you pull up vertically then a tiny spring won't make much difference when hauling my 14 stone up a 1:6.  The spring only makes it harder/easier to twist out and clip in.  I prefer it set very light for this.

[TimO]

Because if your foot does twist a bit when honking up a hill (and this probably depends on how long the hill is, and how knackered you are), it's easier to pull your foot out if the tension is set very low.  It does happen, it's happened to me, and adjusting the tension did help.

[GruB]

I have my position on the TCR in particular very comfortable at present.  My leg strength is improving too and I'm doing more hooking up, because I can.  Coming home tonight my shoes on the pedals felt really connected.  I had to keep checking I was in this world as it felt too good to be true.  It is such an ace feeling when it all comes together.