Life-span of Shimano SPD cleats?

On the way into college today my right cleat popped off my SPDs during skidding, resulting in a rather horrendous crash (and me having to limp my bike a mile or so back down brixton road in the rain, resulting in me being late for a meeting with my course director, and also resulting in me not being able to finish making a mold this term stopping my ability to work effectively over the christmas break).

I've had problems with unclipping from my SPDs before, and then i realised i had multi-release cleats. buying the proper cleats got rid of the problem, but i've had the current cleats since october, and after about a month they started unclipping when i pull up. I tightened the pedals on both sides to the absolute maximum and they held up ok until now. What the fuck is going on? Is 2 or so months the expected life span of £10 cleats? I'm pretty much certain i'm going to go back to clips & straps either way, but I want to know the wisdom of Londonfgss anyway.

Thanks guys.

Seems shit to me. I have not had a problem, but we are all different, may be you twist more than others when you skid, and hence would get on better with a different clipless pedal system, or clip and straps like you say.

yeah I've thought that too... i don't think i twist when i pull up but i guess its sort of hard to tell really. even the unclipping during skidding isnt normally a problem, not sure why i crashed so spectacularly today, but it is frankly the last stand. think i narrowly avoided a badly broken thigh. Not exactly relishing having to get used to clips and straps again, but meh. Don't exactly relish the idea of shelling out for time atacs either.

Heel up and take it easy.

+1 to what Tommy said.

My shoes are so worn that the cleats are no longer counter sunk - they make contact with the floor when I walk in em. And I don't have my pedals very tight either. Neither of which help, but I only really unclip if skidding on my weak side. In my case, I think it's down to technique as I don't on my good side. I can't track stand on my weak side either :o(

I have another set of shimano SPDs that were going to go on my new bike, i might stick them on the pista and see if they're any better. If not then clips and straps here i come....

on my weak side (left foot), also the side i unclip at if stopping at lights & too lazy to trackstand, i can unclip with the SLIGHTEST effort from any position just by pulling up. as in the clip does practically nothing. And they definitely aren't multi release cleats! Am i just super-humanly strong??

i've had that problem as well, and have also crashed because of it, i think for me it's been a combination of twisting slightly when pulling up, which i am trying not to, and the cleat being fastened at a slight (very slight) angle, which can mean that the amount of twist needed to clip out is reduced. have mostly been skidding, pulling on the other leg instead and haven't had that problem since.
oh and thanks for the bars by the way, spot on!

i had the right foot unclipping far tooo often for my liking (brakeless) changed the multi-release to the other ones (sm-sh50), and since had no trouble at all.
but lifespan........had my old ones on the same shoes everday for 9 years...

No worries silasmellor, hope you put them to better use than i did :).

Going to check the clip tension once i can manage walking downstairs again, just to make sure it hasn't magicked itself loose or something.

anyone got any clips/straps/pedals going spare? Can trade for a set of shimano SPDS :). or arrospok. :)

Mine were around 8 years old (cleats AND shoes) before I bought a new pair of shoes. I still have the old pair just the new ones are bigger and comfier.
It was only twisting around when skidding they popped. I never crashed unclipping though, just looked (more) stupid I reckon.

For a start, SPDs probably weren't designed with that much upward force in mind - you'll be putting far more force on them than you ever would in just pedaling.

I agree with silasmellor about the twisting.

BTW, managed to get a bargain set of brand new SPD pedals, complete with cleats of the bay the other week for less than the price of a new set of cleats. Worth looking out for.

I need new SPD-SL cleats... don't suppose anyone has any lying around?

sorry hippy, i just have 999999 arrospoks.

are you bringing the bike by college? if so we'll take the lift upstairs to the office and i'll have a look at the pedals.

sounds like it could have been more serious, so am glad you're at least walking.

wasn't planning to take the pista, i could take the pedals off and bring them with me. After this i'm going to start wearing a helmet again. Frankly though i reckon its just the way i'm pulling up... saying that though i could definitely feel the cleats wearing down... i think clips/straps are the way forward for me.

@asm, change the cleats, you are using multi-release the silver ones, get some black ones

I'm not, I was but i changed to the black ones a month or 2 ago. Was fine for a month then was back to unclipping again even at full tension. Thanks all the same though!

sounds strange that man.......i kept unclipping on the multi-release, changed and had no problem for 4 months now, and thats riding everyday?

yeah. its annoying too. I do walk around in my SPDs quite a lot at college... could that be wearing them down maybe? Maybe the evil crash fairies swapped my cleats out for mult-release ones or keep lowring my clipping tension or someting?!

single release

multi release

sm-sh50- single release
sm-sh51- multy release
colours change
multi release are rounded at the front, single are pointed, go check yours

Here lists SM-SH51 as single release? I have SM-SH51 and i know for a fact it said "single release" on the packaging...?

nope thats bollox man, single are pointed

Right SM-SH50 = single release & no float, whereas SM-SH51 = single release with float.

Where can i get SM-SH50 cleats from?

most bike shops, or on-line, i promise you it WILL make a difference

http://www.cyclexpress.co.uk/.%2Fproducts%2FShimano_Cleats_for_SPD_Pedals.aspx