SPD vs. SPD-SL: Which unclips most easily?












1















I got my first real road bike a few weeks ago, and am now hearing from my local bike club fellows that I should get some clipless pedals.



A quick Internet search reveals that the main types are SPD and SPD-SL, and that shoes made for one type cannot be used with the other. That's not really a problem, since prices seem to be about the same for the whole pedals + shoes package.



Being new to this, I am concerned about not being able to unclip in time to avoid falling over, and for this reason if there is a definite difference in ease of unclipping, I'm heavily in favor of whichever one is easier.



So in the experience of those of you who have used both types, which is easiest to unclip?






pedals-clipless







share|improve this question























  • Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

    – Criggie♦
    4 hours ago
















1















I got my first real road bike a few weeks ago, and am now hearing from my local bike club fellows that I should get some clipless pedals.



A quick Internet search reveals that the main types are SPD and SPD-SL, and that shoes made for one type cannot be used with the other. That's not really a problem, since prices seem to be about the same for the whole pedals + shoes package.



Being new to this, I am concerned about not being able to unclip in time to avoid falling over, and for this reason if there is a definite difference in ease of unclipping, I'm heavily in favor of whichever one is easier.



So in the experience of those of you who have used both types, which is easiest to unclip?






pedals-clipless







share|improve this question























  • Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

    – Criggie♦
    4 hours ago














1












1








1








I got my first real road bike a few weeks ago, and am now hearing from my local bike club fellows that I should get some clipless pedals.



A quick Internet search reveals that the main types are SPD and SPD-SL, and that shoes made for one type cannot be used with the other. That's not really a problem, since prices seem to be about the same for the whole pedals + shoes package.



Being new to this, I am concerned about not being able to unclip in time to avoid falling over, and for this reason if there is a definite difference in ease of unclipping, I'm heavily in favor of whichever one is easier.



So in the experience of those of you who have used both types, which is easiest to unclip?






pedals-clipless







share|improve this question














I got my first real road bike a few weeks ago, and am now hearing from my local bike club fellows that I should get some clipless pedals.



A quick Internet search reveals that the main types are SPD and SPD-SL, and that shoes made for one type cannot be used with the other. That's not really a problem, since prices seem to be about the same for the whole pedals + shoes package.



Being new to this, I am concerned about not being able to unclip in time to avoid falling over, and for this reason if there is a definite difference in ease of unclipping, I'm heavily in favor of whichever one is easier.



So in the experience of those of you who have used both types, which is easiest to unclip?






pedals-clipless




pedals-clipless






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked 5 hours ago









EvilSnackEvilSnack

39127




39127













  • Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

    – Criggie♦
    4 hours ago



















  • Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

    – Criggie♦
    4 hours ago

















Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

– Criggie♦
4 hours ago





Depends if the pedal in question has a spring tension adjust or not - the bottom-end Look Keo road pedal has no such adjustment, but most everything else can be tweaked to require more or less force to undo.

– Criggie♦
4 hours ago










2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















1














In my experience, Time/Mavic Iclic.



This should, however, not be the reason for decision. Both are easy enough to unclip if you remember to twist your foot instead of just lifting it and neither will unclip if you forget it. Don't believe the people who claim falling is part of learning, just practice leaning against a wall and unclip a couple of hundreds times or until it feels natural.



What you should consider is:




  • SPD-R and road systems in general are very uncomfortable to walk in. They are compatible with some very nice and lightweight road shoes, work very well with shoe covers and have some roadie credibility


  • SPD is walkable (but uncomfortable, has loud crunching sound on pavement/rocks and destroys floors), compatible with MTB shoes including waterproof and insulated ones and has credibility among grumpy stackoverflowers. There are some SPD shoes that look like road shoes but are in general heavier and less stiff.







share|improve this answer































    1














    All road and mountain style clipless pedals are actually easy to unclip from if you twist your heel outwards. You need to build muscle memory so you unclip without thinking about it when you need to get your foot down. What I advise people to do is 'unclipping drills' - ride around in a safe area and repeatedly unclip and touch the ground with alternating feet, say every few crank rotations. When on 'real' rides be mindful to unclip early when you need to stop.



    You can make a decision between road and mountain shoes and pedals. In addition to the points ojs made, road pedals are generally lighter and offer more support underneath the foot, but they are harder to get into as they are one sided.






    share|improve this answer
























    • Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

      – Daniel R Hicks
      1 hour ago













    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "126"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbicycles.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59153%2fspd-vs-spd-sl-which-unclips-most-easily%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    1














    In my experience, Time/Mavic Iclic.



    This should, however, not be the reason for decision. Both are easy enough to unclip if you remember to twist your foot instead of just lifting it and neither will unclip if you forget it. Don't believe the people who claim falling is part of learning, just practice leaning against a wall and unclip a couple of hundreds times or until it feels natural.



    What you should consider is:




    • SPD-R and road systems in general are very uncomfortable to walk in. They are compatible with some very nice and lightweight road shoes, work very well with shoe covers and have some roadie credibility


    • SPD is walkable (but uncomfortable, has loud crunching sound on pavement/rocks and destroys floors), compatible with MTB shoes including waterproof and insulated ones and has credibility among grumpy stackoverflowers. There are some SPD shoes that look like road shoes but are in general heavier and less stiff.







    share|improve this answer




























      1














      In my experience, Time/Mavic Iclic.



      This should, however, not be the reason for decision. Both are easy enough to unclip if you remember to twist your foot instead of just lifting it and neither will unclip if you forget it. Don't believe the people who claim falling is part of learning, just practice leaning against a wall and unclip a couple of hundreds times or until it feels natural.



      What you should consider is:




      • SPD-R and road systems in general are very uncomfortable to walk in. They are compatible with some very nice and lightweight road shoes, work very well with shoe covers and have some roadie credibility


      • SPD is walkable (but uncomfortable, has loud crunching sound on pavement/rocks and destroys floors), compatible with MTB shoes including waterproof and insulated ones and has credibility among grumpy stackoverflowers. There are some SPD shoes that look like road shoes but are in general heavier and less stiff.







      share|improve this answer


























        1












        1








        1







        In my experience, Time/Mavic Iclic.



        This should, however, not be the reason for decision. Both are easy enough to unclip if you remember to twist your foot instead of just lifting it and neither will unclip if you forget it. Don't believe the people who claim falling is part of learning, just practice leaning against a wall and unclip a couple of hundreds times or until it feels natural.



        What you should consider is:




        • SPD-R and road systems in general are very uncomfortable to walk in. They are compatible with some very nice and lightweight road shoes, work very well with shoe covers and have some roadie credibility


        • SPD is walkable (but uncomfortable, has loud crunching sound on pavement/rocks and destroys floors), compatible with MTB shoes including waterproof and insulated ones and has credibility among grumpy stackoverflowers. There are some SPD shoes that look like road shoes but are in general heavier and less stiff.







        share|improve this answer













        In my experience, Time/Mavic Iclic.



        This should, however, not be the reason for decision. Both are easy enough to unclip if you remember to twist your foot instead of just lifting it and neither will unclip if you forget it. Don't believe the people who claim falling is part of learning, just practice leaning against a wall and unclip a couple of hundreds times or until it feels natural.



        What you should consider is:




        • SPD-R and road systems in general are very uncomfortable to walk in. They are compatible with some very nice and lightweight road shoes, work very well with shoe covers and have some roadie credibility


        • SPD is walkable (but uncomfortable, has loud crunching sound on pavement/rocks and destroys floors), compatible with MTB shoes including waterproof and insulated ones and has credibility among grumpy stackoverflowers. There are some SPD shoes that look like road shoes but are in general heavier and less stiff.








        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 4 hours ago









        ojsojs

        11.5k22141




        11.5k22141























            1














            All road and mountain style clipless pedals are actually easy to unclip from if you twist your heel outwards. You need to build muscle memory so you unclip without thinking about it when you need to get your foot down. What I advise people to do is 'unclipping drills' - ride around in a safe area and repeatedly unclip and touch the ground with alternating feet, say every few crank rotations. When on 'real' rides be mindful to unclip early when you need to stop.



            You can make a decision between road and mountain shoes and pedals. In addition to the points ojs made, road pedals are generally lighter and offer more support underneath the foot, but they are harder to get into as they are one sided.






            share|improve this answer
























            • Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

              – Daniel R Hicks
              1 hour ago


















            1














            All road and mountain style clipless pedals are actually easy to unclip from if you twist your heel outwards. You need to build muscle memory so you unclip without thinking about it when you need to get your foot down. What I advise people to do is 'unclipping drills' - ride around in a safe area and repeatedly unclip and touch the ground with alternating feet, say every few crank rotations. When on 'real' rides be mindful to unclip early when you need to stop.



            You can make a decision between road and mountain shoes and pedals. In addition to the points ojs made, road pedals are generally lighter and offer more support underneath the foot, but they are harder to get into as they are one sided.






            share|improve this answer
























            • Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

              – Daniel R Hicks
              1 hour ago
















            1












            1








            1







            All road and mountain style clipless pedals are actually easy to unclip from if you twist your heel outwards. You need to build muscle memory so you unclip without thinking about it when you need to get your foot down. What I advise people to do is 'unclipping drills' - ride around in a safe area and repeatedly unclip and touch the ground with alternating feet, say every few crank rotations. When on 'real' rides be mindful to unclip early when you need to stop.



            You can make a decision between road and mountain shoes and pedals. In addition to the points ojs made, road pedals are generally lighter and offer more support underneath the foot, but they are harder to get into as they are one sided.






            share|improve this answer













            All road and mountain style clipless pedals are actually easy to unclip from if you twist your heel outwards. You need to build muscle memory so you unclip without thinking about it when you need to get your foot down. What I advise people to do is 'unclipping drills' - ride around in a safe area and repeatedly unclip and touch the ground with alternating feet, say every few crank rotations. When on 'real' rides be mindful to unclip early when you need to stop.



            You can make a decision between road and mountain shoes and pedals. In addition to the points ojs made, road pedals are generally lighter and offer more support underneath the foot, but they are harder to get into as they are one sided.







            share|improve this answer












            share|improve this answer



            share|improve this answer










            answered 3 hours ago









            Argenti ApparatusArgenti Apparatus

            34.6k23686




            34.6k23686













            • Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

              – Daniel R Hicks
              1 hour ago





















            • Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

              – Daniel R Hicks
              1 hour ago



















            Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

            – Daniel R Hicks
            1 hour ago







            Also note that it sometimes happens that you (unintentionally) install the shoe plates cockeyed so that the shoes cannot easily be twisted out. Or sometimes the plates were not fastened tightly to the shoes and slide back and forth when twisted. It may take some study of your particular shoe/plate/pedal combo (and the crank arm too) to work out the best adjustment.

            – Daniel R Hicks
            1 hour ago




















            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Bicycles Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid …



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fbicycles.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f59153%2fspd-vs-spd-sl-which-unclips-most-easily%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            -

            Popular posts from this blog

            What other Star Trek series did the main TNG cast show up in?

            Image
            .everyoneloves__top-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__mid-leaderboard:empty,.everyoneloves__bot-mid-leaderboard:empty{ margin-bottom:0; } 4 I'm referring to Picard, Riker, Data, Worf, Geordi, Dr. Crusher, Wesley Crusher, Chief O'Brien and family, Deanna Troi, Guinan. I know Picard and Worf show up on DS9, though I haven't seen it myself. I'm curious what happened to the characters after that last episode of TNG? star-trek star-trek-tng share | improve this question edited 10 hours ago Ham Sandwich 6,051 2 25 75
            Read more

            Berlina muro

            Image
            La berlina muro ĉe Bethaniendamm, 1986 La berlina muro aŭ simple la muro [1] , nomita ankaŭ "kontraŭfaŝisma remparo" en propaganda lingvo de la iama Germana Demokratia Respubliko, estis parto de la interngermana limo, kiu dividis de la 13-a de aŭgusto 1961 ĝis la 9-a de novembro 1989 okcidentan Berlinon de la orienta parto de la urbo kaj de la ĉirkaŭa tereno de la GDR. Ĝi estis unu el la plej famaj simboloj de la malvarma milito kaj de la disdivido de Germanio. Pli ol simpla muro, la berlina muro estis fakte tuta defendokonstruaĵo kun du muroj, ena malplena strio, rondirvojo, gardturoj kaj alarmsistemoj. Dum la provo transiri la severe garditan limon al okcidenta Berlino multaj homoj estis mortigitaj. La preciza nombro de viktimoj estas pridisputita kaj ne certa; la nombroj anoncataj varias inter 86 kaj 238 mortintoj. La malplifortiĝo de Sovetunio kaj la politiko de liberigo gvidita de Miĥail Gorbaĉov ebligis al la orientgermanoj faligi la 9-an de novembro 1989 l
            Read more

            Berlina aerponto

            Image
            Flugkoridoroj dum la blokado de Berlino La Berlina aerponto estas la provizigo de okcidenta Berlino per aviadiloj fare de la aliancanoj inter la 23-a de junio 1948 kaj la 12-a de majo 1949 dum la blokado de Berlino fare de la sovetia armeo. Enhavo 1 Historio 1.1 La aerkoridoroj 1.2 Unuaj flugoj 1.3 Plibonigo de la aerponto 1.4 Fino de la aerponto 1.5 Rozinbombiloj 1.6 Bilanco 2 Flughavenoj 2.1 Berlino 2.2 Okcidenta Germanio 3 Aviadiloj de la berlina aerponto 4 15-a datreveno de la aerponto 5 Bibliografio 6 Referencoj 7 Eksteraj ligiloj Historio | General Lucius D. Clay, militguberniestro de la usona okupadzono Jam antaŭ la berlina aerponto estiĝis la malgranda aerponto . La estro de la sovetia militadministracio en Germanio, Vasili Daniloviĉ Sokolovski, ordonis la 1-an de aprilo 1948, kiel reago al la konferenco de Londono inter britoj, francoj kaj reprezentantoj de Benelukso pri aligo de Germa
            Read more