Clipless - jury still out. Squeak as well.

[merlin321]

Hi, finally went clipless and purchased a pair of these Shimano RT51 shoes: http://shop.2wheelsonly.co.uk/shimano-shoe-rt51-leisure-shoe-69-p.asp and also a pair of M540 pedals.

I rode 6,000+ miles with the original toe clips and was quite happy with them, but having read the forums for a few months decided that clipless might be the way foreward.
I`ve done 750ish miles with them and cannot see really what all the fuss is about. They seem an improvement from a standing or rolling start, but apart from that no noticable difference from the clips.
I`ve followed others advice about pulling up as well as pushing down when pedalling, espescially up hill, but tbh I feel like the guy doing the London marathon in the divers boots. It feels like dragging the weight of the bike behind me. Maybe it`s just me still getting used to them but I`m nowhere near as impressed as I`d hoped to be.

On top of that, the left shoe has developed a massivly irritating squeak when under any sort of load. I`ve tried all permutations of having the straps done up loose and tight, but it makes no difference.

Has anyone got any ideas how to stop this bloody squeak? Proofing/ conditioning? It`s coming from the top/tongue area of the shoe. I think.

Cheers all.

 

[Maz]

I had the squeeky shoe syndrome, too.

Maybe the left cleat needs some slight adjusting...I reckon the way your shoe/foot is on the pedal relative to the cleat is causing strain on the plastic of the shoe.

 

[grhm]

I had a squeaky shoe for a while. I found drowning the pedal in WD40, scrubbing it clean and then applying a bit of chain lube to the spring.

In my case I thought the squeek was coming from near my toes, not near the rear of the pedal where the spring is. Might be worth spending a couple of minutes on to see if it helps.

As to the "Divers boots" issue, I've found that as I've developed more leg mussles those boots have got lighter for climbing at a set speed or that I can climb faster for a given weight of boot. It was an odd feeling at first, but I actually quite enjoy it now.

 

[Radius]

I can't climb hills in the same way without, a completely different feeling where the only power you can get is by pushing down, rather than being able to do both...quite irritating for me really...

 

[MacB]

I can't climb hills in the same way without, a completely different feeling where the only power you can get is by pushing down, rather than being able to do both...quite irritating for me really...

corrected that for you

 

[Radius]

At least I can't type faster than I can shift it down a road...

 

[MacB]

At least I can't type faster than I can shift it down a road...

fair enough

Must say, I finally decide to try clipless, order some pedals, and now this is the second negative thread about them this week, now I'm having doubts and I haven't even got the pedals yet

 

[GrahamG]

No way I'd go back, mostly because of difficulty getting nice stiff shoes for use with clips & straps.

 

[merlin321]

Maz, I`ve lightly lubricated the pedal - not enough possibly then - and also found I had to tighten up the spring more than the right side pedal, otherwise it felt like my foot was on grease and floating around.

MacB, not necessarily negative about clipless, just remain to be entirely convinced about their benefits.