Anna lost a bolt from her right cleat on a night ride and crashed (lightly) at a red light when her shoe would not disengage. She got a replacement and installed it this AM at the start of the ride. By the 13km mark she had the same problem again - luckily this time she didn't crash. We even found the bolt sitting by the bike rack at Bow Cycle.
Lesson learned - check your cleats before every major ride and use some Loc-tite. If you loose a bolt (or the whole cleat) and have small pedals, such as eggbeaters, it will be a tough ride home - especially on a high BB bent. If you have something like the Time Control Z platform pedals at least you can pedal fairly well home.
I carry a spare set of cleats when on tour and as part of my standard brevet load. They are light insurance against a DNF. Also consider whether or not you could actually pedal any reasonable distance with your current pedal if you lost a cleat? This may make a larger/heavier bodied pedal more attractive than some of the smallest/lightest ones.
Lesson learned - check your cleats before every major ride and use some Loc-tite. If you loose a bolt (or the whole cleat) and have small pedals, such as eggbeaters, it will be a tough ride home - especially on a high BB bent. If you have something like the Time Control Z platform pedals at least you can pedal fairly well home.
I carry a spare set of cleats when on tour and as part of my standard brevet load. They are light insurance against a DNF. Also consider whether or not you could actually pedal any reasonable distance with your current pedal if you lost a cleat? This may make a larger/heavier bodied pedal more attractive than some of the smallest/lightest ones.
note - the pic above is just a dramatic re-creation of the event - no cyclists were injured in the process.
1 comment:
I agree with you on the importance of checking out the cleats before a tour. I had a similar experience not too long ago when I couldn't get of mine because I had lost a screw!
We use pedals that have cleats on one side and are flat (like regular pedals) on the other. Than way we can use different sets of shoes if we need to take the bike (say, to the swimming pool). After all, what's another kilo when on tour.
Cheers!
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