Giving up on SPDs

[laura*]

Don't change the spd...change the cleat. They make a muti-direction release cleat that I have been using for 5 years. You do not have to twist your heel. Any way you pull it will release, and it do not come out unless you want it to.

I have the multi-release cleats already. They have proven to release with an upward pull. On one of my first SPD rides, I didn't properly execute a slow 180 turn on a driveway. With a panicked upward YANK! I managed to just barely get a leg out in time to keep from falling.

Laura - the 324 is the campus pedal SPD and it has a lot of 'stuff' around it to get snagged up on your shoe treads. ... I sounds like by the way you said you were stomping to get into the spds that the rubber on the shoe was interfering with the cleat and pedal actually touching.

It could very well be that there is some shoe to pedal interference.

The bike in question must be rideable in street shoes. The M324 and a few other SPD pedals are the only choice in a platform/clipless combo.