Time pedal mechanism (follow up)

[Wideboythin]

Hi all,

Following up from a previous post regarding clipess pedal types, before I sell on my new pair of
Time ATAC alium's in despair I wanted to check if something was awry...

The clip-in is nice and positive, and quite easy once I "got" the relative positioning. However the
clipping out seems terrible. My memory of SPDs was that you just twisted the foot and once a certain
angle was achieved the pedals would click-out. The Time's have no click-out, and feel very
inconsistent when disengaging. The foot-twist is not enough to disengage, you need to pull away in
particular directions. There have been times when my foot has been at least 45 degrees twisted and
I've tugged away and still not disconnected! After the ride my knees were aching, which has not
happened before using toe clips. The most reliable exit is both twisting the foot a good amount and
pulling diagonally back/outwards and up - which is damned difficult at the best of times!

The cleats are on the correct shoes and aligned comfortably, so I don't think that is a source of
the problem.

Does this sound right?

Many thanks

WBT

 

[Ian Smith]

On Sun, 6 Apr 2003, WideboyThin <wideboy_thin@hotmail_removethis.com> wrote:

> The clip-in is nice and positive, and quite easy once I "got" the relative positioning. However
> the clipping out seems terrible. My memory of SPDs was that you just twisted the foot and once a
> certain angle was achieved the pedals would click-out. The Time's have no click-out, and feel
> very inconsistent when disengaging. The foot-twist is not enough to disengage, you need to pull
> away in particular directions.

I think the disengage is combined twist & pull, but having ridden practically nothing but ATAC for
some years it's just automatic now. I didn't, however, have more than the customary clipless
problems when starting with them.

Things you might want to try that spring to mind are releasing by twisting the heal in rather
than out, and/or swapping the cleats to the other shoe (it may be that the 'wrong' way round
suits you better).

Also, aching knees sounds like the cleats aren't positioned quite right, even though you say they
are comfortable. Can you put flat pedals back on and observe your foot while riding - you might have
a skeleton that adopts a 'wrong' foot position (I do - the cleats on my shoes are horribly skewed,
and at different angles on each foot).

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Paul In D&G]

On Sun, 6 Apr 2003 16:47:39 +0100, "WideboyThin" <wideboy_thin@hotmail_removethis.com> wrote:

>Does this sound right?
>
No

It would seem you have something wrong. I have ridden Time ATAC for something like 7yrs now both on
& off road and find them very easy to disengage when required but impossible to disengage
accidentally.

Paul

Life's a long song but the tune ends too soon for us all

 

[Graham Glen]

In message <[email protected]>, WideboyThin
<wideboy_thin@hotmail_removethis.com> writes
>
>The clip-in is nice and positive, and quite easy once I "got" the relative positioning. However the
>clipping out seems terrible. My memory of SPDs was that you just twisted the foot and once a
>certain angle was achieved the pedals would click-out. The Time's have no click-out, and feel very
>inconsistent when disengaging. The foot-twist is not enough to disengage, you need to pull away in
>particular directions. There have been times when my foot has been at least 45 degrees twisted and
>I've tugged away and still not disconnected! After the ride my knees were aching, which has not
>happened before using toe clips. The most reliable exit is both twisting the foot a good amount and
>pulling diagonally back/outwards and up - which is damned difficult at the best of times!
>

Are you wearing new shoes/boots? I' use ATAC's, and I find that when I've bought new shoes the
cleats don't disengage cleanly at first. After a very short period it sorts itself out (and there
are witness marks on the soles of the shoes from the pedals.).

Could that be the problem?

Graham
--
Graham Glen

 

[Wideboythin]

> Things you might want to try that spring to mind are releasing by twisting the heal in rather than
> out, and/or swapping the cleats to the other shoe (it may be that the 'wrong' way round suits you
> better).

Did try this, so the angle for release was 17 rather than 13 degrees, but it did not help
unfortunately. Also twisting in there is no space because of the bike frame - I'd need much more
room to get the required angle.

> Also, aching knees sounds like the cleats aren't positioned quite right, even though you say they
> are comfortable. Can you put flat pedals back on and observe your foot while riding - you might
> have a skeleton that adopts a 'wrong' foot position (I do - the cleats on my shoes are horribly
> skewed, and at different angles on each foot).

In this case I don't think that is what is happening. I believe the knee ache was caused by the
strain of yanking and twisting the foot - I only got the ache in my right knee and that is the foot
I used to disengage for temporary stops (traffic lights etc). Also the large amount of float does
allow for the foot to take it's natural position; the advantages of the Time system are definately
there in some respects!

I may right loosening the mechanism and see if that helps at all, though the manual insists this
ATAC works automatically.

 

[Wideboythin]

> Are you wearing new shoes/boots? I' use ATAC's, and I find that when I've bought new shoes the
> cleats don't disengage cleanly at first. After a very short period it sorts itself out (and there
> are witness marks on the soles of the shoes from the pedals.).
>
> Could that be the problem?

Yes the shoes are new, only a few weeks older than the pedals. However I can't think of why the
shoes would make a difference at all - new, old or otherwise, since there is no recess for the cleat
(clip-clop walking) in my road shoes.

thanks

WBT

 

[John Tomlinson]

On Sun, 6 Apr 2003 16:47:39 +0100, "WideboyThin" <wideboy_thin@hotmail_removethis.com> wrote:

>
>Does this sound right?
>
>Many thanks
>
>WBT
>

Nop it does not.

Have you got the cleats the wrong way round? The 'starred'[1] cleat should be the left one. My
manual says swap round for a less easy disengagement.

Also make sure that the shoe sole is not interferering with the release of the cleat. You may have
to take a sharp knife and do a bit of trimming - I have done this in the past.

John T - ATAC user for longer than I can remember - when did they first come out?

[1] my latest pair did not have the star, they were marked left and right but in french (G and D )
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