Clipless Pedals

[Sigmund Fraud]

Am I the only one who hasn't stacked it using clipless pedals?! I feel proud.

My best one was with a pair of Look race pedals and huge hulking neoprene overshoes - the overshoes got trapped in between the cleat and the pedal and when I slowed down and tried to look really cool by releasing at the last nanosecond in front of 50 yummy mummies outside a school I slowly toppled over like a dinosaur in a ray harryhausen film cos the cleat wouldn't come loose. I was wearing lycra tights too (it was winter) and I ripped a huge hole on my thigh.

Plus theres been countless time where I've attempted stupidly steep 25% hills and simply lost momentum and been too fucked to clip out and gone sideways instead



Topcat - they make a massive difference, first run out on clipless after using cages my average speed went up by 2mph over a 30 mile trip.

 

[Herbsman.]

Do they really make a difference over toe clips and ties?

Yes! Toe clips / straps are f*cking deadly, very difficult to get in and out of.

Am I the only one who hasn't stacked it using clipless pedals?! I feel proud.

No, I haven't!

 

[Orang Utan]

Toe clips are much easier to get in and out of than clipless.
Anyway, I braved the ride to work today and only fell off once - that was due to complete stupidity anyhow - I had no room in my bag for my security chain, so it was round my waist, but it started unravelling, and I was worried that it would come off and get entangled in the wheels, so I was frantically try to stop it falling and I forgot to unclip. oops!

 

[Orang Utan]

Why are they called clipless, when you're actually clipped in?
Bugged me for ages that has.

I guess because the toe clips were replaced by shoes and cleats, so they weren't the kind of clips that were used before, therefore they were 'clipless', rather than just another kind of clip really.

 

[Herbsman.]

Toe clips are much easier to get in and out of than clipless.

I assume you're talking about the clips with straps on... in which case: Are they bollocks!

You have to fiddle around with the straps to make sure they're not too tight but not too loose. None of that with clipless.

Then you have to spend ages trying to get your pedal upright so that you can put your foot in. None of that with clipless.

And if they're tight, and you need to put your foot down in a hurry, you're fucked! To free your foot from a strap you have to remember to pull your foot backwards, while wiggling it at the same time... by the time you've got your foot out it's too late. At least with clipless, your foot unclips if you try to stick your foot out to the side (e.g. if you're about to fall over and you need to put your foot out).

I actually believed that I was going to end up dead when I rode with straps for a couple of days, and that was the only time I ever felt really unsafe in 13 years of riding a bike...

 

[Orang Utan]

I've always had them loose and never had any trouble with them

 

[editor]

Plus theres been countless time where I've attempted stupidly steep 25% hills and simply lost momentum and been too fucked to clip out and gone sideways instead

*editor shudders at his own memories of 'steep hill clipless collapses'...