My first Clipless experience - Page 4

eep. I'm looking to go clipless in a month-ish time. This thread has really scared me

Man, so far I love it, It can't even imagine going back to platforms. I am a little worried about taking it through some of my off-roading though.

well its the falling off parts I'm scared about -- I ride to work in melbourne peak hour traffic, which isnt so bad aside from the buses which seem to not care that you're there...

falling over just gives me visions of a car tyre coming too close to my head

Going back isn't usually an option. Once you get used to clipless, not only will you not want to go back, you'll probably find that you can't. Your feet will be all over the place.

That's always a concern for people when they go clipless. It's not totally unwarranted but it's really not a huge issue. Just try to make sure your first few rides are on the road where you'll have more time to plan your stops and then try unclipping early so you know your feet will be free as you slow to a stop. You might even just sit on the bike for a while the night before, clipping in and unclipping to start training your motor memory. It won't completely retrain your feet but it will get things started and should make the transition easier. When you actually go out and ride, keep thinking about the twisting action necessary to free your feet from the pedals. Once you've switched you'll never want to go back. It's great.

It sounds like it might possibly be a similar problem to the one I had when trying to fit my SPD-R cleats - I eventually realised I was trying to fit them upside-down. Turn them the right way round and suddenly the screws were long enough with all bits in place...

But it might not be the same problem at all.

d.

I recently (6 weeks ago) switched from using Straps on my road bike to SPD-SL's.

Have to say I have not yet fallen or had any close shaves with the ground - love the pedals and they are a breeze to clip in and out of.

Going clipless need not be a painful experience.

....saying that I am probably gonna have a mega fall tonight.

First one was a classic - forget to clip out... Second one was a bit more worrying... I remembered to clip out, but as I slackened off the power a little I got a really vicious cramp in the leg I was trying to unclip... So I couldn't, I did manage to get my other one unclipped, but it was too late, I was already falling. :/

I love clips though, they have a great feel to them, pedalling seems a ton easier with them. That said toeclips with some good shoes are still nice sometimes.

It felt very natural to go clipless for me. I actually did it about 2 days before my first 100km ride (the Argus). But I had already been using toe clips.

I have fallen a few times though. But if you are stationary then you just bounce off your leg.

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Passion is everything. without passion cycling is just exercise
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Road Bike : Cannondale
MTB Bike : Giant Boulder se

It would be great to hear other Riders' first time experiences, was it a piece of Cake or a near death experience? [/B][/QUOTE]

Learning technique sure helps, but after a while a huge piece of it is mental/emotional. Like most other new things you learn, if you can calm down and relax about it you will do fine.

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If you've got the money, I've got the time!

I guess I never posted my first. I'd been using toe clips (loose on paved trail for commuting, strapped down for mtn biking). Wow did I have some spectacular crashes. I think what made me want to finally go clipless was crashing, having my feet stuck in the pedals, and my bike dragging me down an incline.

First clipless experience was on the dirt trail (which was probably a collosal mistake). I was bruised all over. But, every time i fell, my feet were free of the pedals. Hallelujah!

I have since upgraded to better pedals since my originals held mud (causing my feet to get stuck to the pedals). I swap my spd's from the mtb to road, but will soon upgrade to spd-sl for the road bike.

Tried toeclips again (because I got tired of switching the pedals back and forth) and fell immediately because I couldn't get out, and had lost the instinct to pull my foot up to loosen the strap. hehehe. The whole ride I lost confidence because I was sure I was just unable to bike properly worrying about getting out of my toe clips. They collect dust now...

There are more hazards to clipless pedals than the standard "forgetting to clip out" thing. I'm more or less immune to that one now (have been using clipless on all my bikes for several months, including commuting - so I get plenty of practice). But I find these ones still get me from time to time:

1. Using SPD-SLs, setting off and being unable to "feel" which way the pedal is pointing (due to the very stiff shoe base), looking down at the pedal to see where it is and as a result, crashing into something. Extra bad if someone is right behind you.

2. During a hard ride, the motion of twisting out of the pedal can cause insane cramp in the leg, and you're left in the interesting position of trying to keep the bike moving fast enough not to fall, un-cramping your bad leg, and clipping out your other leg in time (and damn well hoping that one doesn't cramp too, or you're up s**t creek without a paddle).

Anyone else get these? I seem to recall someone else here mentioning the cramp thing.

Hmm.. I don't cramp at all clipping out, but that is because I have the tension on my pedals set fairly low. Not low enough to "fall out" of them, but low enough that it takes hardly any effort to get out of my pedals.

Now, I have been hesitant to go with "look-style" pedals because I've been told they are much harder to get out of (currently using spd's). But talking with several people, I've been told that the smaller your foot is, the less leverage you have to twist out, which accounts for the difficulty. My foot is not particularly small, so I'm going to go with the spd-sl pedals. I'm more worried about the one-sided pedal than anything.

I am surprised at reading how many people completely unclip before coming to a stop. I should think that is quite hazardous. One of my biking friends does the same thing, and has nearly crashed a couple of times because she had no control over her bike after being completely unclipped (other than steering and brakes).

I rarely unclip my right foot at all, and I unclip my left foot only after I've tottered at a near or full stop and realize I'm not going anywhere soon. It's helpful to stay clipped in with one foot, especially for the panic stop, because then, I can lift the rear wheel and downshift with my clipped in foot (by pedaling forward) so I'm ready to start again. I'm not one of those people who can stop and grab a pole staying clipped in, but I do like to practice just staying clipped in and coming to a dead stop (something mtn bikers seem to do a lot for what I thought was macho ego measurements, but which seem to have been good practice overall).

blah blah blah. but i've been clipless for about 3 years now, perhaps that has something to do with it.

Well, admittedly my clip tension is set fairly high, I should probably fiddle with it and reduce it so I can unclip more easily. Even so, I only get the cramping thing if I'm completely exhausted and have pushed my legs way too hard (say, at the top of a steep hill after a couple of hours of fast cruising). But when it happens, it's utterly pant-browning.

Gotta agree with brightgarden about how much to unclip when stopping....I unclip the left pedal and rotate the cranks till the right one is pointing straight down, then come to a stop standing on the right pedal, off the saddle. This provides plenty of control over the bike and allows you to stop safely or (if you decide not to stop after all) set off again with a minimum of fuss.

brightgarden: good luck with the SPD-SLs. I like mine but after 2-sided Time pedals, the single-sided SPD-SLs take quite a bit of getting used to.

I just posted this on a different thread so I thought I'd "cut and paste" it here. I think some others have already given the same tip but for FWIW:

I remember my very first ride with clipless pedals. I had just put the Onza elastomer clipless pedals (old technology, not around anymore) on my mountain bike. I practiced getting in and out of them a bit and then went on my first ride with them. It went pretty well overall but at the first stop sign that I got to there was a woman walking with her little daughter and pushing a baby in a stroller. I stopped at the stop sign said hello to them and proceeded to slowly tip over as I was unable to get my foot out... Very embarrassing!

Here's a little tip:

Your natural instinct will probably be to pull your foot upwards as you're trying to clip out. Afterall you're trying to get your foot OFF of the pedal! It's much easier to unclip while pressing DOWN on the pedal. Once you make the switch to clipless, you'll never go back. Good Luck!