Cleats

Mick D said:

Considering going down this road, can someone enlighten me as to the pros
and cons of them please.

Do you want to compare them to toe-straps, or to bare pedals?
Assuming you currently have toe-straps/traps,

Pros: - a little more efficient,
- safer in an emergency (once you are accustomed to them.).
Cons: - you *will* fall off a few times (when stopping) before learning.
- relatively expensive pedals, cleats and shoes.

Quoted message said:

I was basically going to get the shoes and cleats
and go from there, pedals are a standard pedal one side and clip[ in the

That eliminates the disadvantage of needing to change shoes for even a
short ride.

Quoted message said:

other till someone said the pedlas needed to be matched to my gait, is that
true?

Huh? Sounds like bollocks to me. Maybe they mean to adjust the cleat
position on your shoes, but thats not related to "gait".
So what is your gait anyway? Do you walk, run, jog, trot, canter or gallop?

Quoted message said:

--
[email hidden] Replace spam with TPG to reply.

Cleats are good. Keep your foot firmly attached to the pedal.
Downside is that everyone will tell you you _must_ fall of with them
before you _learn_ how to get out of them.

Reality - if your not a road racer (sorry to road racers, but this
does seem common amongst the bunch), adjust the cleats so they are not
super tight and you can get your foot out easy.

I've fallen over with toe straps - not being able to reach down and
release them in time, but never (yep that's right) never with cleats.

The adjusting takes a while though. You need them tight enough that
you can pull back and up without pulling out. I can get out of all the
cleats on my bicycles with the normal heal twist, but also with
lifting the inside of my foot up. Consider if your foot is on the
pedal, and you want to move your foot (without turning the heel)
sideways, the inside edge of the foot will lift, and then at some
point my cleat disengages and I am out of it. No problems, No falls.

Megan
Fixie rider who needs her feet to stay in the cleat when riding:-)

"Mick D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Considering going down this road, can someone enlighten me as to the pros
and cons of them please. I was basically going to get the shoes and cleats
and go from there, pedals are a standard pedal one side and clip[ in the
other till someone said the pedlas needed to be matched to my gait, is that
true?

Thanks for the replys here and the one in my inbox, it's for an MTB and i'm
just a commuter cyclist. Currently have bare pedals and been pretty much
anti cleats/toe clips as I think they're just a poseur and a lot of [censored] but
seems my line of thinking is just an old bloke stuck in his ways a bit and
time to pull the head out a little.

Volunteered at Catani gardens on ATB 2003 and noticed like 1 person in every
500 (at max) that didn't use either cleats or toe clips and given the option
I think I may as well go the whole hog and do the cleats gig. Not wanting
to pay a heap as am not a racer nor intending to be one, thanks again, time
to bite the bullet.
"Megan Webb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cleats are good. Keep your foot firmly attached to the pedal.
Downside is that everyone will tell you you _must_ fall of with them
before you _learn_ how to get out of them.

Reality - if your not a road racer (sorry to road racers, but this
does seem common amongst the bunch), adjust the cleats so they are not
super tight and you can get your foot out easy.

I've fallen over with toe straps - not being able to reach down and
release them in time, but never (yep that's right) never with cleats.

The adjusting takes a while though. You need them tight enough that
you can pull back and up without pulling out. I can get out of all the
cleats on my bicycles with the normal heal twist, but also with
lifting the inside of my foot up. Consider if your foot is on the
pedal, and you want to move your foot (without turning the heel)
sideways, the inside edge of the foot will lift, and then at some
point my cleat disengages and I am out of it. No problems, No falls.

Megan
Fixie rider who needs her feet to stay in the cleat when riding:-)

"Mick D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Considering going down this road, can someone enlighten me as to the

pros

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and cons of them please. I was basically going to get the shoes and

cleats

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and go from there, pedals are a standard pedal one side and clip[ in the
other till someone said the pedlas needed to be matched to my gait, is

that

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

true?

"Megan Webb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

Reality - if your not a road racer (sorry to road racers, but this
does seem common amongst the bunch), adjust the cleats so they are not
super tight and you can get your foot out easy.

Hmm.. road racer here.. I never fell while clipped in. I crashed a bit
but never just fell over at lights, etc. I've seen many people do it
though. :-)
I went from flats to toe-straps to SPD clipless. I had a few hairy
moments in toe-slips and straps when I couldn't get out in time,
but I always seemed to just rip my shoe out just in time.
I went down once in traffic with my SPDs, but that was because
I was practicing a track stand and my heavy backpack slipped
and I over-balanced... clipless pedals are not as bad as everyone
makes them out to be.

Quoted message said:

Megan
Fixie rider who needs her feet to stay in the cleat when riding:-)

I guess the day will come when I pull out of clipless setup and
then have to really tighten them down.. THEN maybe I will
start falling over while still clipped in?

hippy

Mick D said:

Considering going down this road, can someone enlighten me as to the
pros and cons of them please. I was basically going to get the shoes and
cleats and go from there, pedals are a standard pedal one side and clip[
in the other till someone said the pedlas needed to be matched to my
gait, is that true?
--
[email hidden] Replace spam with TPG to reply.

I've just started using cleats and can also say they have their
advantages/disadvantages.

I would say they are not suited to commuting where you will be stop
starting all the time. I have difficulty getting them to click in first
go which is sometimes frustating.

I find its easy to pedal at a high rpm/max out low gears and you can get
some power as your foot goes up.

Biggest improvement would have to be in acceleration especially when
standing on pedals.

--

Quoted message said:

--------------------------<

Posted via cyclingforums.com
http://www.cyclingforums.com

You can get shoes that look like 'normal' sports wear and sandals with
cleats in them. Lots of my non-cycling friends only pick up that i'm
wearing cycling shoes when we walk on concrete and the cleat makes
grinding noises. So its hard to tell these days who wears spd cleats
and who doesn't if you can't pick the brand of shoe.

btw. I am a commutter rider on a MTB bike frame that has is a fixed
gear, fixed wheel. :-)

Megan
"Mick D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the replys here and the one in my inbox, it's for an MTB and i'm
just a commuter cyclist. Currently have bare pedals and been pretty much
anti cleats/toe clips as I think they're just a poseur and a lot of [censored] but
seems my line of thinking is just an old bloke stuck in his ways a bit and
time to pull the head out a little.

Volunteered at Catani gardens on ATB 2003 and noticed like 1 person in every
500 (at max) that didn't use either cleats or toe clips and given the option
I think I may as well go the whole hog and do the cleats gig. Not wanting
to pay a heap as am not a racer nor intending to be one, thanks again, time
to bite the bullet.
"Megan Webb" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cleats are good. Keep your foot firmly attached to the pedal.
Downside is that everyone will tell you you _must_ fall of with them
before you _learn_ how to get out of them.

Reality - if your not a road racer (sorry to road racers, but this
does seem common amongst the bunch), adjust the cleats so they are not
super tight and you can get your foot out easy.

I've fallen over with toe straps - not being able to reach down and
release them in time, but never (yep that's right) never with cleats.

The adjusting takes a while though. You need them tight enough that
you can pull back and up without pulling out. I can get out of all the
cleats on my bicycles with the normal heal twist, but also with
lifting the inside of my foot up. Consider if your foot is on the
pedal, and you want to move your foot (without turning the heel)
sideways, the inside edge of the foot will lift, and then at some
point my cleat disengages and I am out of it. No problems, No falls.

Megan
Fixie rider who needs her feet to stay in the cleat when riding:-)

"Mick D" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Considering going down this road, can someone enlighten me as to the

pros

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and cons of them please. I was basically going to get the shoes and

cleats

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and go from there, pedals are a standard pedal one side and clip[ in the
other till someone said the pedlas needed to be matched to my gait, is

that

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

true?

Quoted message said:

Cleats are good. Keep your foot firmly attached to the pedal.
Downside is that everyone will tell you you _must_ fall of with them
before you _learn_ how to get out of them.

Well its pretty true. There is probably the exception but we always laugh
at the newbie with clipless. You dont get hurt (apart from your pride) you
only tip over when you stop because you forget. Then panic when you try and
lift your foot off then panic some more. BANG. I fell a few times before
it being a natural movement. The worse was at a busy roundabout where I
pulled up in a hurry. Thats the worst time as I had a big audience to see
me just tip over. You start to remember after the first one but if you stop
in a big hurry it can happen again.

Glad to see you didnt have to suffer that.

Pete

Quoted message said:

and I over-balanced... clipless pedals are not as bad as everyone
makes them out to be.

They are not bad at all. You will love them. Everyone loves them once they
start getting used to them. You will never go back. You will hate riding
without them. When riding without them, I find it uncomfortable and keep
slipping my foot off the pedal.

Pete

Quoted message said:

I've just started using cleats and can also say they have their
advantages/disadvantages.

I would say they are not suited to commuting where you will be stop
starting all the time. I have difficulty getting them to click in first
go which is sometimes frustating.

Disagree. Adjust the tensions. They are easy to get in and out of once you
have done it for a while. Its like it was attached to your foot all your
life.

Pete

i agree .. cleating in is as natural as putting my seat belt on in the car..
it just happens.. once you get used to it... i got SPD-SL on my road and
flats with cleats (shims cant remember the model) on my mountain bike..
"John Doe" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've just started using cleats and can also say they have their
advantages/disadvantages.

I would say they are not suited to commuting where you will be stop
starting all the time. I have difficulty getting them to click in first
go which is sometimes frustating.

Disagree. Adjust the tensions. They are easy to get in and out of once

you

Quoted message said:

have done it for a while. Its like it was attached to your foot all your
life.

Pete

Megan Webb said:

You can get shoes that look like 'normal' sports wear and sandals with
cleats in them. Lots of my non-cycling friends only pick up that i'm
wearing cycling shoes when we walk on concrete and the cleat makes
grinding noises. So its hard to tell these days who wears spd cleats and
who doesn't if you can't pick the brand of shoe.

yep, the shimano sandles I have are not quite as noisy as the boots, but
then again the boots are few years old so have most likely worn down the
soles a bit

but as for the sandles they look just like any other sandles out there,
people only notice when I "clink" them into or out of the pedals

Mick D said:

Thanks for the replys here and the one in my inbox, it's for an MTB and
i'm just a commuter cyclist. Currently have bare pedals and been pretty
much anti cleats/toe clips as I think they're just a poseur and a lot of
[censored] but seems my line of thinking is just an old bloke stuck in his
ways a bit and time to pull the head out a little.

hehe, well I am on the wrong side of forty, geting too close to fifty for
my liking, been using the shimano spds for the last 8 years or so, before
that I used toe clips, never again, the spds are so easy to get your foot
off the pedal in a hurry compared to toe clips, a slight twist of the
heal and your foot is free compared to having to pull your foot backwards
and down to get out of toe clips

I have the tension lightened off since I only ride for fun and exercise
but have no problems with my feet releasing by mistake

http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/australia/en/cycling/products/shoes_and_pedals/mountain_pedals.html

I use both the PD-M646 and the PD-M424 pedals, both are real easy to clip
into amd if think you need to get your foot down in a hurry you can
unclip and move your foot slightly sideways and still pedal

http://www.shimano.com.au/publish/content/australia/en/cycling/products/shoes_and_pedals/mountain_shoes.html

as for the shoes just pick a pair that are comfortable for walking in, I
bought a pair of the SH-SD60 sandles now that the weather is gettin
warmer, very nice to walk around in.

one thing with these shoes that the sole is reinforced so it supports
your feet as you cycle, the bottom of my feet used to get a bit sore
after a long ride when I used ordinary shoes with the toe clips, they are
fine now with these shoes and sandles