Clipless...



J

Joona

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A poll associated with this post was created, to vote and
see the results, please visit
http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/29638
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Question: Have you used clipless pedals?

- Yes
- No
- Yes, and Joona shouldn't try them
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So, my new MTB is coming around soon and I'll buy clipless
pedals for it next summer. Is this a totally crazy idea to
stick them on my uni and give it a go? I think there's quite
a lot of people here who have given it a go. Should I just
leave them on my two wheeler or give them a go? They might
work pretty well on some trails.

--
joona - )-O <--Neat

I'm controlling the computer with a pen now. :p
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On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 17:14:12 -0600, joona
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Question: Have you used clipless pedals?

I haven't but Belgian unicyclist Lode De Paepe used them on
his triple climb of Mt. Ventoux. <http://www.lopa.be/>

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
Today (30 December) is the last day this year that is not
the last day this year.
 
Try it, because if they catch on youll be considred a
visionary. Remember clipless pedals were considred insane on
mtbs at one time so it could be a matter of time for unis

--
thin_air - ride the wheel

If you come to a fork in the road...
take it
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On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 11:18:31 -0600, johnfoss
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I would like to point out to all the would-be clipped-in
>experimenters, the heavy skating kneepads and wristguards
>Lode is using, even on his 20". Looks like he's already
>been there and done that...

I can add that except on the first half hour of those
climbs, Lode was too tired to bother about unclipping. Of
course he wasn't going fast, and because of climbing the
road surface was a bit nearer. So in the occasional
wipeout, he just crashed and let his protection do what
it's meant for.

Klaas Bil - Newsgroup Addict
--
Today (31 December) is the last day this year. Happy Old
Year!
 
The poll did not mention if you meant on unicycles, or on
any cycles.

Even on grass, you can easily break a finger, your wrist,
or your nose
:) the first time you start to fall and forget you're
:clipped in. I
highly do not recommend clipless for unicycling. I know one
highly experienced rider who broke a finger experimenting
with clipless for track racing. After that, she switched
them to her bike, and that was many years ago. She's still
around. And track racing is on level ground!

Some people have used various forms of clipped or clipless
pedals for unicycling and apparently not died. But they are
the rare ones. As for me, I want absolutely instant release
of my feet from the pedals, especially on rocky surfaces!

If you're talking about a bike, that's perfectly fine.

--
johnfoss - IUF Director

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"I ain't goin' to no mall." — my nephew Austin Miller, on being invited
to join his sister and mom at the mall on Saturday Dec. 13

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I voted yes, but only if you post the video of your first attempts.
Otherwise why bother.:D

--
bugman - Equilibrium Challenged

"Trying to maintain balance by wild arm and body motions is something
like trying to balance a wet noodle"
Jack Wiley _The_Unicycle_Book_
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I've 'tried' (http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery/albuu19)
them a few weeks ago at my 20" uni. I think they could be
pretty useful for riding one foot. But in my opinion muni
or trial is to dangerous with clipless pedals. Of course
you can set the pedals to unclip easily but then the
danger of unclipping when you don't want it is given,
too. And according to Murphy's law you won't be able to
unclip when you better should ;) If you try it do it on
grass or on a flat way without any obstacles, screw the
pedals to a low spring tension so that you almost fall
out of the pedals. And don't go too fast because if you
fall forwards you normally want to put the foot forwards
from the pedal to the ground. But clipless pedals don't
like unclipping forwards... My clipless pedals are at my
recumbent bike again, the quick release of normal pedals
is more secure at the uni. Give the clipless ones a try,
but don't hurt yourself.

--
martin - Muni Newbie
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Clipless on a uni is a bad idea and really serves no purpose. A good set
of platforms with nice sharp traction pins will give you all the stick
you need.
I personally don't even run clipless on my mountain bike. If you know
how to keep your feet on the pedals then what's the point in clipless?
If you ride soley XC on your mountain bike and you want the efficientcy
I guess clipless is OK, I personally am more of a freerider. I couln't
imagine hitting dirt jumps or dropping of a 6 foot ledge clipped in. And
I certainly couldn't imagine running clipless on a uni :confused:

--
zod - Icey Hot Stunta(z)
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I suspect the big no-no is to ride with clipless pedals on
your unicycle if you're not already used to them on your
bike. Everyone has a few bad unclip moments when they first
use them, on a bike these are funny, but on a unicycle they
could really hurt.

Once you've crashed / fallen off a bike a few times and
learnt to unclip instinctively, it might be worth giving
them a try on a unicycle. I think most of the people using
clipless pedals on unicycles now are people coming from
mountain biking, who are used to them and used to unclipping
from them. There's some trials riders doing it and also one
rider at the Mountain Mayhem 24hr race here in the UK was
using them last year.

Joe

--
joemarshall - dumb blonde
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Klaas Bil wrote:
> *I haven't but Belgian unicyclist Lode De Paepe used them
> on his triple climb of Mt. Ventoux. <http://www.lopa.be/>*
Very impressive climbs! I would like to point out to all the
would-be clipped-in experimenters, the heavy skating
kneepads and wristguards Lode is using, even on his 20".
Looks like he's already been there and done that...

--
johnfoss - IUF Director

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com"
www.unicycling.com

"I ain't goin' to no mall." — my nephew Austin Miller, on being invited
to join his sister and mom at the mall on Saturday Dec. 13

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Tom Holub did the MT Diablo challenge (climb MT diablo
8,000ft of climbing) on a pashley 29er with clipless.

I voted yes to using clipless on a uni, because one time at
unicycle basketball Tom let me try his 29er, with the
clipless pedals, but I had normal shoes on, so I was never
clipped in :rolleyes: .

--
gerblefranklin

I don't break equipment, I make it cheaper.
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I voted "yes, and Joona shouldn't try them."

I'll probably experiment with clipless pedals on a unicycle
next summer because I think they offer advantages in power,
speed and smoothness on the road. I've got tens of thousands
of miles in my legs with both clipped and clipless pedals,
and I've crashed with them on both the road and on the
velodrome. Last summer I low-sided on a wet sweeper at about
35mph (as recorded on my cyclocomputer) without wrist
protectors or other pads so I understand the risks.

I voted against Joona trying it because there are certain
common-sense reflexes that long-term users have that will
help prevent injury. IMHE, even long term bike users
sometimes forget to unclip when they come to a stop. IMHO,
it must already be second nature to unclip whenever prudent
before trying clipless on a unicycle. By second nature, I
mean that it happens without your having to conciously
think about it. When I ride my fixed gear in traffic I
sometimes find that I've already unclipped one leg in
preparation for a stop and have to conciously re-clip.
Without this wired-in body instinct I think it would be
very difficult to unclip fast enough in the event of a UPD.
I'm sure your feet will come off the pedals eventually, but
not before some very painful angular momentum has built up.
Fear the body slam, Joona!

There are only a few models that I could recommend. The
'Eggbeater mallet-C' (http://tinyurl.com/pva5) is probably
the best. Clipping in and releasing are very smooth and
predictable, the binding is solid in the pedaling plane, and
there is a nice, big, toothy platform to stomp on when
mounting the unicycle.

--
cyberbellum - Level 0.5 rider

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
half empty. Engineers think the glass is too big.
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... The problem I see is that on a Uni you would have to
unclip BOTH feet everytime, on a bike most of the time ONE
foot out is enough....If you clipped out of one pedal only
on a uni (or worse a MUNi) you can imagine the nasty
consequences....

--
MUNIYETI - The Abominable MUnicyclist
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MUNIYETI wrote:
> *.... The problem I see is that on a Uni you would have to
> unclip BOTH feet everytime, on a bike most of the time ONE
> foot out is enough....If you clipped out of one pedal only
> on a uni (or worse a MUNi) you can imagine the nasty
> consequences.... *

I see your point, and my experience with riding is somewhat
limited so I really can't comment on Muni or Trials.

However, in the last couple of months I have aquired a
fair bit of experience in "stepping off" unicycles on
level or near level ground. In almost every case I get at
least a half second warning, and one foot usually goes off
a few milliseconds before the other. Once I take one foot
off to save myself from an unbalance the unicycle is
either in my hand under control or twisting away wildly.
In the latter case the other foot is going to unclip
almost immediately, because it is impossible to keep a
foot aligned with a renegade unicycle. In this sense the
twist-release clipless pedals are a vast improvement over
the slotted-cleat, clips and straps setup that track
racers prefer. (The preferred method of crashing a bike at
high speed is to keep both feet firmly lashed to the
pedals so that you don't break a hip. This is true for
both road and track racers, but not downhill racers who
also have rocks and trees to contend with.)

I guess my sense is that the extra 30-90 rpm of spin ceiling
and/ or the ability to do a sudden two-footed grunt might
save me from a few of the kinds of UPDs that I currently
experience. The downside, of course, is that failure to
unclip means a pretty nasty body slam. So I'm not advocating
it yet, just saying I'd like to experiment a bit with the
eggbeaters on a nice quiet road with a 24" unicycle.

--
cyberbellum - Level 0.5 rider

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
half empty. Engineers think the glass is too big.
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I could see the spin advantage on good surfaces....but when
I uni I have an ocassional gremlin that grabs my wheel for
the UPD even on good surfaces; the kind where you barely
have time to break your fall with your hands ; seems like
faceplant deluxe if you were clipped in..... don't get me
wrong; I love clipless for my bike (used them for 15years)
but the "just cruising along faceplant" is not a concern on
2 wheels ...but let us know how it goes if you experiment
..... maybe I'm just a fraidy cat

--
MUNIYETI - The Abominable MUnicyclist
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MUNIYETI wrote:
> *...when I uni I have an ocassional gremlin that grabs
> my wheel for the UPD even on good surfaces; the kind
> where you barely have time to break your fall with your
> hands ; *

I haven't had any of those yet, but I've only been
unicycling for a few months now.

I did a rough math calculation a week or so ago and figured
that I've UPD'd about 1500 to 2000 times so far. Only twice
did I fail to land on my feet - once while attempting a free-
mount, and the other very early on when I accidentally rode
backwards 7 feet before slamming down on my back. (At the
time my longest ride was 23 feet, so I was rather surprised
to have gone so far backwards without falling. When I
regained the ability to breath, that is.)

I have had a few rather abrupt (0.3-0.5 sec?) transitions
from rolling to standing at the junctions of level and
uphill surfaces, however I know my limits and can see these
hazards, so I would unclip prior to the hazard and clip in
after, just as I unclip on my fixed gear while waiting for
traffic in confused intersections.

--
cyberbellum - Level 0.5 rider

Optimists think the glass is half full. Pesimists think the glass is
half empty. Engineers think the glass is too big.
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