Share your experience - Riding clipless for the first time

[tt1106]

I've been riding clipless for about 20 years. Started with Look and now I'm riding SPd's. I'll never forget the first time I strapped my wife's feet into clipped pedals. It was horrifying and clightly amusing to watch her ride to a stop sign and fall over. It looked like slow motion, but in reality, she was moving so slow it only appeared to be in slow motion.
She doesn't ride now, I'm not sure if that's why.

 

[mattyb]

My partner and I just had very different experiences.
We both just bought pedals and shoes.
We practiced inside leaned up against a wall. Then she went out to the backyard and fell twice. Wasn't happy. Now she is too scared to ride with them.
I thought I'd just go out in the street and try my luck on a normal ride. Didn't have a problem. When I thought I would have to stop,I just kept on saying "pedals pedals pedals" so I wouldn't forget.

The hardest part was clicking in after taking off uphill. I quickly realised that pedalling with one foot is better than falling, even if it looks silly

So there you go. I think if you bite the bullet and just go for it, usually it works out fine - as long as you keep the concentration.

 

[Edudbor]

What is 'riding clipless?'

I bought my first road bicycle with the 'clip in' pedals and shoes...I'm not sure if this is what you guys are talking about; but it was really effortless. I had some 'eggbeaters' and I found them really easy to clip into and getting out is a breeze too.

Only had one problem - I didn't tighten the metal part of my shoe enough - it came loose and I couldn't get out of the pedal. I ended up taking off my shoe

 

[kdelong]

No big deal. Of course, I'd been using clips and cleats for 20 years before foot pain urged me to go clipless.

Of course, I'd tipped over a couple of times after forgetting to loosen my straps. And once spun out on a steel-grate bridge in the rain. Somehow I ended up ass-over-teakettle with one hand in the grate, rear wheel freewheeling in the air, and feet still clipped in. My buddy came up behind me, asking, "Are you all right? What can I do?"

"Just loosen my straps," I groaned, and the whole mess came down and I was able to get up.

I don't use cleats and I keep my straps just tight enough so that I can still pull my foot out when I need to. I almost crashed the couple of times when I tried to tighten my straps while riding.

We're a couple of old dinosuars still riding with toe clips and straps. It's getting harder to find the good old platform pedals like what they used to make in the 80's. Now its all quill pedals if you want new ones with toe clips and straps. Took a pair of vintage 1984 Shimano 600 pedals to my LBS to get new straps and they all looked at them like they were museum peices. I just hope that my old platforms outlast me. At least I can still get bearings for them.

 

[GinaNY]

Got the clipless pedals with the new bike Friday. Took me about 30 minutes to end up on the pavement. But it wasn't getting off the bike and stopping, it was the starting out that was so hard for me!

I was on this new bike, only a double and my hybrid is a triple, so I misjudged what gear I needed to be in taking on a good climb and in the end, I was just stuck in too low a gear and even standing, it wasn't happening. SO - I stopped on my way up the hill. When I could breathe again I clipped in on the left foot and started out, but of course, I was still in this low gear going up a hill and the my foot slipped off the tiny little pedal thing and down I went on the left side. Didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected, but then again, I wasn't really moving.

Which brings me to another idea which is that when you go down due to having trouble dealing with the clipless pedals, you're usually going pretty slowly. It isn't like going down at 17 mph!

So that was my first. I'm sure there will be a few more.

 

[stevecycles]

My first clipless experience was about 9 months ago. I went into my LBS. (Black Mountain Bikes in San Diego). They put them on, showed me how to get in and out of them, had me ride with one foot in, then the other. Then I rode around the parking lot, clicked in, and have been riding clipless since. No problems. I think people make too much out of it, it was much easier than I ever anticipated based on stories I had heard.