The intractable threat of danger with clipless pedals



alienator

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Jun 10, 2004
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Warning to all cyclists: I just learned in another thread that apparently clipless pedals are dangerous and should be banned! Yup! I guess us users of clipless pedals were in reality riding a terrifyingly ragged edge, the edge between safety and flesh rending, bone shattering, and life ending danger. Thank the gods that more lives haven't been destroyed or lost because of the clipless pedal scourge. Now the question is, how do we right this ship and remove the cloak of imminent pedal induced doom that casts a pall over our sport?
 
For road riding the main risk I can see with clipless pedals is the dignity you stand to lose, when, for one reason or another, you fail to unclip at a stop.
That embarrasing, slow-motion topple, as well as having to extricate yourself from the bike laying down in front of amused bystanders is certainly enough to make a few riders each year hang up their bikes...

Then again there are those times when the intended MTB XC run suddenly became far more technical than expected. Those occasions I can also wish for an easier way to bail out.

Still, it's not as if I'm realistically putting others in danger in either of these situations.
 
dabac said:
For road riding the main risk I can see with clipless pedals is the dignity you stand to lose, when, for one reason or another, you fail to unclip at a stop.
That embarrasing, slow-motion topple, as well as having to extricate yourself from the bike laying down in front of amused bystanders is certainly enough to make a few riders each year hang up their bikes...

Then again there are those times when the intended MTB XC run suddenly became far more technical than expected. Those occasions I can also wish for an easier way to bail out.

Still, it's not as if I'm realistically putting others in danger in either of these situations.

I've lost that dignity on a few occasions, I've experienced that embarrasing slow motion topple. And yes, I've hesitated taking my Look-pedaled road bike out becauseof that.
But a strange thing happened today: I took out my new MTB with simple platform pedals, and I felt a little vulnerable, that my feet might slip off the pedals.
A perplexity indeed!
 
The National Guard idea would probably work best, however, I would also add another safety law, where a governor would be installed on all bikes, so that you will avoid crashing by going too fast. Let's set it to no higher than 14 mph.

Also get rid of all pro racing, and ban cycling as a sport. It should ONLY be used within 5 miles of your home, go any further (or faster), and a gps location will go out to a nearest patrol car.
 
We can also simply dig trenches across each road, at say 1/2 mile intervals. The trenches should be 3 feet wide and covered with something like one of those cattle gratings, but with the bars aligned with the road instead of across it.
Anything with a tire width of 4" or more will roll right over, but it'd be a solid obstacle for a skinny tired bike.

That should set utility riding up for a nice natural death and we'd be left with various forms of "sports" riding being done only in specially adapted and fenced off areas - that the would-be cyclist naturally would have to drive to...
 
alienator said:
Warning to all cyclists: I just learned in another thread that apparently clipless pedals are dangerous and should be banned! Yup! I guess us users of clipless pedals were in reality riding a terrifyingly ragged edge, the edge between safety and flesh rending, bone shattering, and life ending danger. Thank the gods that more lives haven't been destroyed or lost because of the clipless pedal scourge. Now the question is, how do we right this ship and remove the cloak of imminent pedal induced doom that casts a pall over our sport?

I wonder who authored that thread?
 
As a risk manager I can testify that living in general is dangerous. If you are dead then you have little risk of being injured.
The more you live the more raise your risk exposure, therefore being in a coma may be your best bet to reduce the risk of death and or injury since it simplifies daily activities and routine.
Please consider that some here may have already taken that option.
 
hear! hear! it's about darned time!

flat earth/flat pedals, that's what i say!
 
gman0482 said:
The National Guard idea would probably work best, however, I would also add another safety law, where a governor would be installed on all bikes, so that you will avoid crashing by going too fast. Let's set it to no higher than 14 mph.

Also get rid of all pro racing, and ban cycling as a sport. It should ONLY be used within 5 miles of your home, go any further (or faster), and a gps location will go out to a nearest patrol car.

I like this idea. It could work in conjunction with the National Guard. The police could do the rounding-up and arresting, and the National Guard could run the internment camps.
 
jhuskey said:
As a risk manager I can testify that living in general is dangerous. If you are dead then you have little risk of being injured.
The more you live the more raise your risk exposure, therefore being in a coma may be your best bet to reduce the risk of death and or injury since it simplifies daily activities and routine.
Please consider that some here may have already taken that option.

So, you're saying that we'd all be better off in comas. What are the least risky ways for ending up in a coma?
 
jhuskey said:
As a risk manager I can testify that living in general is dangerous. If you are dead then you have little risk of being injured.
The more you live the more raise your risk exposure, therefore being in a coma may be your best bet to reduce the risk of death and or injury since it simplifies daily activities and routine.
Please consider that some here may have already taken that option.


Life - sexually transmitted and 100% fatal.
 
alienator said:
I like this idea. It could work in conjunction with the National Guard. The police could do the rounding-up and arresting, and the National Guard could run the internment camps.
Aren't the guards busy in Iraq and Afghanistan?
 
Chavez said:
Aren't the guards busy in Iraq and Afghanistan?

We're about to wrap up on war, so then the troops will be able to come home, rest and do some guard time at internment camps, all before we start our next war. Where the war will be is under study, right now, as the political wags and oil executives try to decide which third world country has the most oil.
 
the UCI needs to check the equipment to make sure none of these cheaters gets away, but that won't do!

The cheaters are always one step ahead...soon they will make clipless pedal systems LOOK like toe straps, but they're really clipless, those scoundrels!

What we need are not equipment tests, but police raids. Remember, it wasn't until the police raided Millar's home that he got caught. Riders aren't afraid of tests... but raids.
 
alienator said:
Where the war will be is under study, right now, as the political wags and oil executives try to decide which third world country has the most oil.
The answer appears obvious - the US is going to declare war on the Gulf of Mexico.
 
alienator said:
So, you're saying that we'd all be better off in comas. What are the least risky ways for ending up in a coma?

Tequila!
 
jhuskey said:

Where the hell am I going to find tequila around here? I hope the drink and not Tia Tequila, because being put into a coma by listening to her would be quite painful.
 
alienator said:
... What are the least risky ways for ending up in a coma?


Boredom. Huge doses of it. Boredom is like seasickness - it can't kill you but it sure can make you wish it would.
 
dabac said:
Boredom. Huge doses of it. Boredom is like seasickness - it can't kill you but it sure can make you wish it would.

So, boredom is less dangerous than clipless pedals while tequila could be more deadly than clipless pedals (like after drinking too much tequila in Ciudad Juarez and then driving around the city, screaming at the top of your lungs, "Los Zetas are nancy boys!"
 
But, I believe that if you drink some tequila AND wear clipless pedals, you should be perfectly safe. My scientific equation {S=T+CP} will show, they would cancel each other out.

With some additional data, if you drink tequila, ride Tequila, and then hop on your bike WITH clipless pedals, you should finish top 10 in the TDF, and that's a FACT.
 

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