Originally Posted by
Nightshade
It helps to remember that bike shop mechanics are gear heads by nature and will flat lie to you to convince you to follow their advice. Clipless IS great for the race track or other competeive event but NEVER EVER ON THE STREET where you must not be tied to the bike. Only a crazy person will risk life and limb with clipless on the street.
That is an attitude that some people hold. However, I am not competitive, but like being clipped in. On a recent ride, I flinched a bit at one point, and my foot slipped off the pedal almost causing me to fall. (I did fall during the ride, but it was unrelated to pedals). This won't happen (at least not as easily) once I get my clipless pedals installed.
I am older, and I have a friend who used to ride with toe clips in the old days, and even though I can't get him anywhere near a bike now, he proclaimed he would never ride clipped to his bike... he has this picture in his head of flying through the air with his feet stuck in the pedals... If I were in an accident, and was flying through the air, my last worry would be whether or not I was hooked to the bike, it would be that I was flying through the air. And why would the bike be less safe hooked to my feet than whirling through the air beside me with handlebars, pedals and any other protrusion potentially impaling me in the air, or when we land in a heap together? Even if I am not clipped in, the chances are that when I am about to be hit, I will seize the handlebar in a death grip.
The most dangerous part of clipless is the zero mph fall, and that injures the pride more than the body or the bike. And as fair warning, the zero mph fall always happens with witnesses.
I admit that when I haven't been riding for a while, I use platform pedals... but once I build up my stability and confidence, they are beneficial.
What is your basis for feeling that they are unsafe?