Commuting - clips or clipless safety

Have you ever has a spill, accident or injury as a result of using either system (or as a result of not using any )?

I have only had one spill due to my clipless pedel's, and that was within 5min of purchasing and installing them. Before i went clipless, i had staps, these took a bit longer to get into, but i never had a problem with them.

MichaelW, I've had a couple of "fall over" spills as a result of being clipped in, and one where the screws holding the cleat came loose. After the initial learning curve and learning to check the equipment, I wouldn't go back to regular pedals.

I've had fall-overs in both clipless and clips and straps, and as in Joe's case the clipless was on the first ride. No injuries. I've gone 12,000 miles since then with no problemo--in all kinds of weather, terrain, and traffic--and really like the clipless.

I like the clipless pedals best. If you don't want to crash in them (and you probably won't after getting used to them), get your LBS to show you how to clip and unclip properly. Worked for me.

Chris

I never had a problem with the learning curve when I switched to clipless, but I did have a couple of falls when I bought some new shoes which, despite coming with an adaptor plate to mount SPD cleats, had screws that were almost, but not quite, long enough to install them securely.

As such, until I sourced some proper, but non-standard, length screws (the bike shop didn't have any, and why should they?), I was riding around with not quite tight enough cleats. The inevitable of course happened: cleat rotates on shoe rather than clicking out - shoe stays put, gravity takes it's course.

Lesson learned: never buy another pair of Carnac shoes. BTW the events described above were merely the beginning of a long and tumultuous relationship with these shoes, but that's another story.

MichaelW,
I have had two dead stop ultra slow motion fallovers early on when I thought the light would change/car would move before I had to stop. In both cases I would have been OK except that my weight was headed in the wrong direction. So I got a foot out, but it was the wrong foot. I learned very quickly to go ahead and plan to stop or at least slow down far enough ahead of time to have space to stop if necessary. Both falls were my fault, not the pedals'.

As others have said, I would never go back to naked pedals.
Regards,
Raymond

I had a silly fall on a clip. I was riding slowly out of a parking lot but failed to see a big whole in the asphalt before it was too late. Somehow my feet was trapped too tight on the pedal and even though I had the reflex to do so I could not remove it on time so I lost balance and felt. No serious harm to me nor the bike though. (or more importantly to my 4lbs Chihuahua dog that was travelling with me).

I never had a problem as a result of not using clips or clip-less.

Back when I was still using clips & cleats, I pulled my foot out of a shoe on several occasions, when I needed to get a foot down in a hurry.

I've only fallen a couple of times using clip-less. The one I remember clearly was a classic fall at a stop sign (plenty of cars around to enjoy the show).

I don't have clipless pedals yet, though I've ordered shoes, so someday soon I'll get them. I've never had an accident with the clips. I did once pull my foot right out of my shoe in order to get it to the ground on time. I was wearing these sandals (very deep treads on the soles, no back strap) and my foot just slipped right out. Other than the once, no problems with the clips though.