Fifty Plus (50+) - Cage+Straps+2mph+slipped chain =

My shifters have been a bit fussy this morning and when I slammed the front into low ring (while heading uphill past an intersection) my chain came off. As my leather straps were pulled tight on the cage pedals I had to reach down to loosen one. Given that the overwhelming impulse at < 2mph is to spin spin spin trying to gain balance I realized it was kiss the pavement time. I took it on my right side so I could fall away from traffic.
A lady SUV driver and the garbage truck driver at the stop sign both got out of their cars to check on me - Oh the humiliation. I may have to put LOOK pedals on - at least I don't have to do a balance act while leaning over to reach LOOK pedals in order to unclip.

Just about to suggest that it is time to look at clipless.

Welcome to club Tombay.....:) Hope nothing but your pride is hurt. Have a slice of cake to celebrate and promise (tongue in cheek) never to do it again.

At least this time we can't blame clipless pedals......;)

I may have to put LOOK pedals on - at least I don't have to do a balance act while leaning over to reach LOOK pedals in order to unclip.

No, you don't have to reach down to loosen the strap, but you don't have to read very many clipless pedal posts to find somebody who has embarassed himself in the same way.

Just about to suggest that it is time to look at clipless.

I run SPD and LOOK on my 4 other bikes. I wanted to keep the Paramount components closer to the original (although I have made several changes). The Dura-Ace track pedals are realy cool - I 've seen them NIB for $400 on ebay.
They are much harder than clipless - it's harder to get the pedals oriented, and if I pull the strap tight I have to reach over and pull up on the clasp to get enough slack to pull out. The special road shoes have a unique cleat with a slot that locks onto the pedal. It requires me to pull up out of the slot, then back.


Welcome to club Tombay.....:) Hope nothing but your pride is hurt. Have a slice of cake to celebrate and promise (tongue in cheek) never to do it again.
At least this time we can't blame clipless pedals......;)
Yep - mostly my pride - it's been a while since I did the laugh-in tricycle stunt. The sudden return of seasonal mild weather and lack of leg warmers.long finger gloves was a bigger issue this morning.

I always found toe clips much more of a struggle to get in and out of than my clipless pedals.

I keep my straps just loose enough that I can jerk a foot upward and back for a panic dismount. If I normally kept the straps any tighter, I would have converted to clipless by now, for safety reasons.