Foo - From a couple guys to all you gals...

Ok...call this quirky, odd, dumb, whatever but my friend and I (guys) have a question for the gals out there...mainly the 20-somethings because that's how old we are. My buddy's single and he's gotten in to cycling recently and his tastes are little 'eccentric' at times, but he's posed this criterion. He want's to meet a girl who cycles and uses clipless pedals. He's 23 yrs old.

Ok, so we were at the Portland Bridge Pedal today (~17,000) cyclists turn out for the event so we thought'd we'd do some casual surveying. We did not see ANY females in our age group using clipless pedals! So we're wondering, what gives? It seemed plenty of women 35 yrs and up were using clipless?

Could ya'll fill us in?

Thanks!

Why ask the 20 somethings what the 30 somethings are doing?

Koffee

Why ask the 20 somethings what the 30 somethings are doing?

Koffee


Wha...? No what I meant was that it seemed to us that the use of clipless pedals by females (at least based on our limited observations) doesn't pick up until the early 30s. And our question is: why is that? Why don't younger female riders use clipless pedals?

Oh. I guess the 20 somethings will be best to answer why they don't do something then.

Koffee

I'll be 23 Tuesday. I ride clipless, but I'm also married.

This is just too bizarre, even for me. I'm not even gonna go there. (Yeesh. And I thought I had issues.)

Geez.... most guys would be happy to find a girl that will ride! And your friend is worrying about her choice of equipment? Why doesn't he worry about equipment upgrades after he meets a girl that is willing to ride with him.

Then again, maybe he doesn't have the right equipment to attract a female rider.....

Hmm... I guess I never bothered to pay attention to the random female rider but the 20-something year old female riders I ride with all seem to use clipless pedals... even the newbies.

That is an odd request! Why cant you be more normal like me!?!
HA!

I'm 24 and I ride clipless. But I probably wouldn't if not for the friend who got me into riding, because they were pretty intimidating for a klutz like me to learn. Fortunately, she didn't give me a choice in the matter!

If you're paying that much attention to their pedals I can understand why you're single.

Maybe he wants to borrow her bike and doesn't ant to have to change shoes?

I agree with you ladies, this one is pretty strange. Of course I have a nail polish on toenails issue, so....

I agree it was kind of intimidating when my husband bought me my first clipless. I thought I would break my neck.. It turns out I like them more than anything else.

Tell your friend to find someone who is using the straps and he can teach them ;) how to use Clipless.. Then he can be less picky..

Ok, ok, ha ha ha....enough with the wise cracks. Maybe I should have left the info. about my friend out but I thought some background info. on our quest for answers might be useful. The real question is...why is it that 20-something women seem to shy away from clipless pedals?

Ok, so it seems like the majority of women responding here who do ride clipless were one way or another 'influenced' to do so....?

i'm a 22 year old dude that uses platforms... just be glad you saw some women on bike.. or people on bikes at all for that matter... (why did i even type that).


why are you so concerned about what type of pedals they use? was this a race?.. ... ... *boggling is too estensive for further thought*


edit.. wait.. i mean.. does he actually find clipless pedals hot? O_o

It occurs to me that using pedal choice as a criterium for attraction is pretty shallow. Whatever happened to, oh, I dunno . . . brains? personality? talent?

Try this www.plentyoffish.com . You may not meet a cyclist , but you can allways invent one if you meet a person who is into the fit lifestyle . :)
Jar

A clipless pedal fetish...that's pretty funny. But seriously: what's behind it? Does he just think that she's not a serious cyclist unless she has clipless pedals? Is this the only thing he can think of making conversation over? He should just find himself a nice bicycle grrl and woo her with a nice new pair of clipless pedals and a lesson on how to use 'em.

The real question is...why is it that 20-something women seem to shy away from clipless pedals?

Okay, that seems like a much more legitimate question... or at least one that can be discussed with some objectivity. I think maybe it's because by percentage, there are less "serious" women cyclists than "serious" male cyclists. What I mean by "serious" here is a desire to increase performance. I think most men probably pick up this desire earlier on in their cycling than women which could account for a greater number of female riders in their 30s riding clipless than their 20-something counterparts. Mind you, this is all conjecture as it seems that around here, there's a fairly even distribution between women in their 20s and women in their 30s (actually across almost all age ranges) riding clipless.



Ok, so it seems like the majority of women responding here who do ride clipless were one way or another 'influenced' to do so....?

Can't the same be said of the men too?

The real question is...why is it that 20-something women seem to shy away from clipless pedals?

When introduced to the idea of clipless pedals, I thought, "Wow, that looks like a really good way to injure myself." I don't know a lot of guys my age who think that way about ANYTHING, or if they do, they shrug it off and dive in.

We have plenty of 20's girls who use clipless here in Colorado.

I know, because they drop me all the time, and I see their bike shoes as they whiz away. No kidding.

I am amazed at the number of excellent and competitive female road bikers around here.

(No, I don't have a "clipless fetish")

I am 22 ride clipless. But here is some food for thought. I'm barely out of college, it was a stretch to even purchase a bike. Could be lack of funds in the early 20s that keep girls from doing it. You could also not be good at judging age.

I choose clipless myself. Picked up on it in spinning. Loved them and demanded them for both of my bikes. ( Had to upgrade my road bike to cllipless).

K. Lachance

I think Lachance has it - at least in my case. I'm 24 and a student, so money is definitely an object. The bike I have is the same one I've had since I was in high school. I'm biking to SAVE money, not spend it. I already had to shell out to add paniers, a rack and slicks. I don't need anything whose absence does not prevent my riding to school. How did you like the Bridge Pedal, anyway? I wanted to do it, but had a 20 mile run on Saturday and was still pretty sore on Sunday.

I got my first pair for christmas, but I wanted them when I couldn't keep up with the guys on singletrack. I figured the more help, the better, and then I fell in love with them. It's hard to ride a bike without clipless, now. Well, unless I'm practicing wheelies or log hops, and then I ride platforms.

It's hard to ride a bike without clipless, now.

Definitely. My friend and I did the Muddy Buddy ride/run race and I put platforms on because of our running shoes. It was really hard to remember how to start from a standstill! Seems so inconvenient.

"clipless" --does that mean the pedals that clamp onto the bottom of your feet that you twist into the pedal?

Is "clipfull" the kind that have straps that go around your toes?

(sorry, I'm new to a lot of things "bike". I ride to work wearing Converse hi tops)

Does wearing clipless pedals make you look more professional? I don't know what the big deal is....(sounds like a clipless fetish, I agree.)

Then why don't you get to know some 30-somethings? That's not a lot of difference in age!

"clipless" --does that mean the pedals that clamp onto the bottom of your feet that you twist into the pedal?

Is "clipfull" the kind that have straps that go around your toes?

(sorry, I'm new to a lot of things "bike". I ride to work wearing Converse hi tops)

Does wearing clipless pedals make you look more professional? I don't know what the big deal is....(sounds like a clipless fetish, I agree.)

Clipless - metal to metal contact on the bottom of the shoe - yes.

Straps - "Toe straps"

Clipless is one of the "things" that identify someone to others as part of the "in group." :D

But, they are also wonderful to wear if you do serious riding.

Does wearing clipless pedals make you look more professional? I don't know what the big deal is....(sounds like a clipless fetish, I agree.)

The big advantage to clipless pedals is a more secure and intimate interface between the foot and the pedal. This leads to better power transfer. The main principle driving this is the ability to apply power on the upstroke as well as downstroke. Instead of pedalling by push-push, you can pedal by push-pull which allows you to take advantage of otherwise unused muscles in your legs. The upshot is that you will be able to travel further faster and be less fatigued than if you were not secured to the pedals. Your technique switches from that of mashing pedals to spinning and this is ultimately more efficient for most people.

Plus, being attached makes me less likely to "bail" out of technical singletrack or sketchy hills. On the road, I refuse to bail, but am thankful for the pedal choice for keeping me from falling over sideways on the last few hill repeats.

I still use the straps. I used to do platform only and was very cranky about the straps. I decided to stop being stubborn and at least try them and now I love them. I would love to go clipless, but it is a money issue for me. I am sure I would love them, I would just have to practice.

As for the 20 somethings without the clipless, my suggestion would be to find a girl that you would like to get to know, introduce yourself, and ask her. Maybe she is new and not yet comfortable with the "fancy" additions to a bike yet. If you hit it off, maybe you can buy her a set and some nice shoes. :D