RainmanP

After a few months of riding with good old-fashioned toe clips while researching clipless pedals, I finally took the leap and purchased a pair of Look pedals and some Shimano shoes. What a difference! When I put the clips on a few months ago, I immediately noticed and liked the feeling of attachment. This is even better. Much easier to get that feeling of pedalling circles. In my opinion, the Look pedals are actually easier to get into than clips/straps. Easy out, too. I also got a pair of the Winwood inserts with clips/straps so I can wear old shoes when it rains.

The only thing I will really have to get used to is those big, slick cleats. I have not come close to falling because I could not get out of the pedals, but have had a couple of close calls because the cleats slide when I put my foot down! And they are hard to walk in because you have to keep your weight on your heels to keep the cleats from slipping and sliding on smooth floors.

Does anyone make any kind of rubber or plastic cover for the cleats that at least makes walking more secure? Like the blade covers skaters use? It sure would be nice to have something to slip on just to get from the front door of the building to my office.

The great feel on the bike more than compensates for the minor inconveniences off the bike.
FWIW,
Raymond

RainmanP

Well, let's see... How many times will this make that I have posed a question THEN gone to look for an answer and found one almost immediately?

The question was regarding rubber covers for Look cleats. Guess what? Performancebike.com has something called Kool Kovers that are exactly what I had in mind. So, never mind.

LittleBigMan

Rainman,

For those of us more timid newbies (or newbies in a given experience), you can be our official trusted bike equipment tester. I still use toe clips. You know me, my wife won't let me do anything else but commute, nor does she let me spend ANYTHING on the bike (maybe a good quality on her part).

When I bought my current bike, I had a tax refund to spend. My wife had the checkbook (there's something fishy about that, I'm still wondering why SHE keeps it) when I went to purchase the bike (she also drives me everywhere). She whipped it out of her secret compartment in her pocketbook.

"How much?" she asked the nice bike store guy.

"Blah, blah, blah, dollars," he said with a smile (I won't reveal my already questionable economic status).

"What?" she exclaimed. Looking over in my direction, she askes, "Is this the LAST bike you're going to be buying?"

"It doesn't usually work that way," inturrupted the very
nice bike store guy (we guys are like one alien "brain" that thinks exactly the same thoughts). Thanks for watching my back, nice bike store guy! I just sort of shrugged at my wife.

"M'mmm-mmm..." (a muffled, "I don't know...") It had worked: she wrote the check. Now, before any more second thoughts started producing firey darts shooting my way, I got busy. "Ok, it's late! Let's get home and let this nice bike store guy close up. Oh, look at the time!"

I was sure to phone the manager and tell him what a great employee that nice bike store guy was who came to my rescue that night.

RainmanP

Pete Clark,
Our minds work along the same lines. However, I am going to have to give you some lessons. For instance, find a bike store that is on your way home. That way you can stop off and get stuff. My resident LBS is on the way home and only a couple of miles from the office. I can stop off, have something installed, and the bike looks the same to the untrained Rainma'am eye. If they need more time for something more involved, I can ride there at lunch time in my street clothes, drop it off, and take a bus back to work then either take the bus or get a ride to the LBS to pick up the bike and continue the ride home.
I have already planted the seed for a new bike. It will be my reward for losing weight and keeping fit. Now here is the trick with that. I show my wife pictures of bikes costing $3500-5000, saying "Wow, look at this beauty!" I always get the old "eyes-rolling-back-in-the-sockets" reaction you and I have discussed elsewhere. However, the subliminal message are there. I also occasionally mention all the money I have "saved" by not driving, as well as the cost of the fitness center which would be an alternative to the exercise I am getting, etc., etc.. (This works OK, but when SHE talks about the money I have "saved", like when she saw the new shoes, you can actually HEAR the quotation marks so I have to play that particular card kind of lightly) So when I have laid the foundation and the time is right, a $1500 bike will look like a bargain to her.
You are young yet, Grasshopper, and will learn these things in time.
Your friend,
Rainman

TriBob

Rainman, My wife tries to use that trick all of the time. Example, we need a bigger house. No we don't. Well then we should put on an addition. No, we would just have another room to clean. Then comes her real objective: Well at the VERY LEAST we can remodel the kitchen.

RainmanP

OK, OK! I was sooo smug about having not fallen with my new clipless pedals as I was warned I probably would. Well, I did.

I thought I had gotten really good at anticipating and getting out in time, and I had. However, I was approaching a red light Wednesday afternoon really slowly, expecting it to change momentarily. I got to a near track stand, and realized it was not going to change soon enough. Got the right foot out in plenty of time, but my wobbling while trying to stand still had already thrown my balance the other direction. I couldn't get the left foot out in time and did a slow motion fall. No damage done except a minor scratch that sent a trickle of blood down the back of my leg.

Of course, I was on my way to meet Rainbabe at an outdoor concert after work. She noticed the blood and asked what happened. She makes such fun of me when I fall. I hate when that happens.
Rainman

LittleBigMan

I, for one, will not laugh. :cool:

RainmanP

Actually, Pete, the real shame is that the crowd of teenage school students, who caught one of my earlier, uh, "performances" and rewarded it with a standing ovation, were a couple of blocks down the street and didn't get to appreciate this one. And it was in slomo and everything. I didn't even get a catcall on this one. Maybe I got up too fast. I mean timing is everything in performance art. Oh, I forgot to mention that, as always, this fall occurred in broad daylight on the bus lanes down the middle of Canal Street in New Orleans. At least I have the venue locked in. Though my first, and still most spectacular, spill was in the rain, man.
Rainman

JonR

It's just about bound to happen, but if your ongoing experience with Look pedals is anything like mine with SPD's, you'll find getting in and out is much quicker than with clips and straps, and falls are fewer. I'm back to clips and straps now because I want more footwear versatility in this reincarnation as cyclist. But I will always love the SPD's.

My most costly SPD fall was one in which I DIDN'T manage release from the pedal: this tore the cleat, and part of the shoe sole, right out of the shoe! Luckily I was four blocks from home.

Most embarrassing: in the middle of the "world-famous" (isn't that a giveaway phrase, though?) Country Club Plaza $hopping di$trict here in KC: the roadway slopes to my left, I had to stop fairly quickly, and (I know this is stupid, but true) I ALWAYS use my left foot stopping. I have never even tried with the right. Result: fell over right in the midst of all those Mercedes-Benz's and BMW's and I don't know what all. I got up REAL quick before some steel-shrouded plutocrat got a chance to smear me as the worthless road-kill I obviously deserved to be!