TiHabanero

My 19 year old daughter just took up cycling this summer. She has a Cannondale Synapse and rides without any attachment to the pedals. We average 15 mph, on 20-40 mile rides. The girl spins like crazy, and destroys me on most climbs! If you don't want to be attached to the pedals, don't worry, it won't hurt the ride or the experience!
PS: I ride Look clipless, and have since 1986, but am thinking my daughter has just taught me something! Darn kids, they are so smart!

MickeyDee

I didn't have any experience with clipless until this past week or so. When I was shopping at my LBS for a new road bike I test road one with straps and absolutely did not like that at all. I personally think my reflexes would be way to slow to handle that and think it would be a much bigger risk to falling for me. So when I got my new Bianchi I got the clipless and road the trainer to learn how to snap in and out. I guess I was fortunate since I did some reading about them I had a pretty good idea how they worked and didn't have to practice hundreds of times. Getting out is pretty easy and I can adjust the tension later if I want as I gain more experience.

For me the harder part is actually getting started. So I found an article that explains some things you can do to have a better experience.

I tried on shoes at my LBS and probably should have gone with the mountain biking shoes since they were pretty comfortable. But I didn't and I had to order my shoes guessing at the size. The first pair was too small and caused my feet to go numb after only a couple of miles. The next pair fit better but I think they might be a little too big. Only a half size difference and of course my feet would be in between.

Anyway, here are some pics of my setup and shoes.

DAC17

MickeyDee: Thanks much; extremely helpful and on point!

Wanderer

While they are new to you, oil the contact points on the pedals. Just makes it a touch easier to get out of.

Just don't walk on the carpet with them, or you will be in big trouble. When you feel confident, a little dish soap and a toothbrush will remove the oil completely.

FrenchFit 

I use clipless regularly, both on fast road and Tri bikes and a MTB - no big deal. But for general pleasure biking I PREFER Fixie Straps or Powergrips. More comfortable, more practical for urban riding, more suitable for your destination if you're not just hammering some loop. Clipless give you a slight improvement in hill climbing and fast cadence spinning, but mostly it's just racer wannabe crap marketed to rec cyclists. The "middle ground" is excellent, especially if you find it necessary to move your feet occasionally to address foot or calf issues from running.

JohnJ80

Simply not true. I spent the last year working on my climbing technique and learning how to better apply power through other parts of the pedal revolution paid serious dividends for me in my climbing. Clipless was a very big part of that and much superior straight pedals or pedals with toe clips.

J

FrenchFit 

I am glad that your experience with clipless is positive, but your statement is nonsense. The only difference between straps (not toe clips - read my post again) and clipless is the resistance with straps is across the top arch, with clipless shoes it is distributed across the top arch, plus the heel and toe. If you can't spin 100-110 with fixie/power straps you don't have them adjusted correctly. I would agree that firing the glutes is easier with clipless, but the idea that you need clipless pedals to accomplish an efficient pedal stroke is simply crazy.

JohnJ80

I agree, if you go back to the toe clips of yore with the cleats to lock them in place - they were as efficient as clipless (and a pain to use). I've had a lot of shoes and pedals over the years, many with toe clips and everything else in between. Haven't seen a shoe without a cleat in a toe clip or strap that is as efficient as clipless.

I've used Powergrips and they, well, .. just plain suck. And then there is the issue of shoes.

I'm taking exception to the hyperbole in your characterization of clipless as "racer wannabe crap marketed to rec cyclists." There is an awful lot of cyclists in between those two extremes and that statement is just flat out not true.

J.

FrenchFit 

For who, you? It may be hyperbole, but it's more often true than not.

JohnJ80

Based on your stereotyping or actual information? There are an awful lot of skilled cyclists around especially as cycling gets more popular. Hard to believe that all/most of these skilled cyclists are spending around $300-500 for a pedal/shoe combination simply to be "wannabe racers."

J.

chasm54

I'd count myself a skilled cyclist and I've done a bit of racing. When people ask me about whether it's worth going clipless, I ask them what sort of riding they want to do. If they are recreational riders with no particular aspiration to go hard and fast, I tell them not to bother. Decent platforms (BMX if you really want a big adhesive platform) are perfectly adequate for just riding around, and the truth is that the supposed power advantages of clipless exist mostly in the minds of those who have paid the money to buy them.

If you're racing, I'd say clipless or clips and straps are essential. If you are riding hard and long and (for example) doing a bit of sprinting, I'd say they have significant advantages. If you're just riding around, even for long distances, I'd say forget it. I do a lot of touring, sometimes for thousands of miles. I have platforms on my tourer, and on the singlespeed I use for going into town, poodling about etc. I have SPD SLs on my road bikes, because I go pretty hard on them.

My general view is that most of the people who ride recreationally with clipless are, as FrenchFit suggests, victims of marketing hype. Some degree of foot retention is undoubtedly helpful to many of them, but most would be fine with half-clips, minus the straps, to just gently retain their position on the pedals.

sam_cyclist

The easiest clipless pedals to "unclip" from that I've tried are speedplay frogs. You don't unclip really, you just slide your heel out. Super easy.

camelopardalis

Definitely the cleats. I had the same issue on non Shimano cleats. I adjusted the tension screws on the A530 pedals to the lowest setting and the shoes still were extremely hard to unclip. I replaced the cleats with authentic SPD's and the problem went away. Do not blame the A530. They are excellent pedals.

camelopardalis

I too ventured warily into the world of clipless pedals. Learning to use the system at our late age is intimidating. First, I took the clipless shoes to the spinning classes at the gym and stayed longer to practice clipping in and out. When I finally tried it on a bike, I was already comfortable with them. Using very light tensioned SPD pedals definitely helped. It will prevent some falls when you forget to unclip on stops.

You will fall. That's part of the learning process. My falls were at very low speeds which did not create pain or injury.

After a while, as a lot of users have already stated, it becomes intuitive.

mgb

I have the Shimano A530's. I went with those because I wanted the dual clip/platform capability. Truthfully I only ever use them with clips so they might not have been the best choice. As I recall, a set of Shimano SH51 cleats was included with the pedals. Didn't yours come with the cleats? Doesn't matter anyway. I quickly switched to the SH56 cleats which release much more easily. This was after my one fall (at 0 mph) as I was getting used to clipless.

rmfnla

This is why animals eat their young...

JanMM

Self-fulfilling prophecy - if you think that you are doomed to fall, you are more likely to fall. Not everyone using clipless has fallen because of them.
I don't recall ever suffering a fall related to clipless, PowerGrips, or toe clips going back to the late '70s.
Perhaps those of us entering the clipless world after having used toe clips had an advantage of being somewhat used to riding with a foot retention system. I never used cleats with toe clips so I could always pull my feet out on demand.

camelopardalis

Unclipping when coming to a full stop is a learned ritual, not instinctive. You will forget to do so in the beginning.

big john

Not everyone forgets.

MRT2

I have used two sided clipless and one sided clipless. All SPD, though. Once I went that route, it was easier not to worry about which shoes went with which bike, or even whether I could use my shoes for indoor spinning classes in the fall and winter.

My current pedal is the Shimano PD-M540. Two sided, small light. Works really well.
I used to use the Shimano M324, which is SPD on one side, platform on the other. It works well, and is a good choice if you still want the option of using flat pedals sometimes. It is currently on my wife's vintage Peugeot UO8.
I also have two sets of Wellgo pedals. One is in use on my son's mountain bike. the other on my mountain bike. Both work very well for over 5 years and as far as I can tell, are virtually identical to the M324.

JohnJ80

Most people don't forget. It is intuitive. Literally, if one can walk and chew gum at the same time, one can handle this.

J.

FrenchFit 

Funny, if you switch back and forth on different bikes as I do there is no intuitive - that part of the brain goes dark. You have to consciously remember at most stops if you need to unclip. Sometimes I think the solution might be to add a second mental trigger like wrapping a bright colored tape around the stem on clipless bikes, or rubber band on my wrist. Not a big deal, but I'd guess not committing to clipless fulltime increases the risk of a clipless fall by 5x.

JohnJ80

Sorry to hear that. I'm glad I don't have that problem.

J.

big john

Yeah, I haven't used anything but clipless on everything for so many years so i don't know what would happen if I did switch back and forth to clips and straps or flat pedals. I have been thinking about trying flat pedals on the mtb, however.

lphilpot

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I'm considering something like this for occasional use when I don't want to use my SPD road pedals. Trouble is, I'm concerned about the depth of the clip. That is, how far from the pedal axle to the toe? VO's website indicates about 70 mm (2.75") distance, but you've apparently had to extend that by about another half inch or so. I've also looked online at similar clips from MKS and Avenir, but none of them list any dimensions. I wear size 12-13 sneakers, depending on the brand. I have a cheap set of Wellgo pedals with plastic straps. The distance on them is about 4" (100 mm) from axle to tip, which works for me (and in fact, is just shy of the distance of my SPD shoes). They work, but the straps interfere with easy entry/exit.

So, long story to ask: How far can these be bent or otherwise extended and still functionally provide clipping / capture for the shoe tip? Or do you have another recommendation?

Thanks.

Edit - Just saw where you indicated size 14 shoes, but still curious as to your feedback. Thanks.